Lucknow, Oct 1 (IANS) Sampat Pal, head of Gulabi Gang in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh, is likely to be one of the housemates in the sixth season of reality show “Bigg Boss”, going on air Sunday on Colors channel.
Confirming that “people from some channel” had come over to shoot at her house and had discussed with her if she was “okay with the idea of spending many days with 13 unknown faces in a locked house”, Pal told IANS that she was thrilled with the idea of going to the famous reality TV show.
“It all began with a phone call from Mumbai but I thought it to be a prank and disconnected the phone,” she recalls adding that several calls later she felt it was “something gambheer (serious)” and agreed for a meeting with the crew.
Last week a group of five people visited her, observed her lifestyle and shot some sequences of her house at Badausa village and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, the Colors channel remains tight-lipped about the 13 contestants who have been short listed to enter the Bigg Boss house. Once again Salman Khan is hosting the show.
Pal is known for taking up the cudgels on behalf of women facing domestic violence. Pal, who was married at the age of 12 years, went on to form the Gulabi Gang Feb 14, 2006. Initially, she worked with four women, but the women vigilante group has grown since and they campaign against abusive husbands and in-laws.
Recollecting how she faced protests and hostile reaction from people of her own family in Rauli Kalyanpur and Bharatkoop villages, Pal, mother of five, now has a reason to smile as her Gulabi Gang has 55,000 members around the country.
She appears okay with the format of the reality show and says if she gets a final call, she will be more than happy to spend “three months with unknown people”.
Recognising her hard work in the field of women empowerment, the Congress party had fielded her as its candidate for the Manikpur assembly seat, but she could not win.
Other than the fact that “Bigg Boss” is beckoning her, Pal has a long list of achievements to her name.
British daily Guardian had last year named her in the Top 100 Women list. A film was also made on her Gulabi Gang by a Norwegian film production house, while a documentary has recently been shot by a news channel.
She has a branch of her gang in France as well and a French book was also published on her in 2008.
If that is not enough, a commercial film titled “Pink Saris” based on her gang with Madhuri Dixit in the lead role is on the floors and is slated to be released March 8 next year on International Women’s Day.
(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
