She is coming to Khatron Ke Khiladi 15 with a line that has fans on side: being a mom has made her unafraid. The actor, who now has twin daughters, views this not as a time to put the brakes on but as a chance to hit the reset button and make some bolder calls in her career.
“Fearlessness is what I would say has come about since I became a mother,” she puts it. “A woman has a certain power once she is a matriarch. You see it in how you put yourself out there, in the way you deal with people and your job.”
Then there is the matter of how women are put in a box on camera. “We are supposed to be in our saris, be all dreamy, sing a song or be the one in need of saving,” she says. “But when you are on something like Khatron Ke Khiladi, you end up surprising everyone, even yourself. We have a few things in us that don’t show on the surface.”
How being a mom is changing the way she takes risks
Dilaik will be the first to tell you about the oddity of it all: the more you want to protect, the braver you have to be. “I am a mother now and my fears for my girls are only natural. Whether that works in my favour or not, we’ll find out on the show,” she says.
And she isn’t just going by the old rulebook. Having been on the 12th season before, she won’t let experience be a crutch. “You can’t really put the fear to rest because the stunts are so over the top they always get to you.”
Work, babies, and where to draw the line
It was no quick yes from behind the scenes. She put in three months of talks to make sure the production could work around her duties as a new parent. To her, that’s the sort of thing that should be par for the course in any office.
“Your world is split between what you want to do and what you are building for your kids,” she explains. “If I want to work my hours, I should be able to. Women shouldn’t have to put in a request for that; we should be in a position to demand it.”
She is blunt about it. “Without support from society, you are held back and can’t set an example. Then you are left with no option but to play it safe and stay home. We need to be backed if we are to take a risk.”
To those in charge and the ones watching, her point is simple:
– Don’t make ambition a price to pay for having boundaries
– Have a system in place for both the career and the home front
– Make room for flexibility as a given
Some star power for Khatron Ke Khiladi 15
The 15th season is in the works in Cape Town with Rohit Shetty at the helm. When it makes its way to Colors TV next month, you will see a good mix of TV regulars and some internet names.
You have Karan Wahi and Rithvik Dhanjani, Gaurav Khanna and Jasmin Bhasin. Vishal Aditya Singh, Avika Gor and Farrhana Bhatt are in, and then there is Avinash Mishra, Shagun Sharma, Ruhaanika Dhawan, Orry and Harsh Gujral to complete the cast.
Dilaik is looking at this as a Rubina Dilaik 2.0. “I have been put through a wringer by motherhood that the other contestants haven’t had a taste of yet,” she tells them.
What’s in store
There is more to it than the physical toll. “I have an eye on hosting. I’d like to try my hand at a villain, be the Raavan for a change,” she says.
If she follows through, the industry may have to make room for it. For the audience, this run of the show is as much about a woman making her way back in with some clout as it is about the water, the heights and the rest of it.
