In a surprise eviction, Zeeshan Khan was ousted from Lock Upp on Monday, after he assaulted co-inmate Azma Fallah. The actor said he was being provoked as the latter kept saying negative things about his mother and girlfriend. With just three weeks to the finale, even his fans felt he deserved a chance and shouldn’t have been thrown out. Post his eviction, Zeeshan chatted with indianexpress.com stating that he had already apologised on camera and even accepted punishment, and thus the eviction came as a shocker.
“When Karan Kundrra came and informed that I had to leave, I was taken aback. Previously, I had apologised and even did 50 sit-ups as a punishment. I know that I may have overdone it but honestly, no one knows the mental torture I had to face from Azma. She would keep telling me that my girlfriend sleeps around with directors to get me work and even said my parents would be dead after I leave the house. My mother has already been not keeping well and all these things triggered me. While I understand the makers’ point of view, I am so disappointed with the other co-contestants. Why did no one try to stop Azma once from uttering all the rubbish?” he shared.
Zeeshan said that he feels he should have been given a chance given the kind of mental stress he had faced during his stint on the show. Recalling the time Payal Rohatgi had got into a fight with him and ended up calling him a ‘terrorist’, the actor said, “My religion was brought up during the fight, which started over habits of food consumption. The halal meat topic went on to Payal calling me a terrorist and so many other degrading words. I was aghast that someone could stoop so low. However, she was given a free pass as Kangana Ranaut mentioned that it’s Payal’s personal stand and not the makers. She wasn’t even asked to apologise to me or the community. How was that acceptable? She was only nominated for a week. And even when Payal tried to half-heartedly apologise it was for a task, she never meant it. I just wonder if mental anguish is ever taken into consideration.”
Ironically, the actor was thrown out of Bigg Boss OTT for getting into a physical fight with Pratik Sehajpal. With two such incidents on his resume, we asked Zeeshan Khan if it will hurt his image or future work prospects. “Honestly, I am just glad that both these incidents happened on shows which stream live 24 X 7. Even if there is a section that calls me wrong, there are others who have seen what led to my action. They have followed the show live and have a complete picture of the incident,” he shared. The actor, however, added that he would like to take a break from reality shows for a while and focus on his acting projects.
Steering into a positive conversation, Zeeshan Khan said that he made a friend for life in Munawar Faruqui, and they were the only ones who were aware of the game. Two days back, the comedian’s friends Anjali Arora and Saisha Shinde betrayed his trust to take him out of the Ticket to Finale task. Sharing that he felt bad for him, Zeeshan mentioned that he still feels Munawar should win the show. He said, “Anjali is a very good player, however, she is not aware, and so is the case with Saisha. Poonam Pandey and Ali Merchant’s game is all over the place. Shivam Sharma has done nothing and neither has Azma. As for Payal, I am sure the audience doesn’t want to see such a negative person winning. So it eventually leaves Munawar as the deserving one.”
On Thursday’s episode, Shivam Sharma became the first finalist after beating Anjali Arora in the Ticket to Finale task. He would be joined by four others over the next two week.
