EXCLUSIVE: Rajeev Khandelwal recalls people’s judgement on him taking ‘panga’ with Ekta Kapoor with his exit from Kahiin Toh Hoga; reveals success of Left Right Left felt a victory

Actor Rajeev Khandelwal rose to fame after starring in Ekta Kapoor’s hit show Kahiin Toh Hoga. He essayed the role of Sujal Garewal where he received immense love from fans. Soon, he decided to quit the show and people were shocked to see Rajeev leaving a hit show. People started giving him labels like he took ‘panga’ with Ekta Kapoor and how he has attitude after becoming a big star. However, during a candid chat with Bollywood Bubble, Rajeev Khandelwal revealed that he was scared from the inside and felt insecure post the exit.

Rajeev Khandelwal Recalls people’s reaction to him quitting Kahiin Toh Hoga

He told us, “Not at all. In fact, I feel so proud that I had the calibre to quit the show. When you are coming from a small town to live in Mumbai, to come into this crowd and suddenly gain success overnight and popularity, it is not easy to detach yourself. I didn’t even know that I had such mental strength. But I think the love I received was at such a high level that I can’t even express it. It was at such a level that I felt, ‘I have to live up to their expectations’. I was in debt and people were not understanding. It was actually becoming a burden on me. If I hadn’t taken that step, because, at that time, you get a lot of well-wishers.“

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“With a lot of people giving you advice, you almost start to tilt towards what they are saying, thinking they are right. They’d say things like, ‘He went crazy after that show. He remained a one-show wonder. Did you see him on TV after that serial? This is just TV; why get so emotional? Make as much money as you can; this is Bombay. Don’t you understand? You are getting money; in a year, you can build another house, then have a bank balance, and make fixed deposits’. All these thoughts are very tempting. Actually, not going with what the world was saying was risky. Now it doesn’t seem like a risk, but at that time, it was like showing a front to the world while inside, you are scared, thinking, “What will happen?” You are not making enemies, but you are antagonising people,” he continued.

Shares people started labelling him post his exit

Furthermore, the Aamir actor recalled people’s judgement and his journey post quitting the hit show. He said, “People’s first impression was that I wanted to do films because I thought I had become a big star. You have to fight these labels that people put on you, even if you don’t want them. People would say, “He has a lot of attitude. He messed with Ekta.” Nobody knew that I was just as insecure inside. I was thinking, “Okay, I’ve made the decision, now what will I do?” And then, if the next show fails, but when you come out of it and do a show like Left Right Left. It feels like a victory 10 times bigger than if you stick to a safe thing.“

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“You might fall, you might come to the verge of drowning, but when you swim back up, that high is something only I can experience. The next show I did was Time Bomb, which nobody saw. Very few people did, and I had high hopes. I wanted to prove myself with that show, proving that I could do action, too, but it didn’t work. Then you feel like you have to go back to where you were,” Khandelwal added.

Feels Left Right Left show’s success was a victory to him

After his second show tanked, he bagged Left Right Left show on a small channel. Khandelwal said, “And then you work on SAB TV, which was the smallest channel at that time. I knew the headline would be, “Aasmaan se gira kajhoor mein atka” because I had messed with Star Plus and now I was doing a show on SAB TV. But my thought was to make that show successful on SAB TV. If this show on SAB TV works, it is better than any show on Star Plus. If a small channel can be made big, that’s a victory. Again, the show became big, not me, but the victory was huge. If a big channel gets a rating of four just by running a blank screen and SAB TV gets a rating of four, which is a tiny channel, then that’s a victory.“

Watch the full interview here

Also read: EXCLUSIVE: Rajeev Khandelwal reveals REAL reason behind quitting Kahiin Toh Hoga show; adds, “Log samajte the ki…”