Vindu and Poonam are playing it smartly : Raju Srivastava

Raju Srivastava was evicted yesterday out of Bigg Boss. Interestingly,he was nominated for the first time and had Vindu Dara Singh and lesser known Pravesh Rana for company. The man who had once regaled housemates with his jokes had even mellowed down of late.He spoke on the show about how his conservative family, where parents didn’t indulge in PDA in front of others. He was the House’s unofficial ‘clown’ as he mimicked others, indulged in small gossip,wore wigs and even dressed up like a woman for one full week, courtesy Rohit Verma. One hardly saw his ugly side though we are sure he successfully masked it till his stay inside the House. TellyChakkar spoke to Raju about his journey in Bigg Boss. Excerpts: How are you feeling? Great. Life in Bigg Boss is similar to that of a jail sentence. You are away from the daily grind, the world outside. So I tried to crack jokes and keep things light whenever I got an opportunity. You are supposed to be extremely popular, yet why do you think voters chose to evict you? I can’t answer this. You cannot question the nation’s verdict. They must have wanted to see different shades to life. Tension is already building up between Vindu and Pravesh. It has begun affecting the housemates. So possibly this is more entertaining to the janta. You always claimed you didn’t participate in Rohit and Vindu’s plotting, that you were a silent spectator… I had cracked jokes, entertained them and made them get into fits of laughter for nine long weeks. As I said earlier, it seems viewers wanted to see a different colour on the show, may be they want to see more aggression and arrogance on the show and that could be one of the reasons they saved Vindu and Pravesh. But I am satisfied with the duration of my stay as I think I did what I wanted to. How did you react when Bigg Boss showed that tape of you three plotting to other housemates? Honestly, every one indulged in planning the nominations and plotting against the least favourite contestant. Initially, when Bigg Boss aired our video, I thought the others involved in it too would go through this. But it didn’t happen. So yes, I felt bad about that.Others got away easily. Of late you appeared to be very subdued from the initial happy days... I used my talent to make people laugh. But yes, I had become a little passive of late and it could be because of the verbal spats between Vindu, Pravesh and Kamal (Khan). It definitely troubled me. I must have mellowed down. Would you agree that the video impacted the viewers’ decisions and your chances of surviving? It is possible. Viewers voted deciding on what they saw. Once, Aditi Gowitrikar and Tanaaz Iraani pulled off your pants near the swimming pool… I was shocked. I felt they should not have done it but then I presumed that it was an accident and I forgave them. Now when I came out, I am told that the media aired the clipping for one whole day and it certainly was controversial. Weren’t you uncomfortable being a cross-dresser for a week? Nobody wished to take the hand grenade which Rohit had to offer to one of us. So I decided to take it up on me. I always wished to do something the rest wouldn’t do. This task was a challenge; I decided to entertain the viewers dressed up like a woman and behave like one.I tried to project women from two different walks of life – rural and urban. I had fun. If you had to go again, would you change your game? I had never entered with an agenda so even if I get a chance to go again in the House I wouldn’t change myself. I have been like this as a child. I do what I am good at, bringing smile on others’ faces. Do you crack jokes in real life too? No, I am different from what you see on-screen. I am a serious guy in real life who would be completely engrossed in reading the newspaper,aloof from the rest of the world. I am like an ordinary man when I am at home. Yes, I make people laugh but when off camera, I am different. Who do you think should go till the end? I think Poonam Dhillon and Vindu, they are playing smartly.