24 Apr : From making cow-dung cakes to milking a cow, eight Mumbai-bred celebs are battling it out living a thorough village life on a new reality show.
Set in Sialba Majri village near Chandigarh, the show named ‘Desi Girl’ has television and film stars including Monica Bedi, Sambhavna Seth, Kashmera Shah, Roshni Chopra, Anmol Singh, Rucha Gujarati, Ishitta Arun and Aushima Sawhney living the lives of a village belle.
“The show is not happening in a studio, it’s a real village in Punjab. The contestants have to live with real villagers and not actors. They also have to impress them to win the show as it is the villagers who are going to vote for them,” said Nikhil Madhok of Imagine TV.
The contestant who survives the grueling village life the best and gets most votes from the villagers will be titled the ‘Desi Girl’ in the end.
For most of them, it’s a journey back to their roots as they have been living a city life throughout.
“I was born here and then taken to Norway when I was eight months old. My father is a pure Punjabi at heart and he always used to tell me about life here. For me, this is an
opportunity to live the life my ancestors lived,” said Monica, who was earlier seen in reality show Bigg Boss.
Reality TV star Sambhavna Seth also had the same sentiments behind taking up the show.
“I can proudly tell my father that I have finally learned to speak Punjabi after coming here,” she said.
The stars have to live with villagers in their houses as a part of their family and also have to take part in their regular household chores.
“The most difficult part is waking up at 3:30 in the morning and milking the cow. I had to learn to do household work after coming here. For the first five days I thought I couldn’t live like this,” said Kashmera.
Actress and singer Ila Arun’s daughter Ishitta got a shock the day she came to live in the village.
“I was shocked to see a ‘khatiya’ instead of a double bed. I have never lived a village life before. But I am hoping that this experience will change me somehow and make me a
different person,” said Ishitta.