Lock Upp Exclusive! Nisha Rawal: Zeeshan Khan has to earn my response for his comments

It has been a week since Nisha Rawal was evicted from Kangana Ranaut’s show Lock Upp. From her standing up for Ali Mercchant, bonding with Sara Khan, Tehseen Poonawalla, Saisha Shinde and Shivam Sharma to having a face-off with Zeeshan Khan and Payal Rohatgi, Nisha has seen a lot on the show. She talks to us at OTTplay exclusively of what she feels about her situations in the house and what is she up to now. Excerpts…

How has life been since you left Lock Upp?

Life has been amazing. Suddenly I feel so free. I don’t have to wake up to the sound, I can control the temperature the way I want.

Do you believe your eviction was fair?

Thanks to the reality shows that we have seen so far, we’re used to the concept of fair and unfair. I don’t think the concept of this game was for me to be the moral high person. I’m confused what they’re looking for too. I would love to call myself badass because I stand only for the things I feel I need to stand for. I balance my life out. I know my responsibilities, limitations, shortcomings and boundaries. Within the framework that I’ve created for life, I feel that the way I conduct myself is pretty badass for me. I fail to understand what their meaning of badass is. I keep saying it’s either bad or ass. Since my behaviour was so appropriate all the time, even Kangana said that I proved that whatever the world spoke about me, it was wrong.

I’m happy. If I look back at the journey, I have no regrets with what I should or shouldn’t have stood for. I played it with all my heart and this was as much as I could push myself.

You best bonded with almost every member of initial Team Blue, be it Tehseen, Sara or Saisha. Did it become tougher once they all went out of the house?

We had a comfortable bond. Yes, it was difficult. In real life, these bonds take months or years to build and everything here was fast track. It is also a learning experience. After Sara left, it was tough because we would discuss about our strategies for tasks etc. Everything can affect your chemistry with the other person. There was a moment when I felt I was absolutely alone. That was painful because it is the reality of my real-life too. I lost a lot of people suddenly. These moments made me stronger. I tried to have emotional connections and it didn’t come from a place of me wanting to make an effort. The doors for communication were always open. People saw me having a bond with others, be rational about things.

And by the time Saisha came back, you didn't get the opportunity to rebuild what you started?

Yeah, it was weird but I guess it is okay.

You have been quite vocal in the jail. We all saw you had a viewpoint and you strongly stood for them but you know, Zeeshan has stated that you stand for causes according to your convenience. How would you defend that statement?

I don’t remember him stating such a thing and it doesn’t even matter. Like I said, I will give credit to a person who will earn that credibility from me. I’m rational and don’t give credit to everybody. For me to pay any heed to Zeeshan’s words, he will have to earn it from me and he didn’t come to that point where he did. If you see my and his journey and compare the stands we took or the way we behaved, the game will speak for itself. So, I don’t find the need to comment on Zeeshan’s statement.

You were the one female who stood by Ali very openly. You were his rock before Zeeshan and Vinit entered the show. Again, even though you showed your support for him, we saw you bond with Team Munawar. So, what really happened there? Because we thought you would bond with Ali.

It wasn’t decided. Ali came and spoke if he wanted opinions on certain things. We bonded the most during the jhol ghar incident since he wanted to talk to his dadi which I felt was something I should give him since I would meet Kaavish again anyway but that might have been his last phone call with her. Those were the conversations we had. Ali was on a mission of befriending everyone. He didn’t hurt anyone’s sentiments, so good for him.

We saw you initiate the bond but since it did not really materialize, it was just a little confusing…

In the beginning, I felt how would I respond or how would he be? Sara was in Lock Upp when he had come and I was already friends with her. When I met him, I found him to be a nice person but they had something between them 12 years back. I am empathetic by nature and want to try and be of help for people. I felt that Ali was going through a weird kind of pressure because Sara was on the show and she had friends and is a wonderful girl herself. I felt that he felt lonely and wanted to come on a neutral ground. You don’t want to have any hard feelings for someone else. I spoke to him about being able to verbalize his feelings. That was the kind of thing. He got better in the game and the teams got swapped again.

Do you think you would stay friends with someone from Lock Upp?

Yeah. I would love to stay friends with Sara, Tehseen and Shivam. I spoke to both Tehseen and Sara. We will catch up with Tehseen when he comes to Mumbai and apparently Sara lives in the same building as mine.

During your eviction, Kangana announced that you would be the perfect fit for another show. Which do you think she was referring to?

I can’t really figure but one show that everyone knows about is Bigg Boss. It was probably that since she spoke about a house.

Do you want to go back to reality shows?

Not right now. I can’t stand another show right now but would want to do another reality show eventually. I don’t mind doing Khatron Ke Khiladi. Hopefully there won’t be politics on that show.

How did Kaavish react when he saw you again?

I used to send messages for him everyday and he was shown all of that. He has seen the tasks, double filtered so he was just very happy to see me.

Did the show give you back what you expected out of it?

It gave me more. Even I got to know myself better thanks to the show. It was a humbling experience for me.

Where do we see Nisha from here?

I’m very happy with my advertising world. I’m planning to set up my team for the same. You might see me in reality shows that come my way.