Payal Rohatgi Says Ekta Kapoor Turns Reality Shows Into TV Serials – ‘Woh Baat Lock Upp Season 2 Mein…’

Actor-model Payal Rohatgi believes reality television is changing its face and the makers should not turn unscripted shows into scripted dramas. Having been in reality TV herself, she said she hopes the second season of Lock Upp: Sach Ya Sazaa is true and not a “serial-like” format, as she described. Payal, who has been part of many popular reality shows like Bigg Boss, Nach Baliye, and the first season of Lock Upp, feels that such shows should focus on bringing out the contestants’ real personalities rather than creating fake storylines. Commenting on Ektaa Kapoor’s role over here, she shared her opinions.

Talking about the latest season of  , Payal confessed that she has not watched the show yet as she has been busy. While praising the concept of reality TV, Payal criticised certain producers for adding scripted elements to the show just for the sake of drama. In an interview with Hindustan Times, she said once reality shows start to look like daily soaps, they lose the authenticity that draws viewers in the first place.

Nach Baliye fame Payal said that producer Ektaa Kapoor allegedly tried to portray certain relationships and situations in a more dramatic way to boost television ratings. She said the storylines were crafted to look like fictional serials, rather than letting events happen organically. The translation of her quote reads, “The makers of a reality show shouldn’t turn it into a television serial. When I worked with Ektaa Kapoor on Nach Baliye, she tried to make the show feel like a daily soap because she said, ‘We need this kind of concept’.”

Payal claimed that when Mrunal Thakur was a contestant on Nach Baliye Season 7 with her, her pairing and love story with writer Sharad Tripathi was allegedly “staged” “because they wanted to present it in a certain way to boost the TRPs.” According to her, Ektaa “has a habit of making reality shows feel too much like television serials, and then they become fictional.”

The actor said she hopes Lock Upp Season 2 doesn’t follow a similar route. She opined that too many fiction shows make it tough for them to compete with long-running reality shows like Bigg Boss, which are still doing well because viewers feel they are more real.

Hosted by Riteish Deshmukh and Farah Khan, Lock Upp: Sach Ya Sazaa Season 2 has contestants from the world of television, digital space and social media. The show features Ram Kapoor, Dheeraj Dhoopar, Shivangi Joshi, Shilpa Shinde, Riyaz, Yogesh Rawat, Akanksha Choudhary and  .

The show, now streaming on Netflix, brings contestants in a prison-type setting competing in weekly challenges and eliminations to turn their lives around. As the competition heats up, Payal’s comments have sparked a fresh debate about how much reality TV should stay unscripted in an era increasingly dominated by dramatic storytelling.