Exclusive! Bigg Boss OTT's Raqesh Bapat on becoming therapist: Contestants might be my guinea pigs

The first contestant of Bigg Boss OTT is Raqesh Bapat and he went on to become the first one to get connected to a female contestant too. Yes, soon after Shamita Shetty made her way on the stage, she selected Bapat as her connection. Raqesh has been in the business for 20 years now as he made his debut with Anubhav Sinha directorial Tum Bin. Now, after two decades, the actor said that he has got some maturity which will help him in Bigg Boss OTT.

During an exclusive interaction with OTTPlay, on being quizzed why Bigg Boss. Raqesh stated, "I got convinced this year. Every year they used to call and this time it around. Also, the pandemic prepared us for a lot already about living minimalism and the mental health issues we have been speaking about. Anyway, the game is about the mind. I think I've gone through it enough to handle something like this, which is what Bigg Boss does. So maybe I thought it's a challenge and the content seemed nice while people working with seemed interesting. So I think everything's in place."

Bapat revealed that his years of experience has helped him get a sense of maturity which will help him inside the house. The Maryada actor said, "I have a policy of being myself, doing my thing, how I'm going in the house with the years of experience that I have. Some kind of maturity probably of how life taught me things. There won't be any strategy as want to be me because not every time you need to be outrageous to go ahead in a show like this, calm also works."

When asked if being a private person will serve as a challenge in Bigg Boss, Rakesh revealed, "That's okay, after a point of time you forget that there are cameras on because you're so much into the show. It lets you be normal. I mean, there's nothing to hide. I'm an actor, so in any way, I'm in this field, because I love being in front of the camera. So, what's the best than this?"

He said that he has never seen the show and didn't want to see it also because he didn't want to go with a preconceived notion.

So, what's one thing which is a big no-no for Raqesh inside the BB house? The actor said, "there are certain things that I will never do because it's about my principles. I'm gonna stand for something right. Injustice is something which I can't tolerate, so these things I would be definitely focusing on."

This time Karan Johar is hosting the show for the first time. Talking about him, Bapat quipped, "I'm excited because it's gonna be literally colourful. He is coming with a lot of experience of his own. He has given some memorable films to us and he is very much of entertainment, you know, so I think he knows how to get to people, looking forward to that aspect.

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Raqesh shared that he is going to miss celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi while locked up inside Bigg Boss house. He said, "I miss everything my family, friends, and also the Ganpati festival. This year I will be inside, so I'm going to miss that a lot because that's the only festival where the whole family, friends and everybody come together. They all come under one roof, under one umbrella. So, that is something which I used to always look forward to every year, that is not gonna happen this year. So I need to make the murti inside. But I want to celebrate with the people that I always celebrate with."

Describing his two-decade-long journey as an actor, the actor concluded, "It has given me a lot of sense of maturity and patience. It has completely turned me around with the decision makings that I've had in my life. Somewhere that is enlightenment, somewhere the way I see the people have changed a lot. I don't see only the skin deep I see the person as such."

He further spoke about becoming a therapist, sharing, "Also, I am a visual therapist now, so the therapy that I learned, I can also give people through art. So maybe, I'm excited to see all these contestants because they might be my guinea pigs."