'I wanted to be an athlete'

But Hrishant Goswami, the host of Channel V’s upcoming reality show Love Kiya Toh Darna Kya, has done just that. Since 2004, when he emerged as the winner of ‘Gladrags Manhunt’, Hrishant’s career has been on an upward track. He has done advertisements for several brands, and was one of the contestants on the reality show ‘Bigg Boss’.

Now that he has been chosen as the host of Love Kiya Toh Darna Kya, Hrishant believes he finally has a platform to reach out to the masses.

Modelling happened for Hrishant entirely by chance. “I wanted to be an athlete. But that didn’t work out,” he says. He moved to Mumbai in 2001 to model, and was encouraged to enter the ‘Gladrags Manhunt’ contest by one of his cousins. This wasn’t a decision that Hrishant had to think about twice.

“If you’re a male model, ‘Gladrags’ can pretty much set your life. It grooms you and gives you a lot of recognition,” he says.

He received many modelling assignments since then, but chose to take some time off to travel. When he returned to Mumbai, he realised that he had been out of the circuit for a while.

“I needed to make a comeback. I approached the network about contesting in ‘Bigg Boss’, and everything just seemed to fall into place after that,” he says.

‘Bigg Boss’ was a boon for Hrishant, and he admits this frankly. It gave him a chance to understand his own strengths and weaknesses and was also the perfect platform to get recognised by members of the film fraternity, which was especially important to Hrishant as he wants to be an actor someday.

“In this industry, nobody knew me personally. There were a lot of misconceptions about me. I’m very reserved, and this was often perceived as arrogance,” he says.

But appearing on ‘Bigg Boss’ changed all that, as it gave the public a chance to see him on a personal level. “It changed people’s perceptions of me in a good way,” Hrishant says, gratefully.

Hrishant is excited about hosting Love Kiya Toh Darna Kya.  The show deals with new-age couples who face pressure from their families and society. As the host, Hrishant will mentor and strengthen the relationships of people from all walks of life.

“It’s a cool, never-been-done-before concept. We try to reach out to the families
of these couples and tell them that India has evolved. Why should we hang on to
old values?”