Roshni Chopra has been evicted from Sahara One’s Jjhoom India. The svelte actress was one of the final three contestants. But luck did not favour her and she was eliminated. So now the fight for the title is between Sachin Tyagi and Varun Badola

Roshni however seemed disappointed with the turn of events but she maintains that she always expected such an outcome. We got in touch with the actress and tried to bring out the first take on the whole event from the actress herself.

How do you justify your elimination from Jjhoom India?
It was very much expected. I knew what was going on with the voting system. One could vote unlimited votes from the same number. I could not come to terms with this idea. I do not blame the participants. It is like overlooking the viewers’ liking for a particular singer. But I had already decided that I was going to play fair regardless of the chances that I may get evicted. The channel invited us to be a part of the show for which they paid us, but the bargain was that the participant had to pay back in terms of voting themselves. The channel took a commercial stand to the whole issue.

General public is not going to give unlimited votes to their favourite actor. If they really love you they will give you four or a maximum of five votes.

So have you expressed your discontentment to the channel?
Three weeks ago I requested the production house to show me the voting results. I feel as a contestant I had all the right to do so. I can exercise my right to information. I also e-mailed them asking the voting pattern and as to how many votes we were getting from the public.

So did you hear from the channel?
No, I did not get any reply from them. If you go according to the Constitution every citizen is entitled to just one vote but in such reality shows you can chip in any number of votes and that’s no offence. I think we live in a situation where cheating is allowed to perpetuate. I asked them to show me the audit but they did not. I think by doing so I was helping my co-actors who may become a part of such reality shows in future. I think the channel and the production should adopt a fair method so that the public and the deserving candidate do not get cheated. But I will still ask for the audit.

So is it another Rakhi Sawant in making?
No, not at all. Rakhi was making allegations at her co-contestants whereas I have issues regarding the voting pattern.

The show was not about judging the best singer but it was about the progress that a non-singer makes. So how would you rate yourself?
I am very happy with my journey. I have never sung in my life. Half of the contestants on Jjhoom knew almost everything about music. I did not know even the ABCD of music. Sachin Tyagi is a professional singer who has a music album under his name; Varun Badola knows a lot about music. Even Shekhar ji has cut an album recently.

Even your husband seemed to be elated about your progress?
Oh! He is a darling. I have been rehearsing day-in and day-out for the show for the last three months. He has been very supportive of me. Now I think we deserve a holiday.

Do you agree that the other two singers were more worthy of reaching the Grand Finale?
I think Sachin and Varun are very good singers and candidates to fight for the title. Sachin is a professional singer and Varun has put in a great amount of effort in learning music.

What do you have to say about the judges and their comments?
Oh! Shabana ji is such a darling. She is the best thing that could have happened to me on the show. After my eviction she even went on telling me that I am the 21st century’s best entertainer. Such a compliment coming from an actress like her really means a lot.

Even Mahesh ji is so cool. He summed up by saying that ‘Roshni you did not want to win it badly that is why you did not opt for such foul methods of voting. If you had adopted such methods I am sure you would not have got evicted’.

Where now from here?
I am getting a lot of offers strangely enough to become a professional singer. So I am planning to learn music as it is a blessing from God that I came to know of my hidden talent. Secondly, I will have to make up my mind as to whether I want to do more reality shows as an anchor, which I am getting offers for or should I stick to fiction. I am getting offers from films as well but I can’t talk about it now.

The final word on your mentor Vinod Rathod?
No, actually I think Vinod was not my mentor. I have always maintained even on the show that our vocal trainer Anand Vaidyanathan was my real mentor. He knew more than Vinod when it came to music. In fact Vinod not being a part of my training was a real blessing.