Kamal Ghorui
Sidharth Bhardwaj, who has been seen in shows such as Splitsvilla 2 and Bigg Boss 5, has opened up about his return to the reality television space after a really long hiatus, saying that the unique and chaotic format of the upcoming show The 50 drew him back to the genre.“After a long absence from reality TV, I chose The 50 format because I think it’s very different. It’s never been done in India. It sounds very chaotic and sounds very fun. I thrive in chaos, so that’s one of the biggest reasons I chose this,” Sidharth told IANS.
He added that it has elements of Bigg Boss. “So it sounds similar to Bigg Boss. I’ve done Splitsvilla, where alliances were very important, so it sounds similar to that. So that’s one of the reasons.”Reflecting on his reality TV journey, Sidharth said he considers himself among the few contestants who experienced Bigg Boss, Splitsvilla, and Roadies during their rawest phases. He believes those experiences taught him valuable lessons.“I am one of those rare contestants who faced Bigg Boss, Splitsvilla, and Roadies in their most raw era, and I feel that it helped me understand that no matter what the situation is in a reality show, one must keep calm and try to understand what the situation demands rather than, you know, following the herd mentality and going and fighting.”“So that’s what it’s helped me with, because I’ve also made my mistakes and I’ve learned from my mistakes,” he added. Sidharth also explained why he stayed away from reality shows for years after Bigg Boss 5, apart from a stint on Fear Factor. He said he did not want to take up projects that felt smaller than what he had already done.“Yeah, after Bigg Boss 5, I didn’t do a lot of reality shows, but I also did Fear Factor. So one of the main reasons was that there was nothing comparatively as big or bigger than all the shows I’ve done. And I didn’t want to do something way smaller. And you know, we are contestants over there, so that was one of the reasons.”At the same time, he consciously shifted focus to acting, exploring web series and films, as he wanted to avoid being typecast by doing too many reality shows. “And as an actor, I wanted to, you know, kind of do web series and movies and whatnot. So that was also another reason, because once you start doing too many reality shows, you get typecast. So it was also a conscious decision in a way,” said Sidharth.A clip featuring former Bigg Boss 5 contestant Pooja Misra and Sonali Nagrani recently went viral, and the line, “Pooja, what is this behaviour,” became a part of everyday conversations, with people using it in real-life situations and widely memeing it. “Today’s meme culture can pick up anything and turn it into a meme. That doesn’t really bother me. I don’t really think too much about the shows I’ve already done, because as a professional, you do something and you move forward,” said Sidharth.
