By Ila Sankrityayan
New Delhi, Mar 14 (IANS): Television actor Ali Merchant has entered the reality show, 'Lock Upp' as its 14th contestant. His entry has caught the attention of many, because of all the controversies around his marriage with actress Sara Khan on 'Bigg Boss 4', who too is a part of the show.
"I'm happy that I'm getting in. I think I was waiting for a show like this for a very long time," he told IANS, adding: "When I was in 'Big Boss', I was there for 10 or 11 days as a guest. And I was very young at that time. Then there was a very emotionally disturbing element.
"But now I have a different perspective to life where I have a lot of clarity and I think in the last 12 years, there's a lot of things that you realize, so it's a very different perspective now and then."
Ali has been through a lot of ups and downs in life and for him getting inside the show or facing the contestants inside, nothing seems to be challenging.
As he said: "Post 'Bigg Boss' I started getting very few good works. I had practically no work. So, I started working in a factory and everyday had to travel for five hours. Later I started doing music videos and became known in the industry. Now, I am among successful DJs. I believe in doing everything with perfection. Same I will do inside the show."
Ali's marriage with Sara has created a lot of controversy. He has already spoken a lot about his ex-wife. In fact, once in an interview he said that his marriage was the biggest mistake of his life. Now, when the actor is entering the show and will be facing Sara, how he is going to deal with it.
He replied: "It is a human tendency that if everything falls at its place nobody is going to question but if you take any wrong step, people start questioning your decision. Same happened with me at that time. When two people are in love, the next step obviously is marriage.
"It would have happened after a year of relationship. That time I was quite young and getting married on national television looked like a great thing to us. But after coming out of the show I realised that things couldn't be worked out."
"Of course my relationship with Sara has a lot of affect on my career but now I have moved on and don't want to say anything bad about her."
On the show, if he has to reveal secrets of his life, will he be able to share them and he answered firmly: "I am walking the path of redemption. This show for me is redemption. I am accepting all the sins and every single thing that I have done."
When asked, if he has to perform a task with Sara, is their past going to affect his game and he said: "I will not let it affect my game and I know how to be best in everything I do."
Whom he thinks will be the biggest challenge inside 'Lock Upp' for him: "I think the strongest contestant till now is Munawar Faruqui and he is going to be the biggest challenge for me. He is very real and straightforward. I like his game and he is really doing well inside the show," he concluded.
Kangana Ranaut hosted reality show 'Lock Upp' streams on MX Player and ALT Balaji.