“Life Mein Ek Baar” returns to Fox Traveller this month. While the first season of the series focused on the journey of Purab Kohli and a group of his friends, this time around the network has roped in actors Barbara Mori, Yana Gupta, Archana Vijaya, Diandra Soares and Kirat Bhattal. The show, billed as a ‘bucket list’ trip, was shot over three weeks in January and February this year.
“It is an adventure show set in Cape Town, but it also shows the journeys of and bonding between five girls,” explains Kirat. If she had any apprehensions about doing the show, they were allayed by a phone call from her friend and fellow participant Archana Vijaya. “I like the outdoors and adventure sports, so when she called me and said we are going to be doing things like skydiving, she needed to say no more,” Kirat explains.
Apart from skydiving and gyrocopters, the show also sees the participants trying their hand at cooking traditional African food, and bonding over concerts. Born in Liberia, Kirat had more of a familiarity with Africa than the other participants. “I wasn’t so excited till I got to Cape Town; there’s just so much to do there that you can never be bored,” she says.
Archana, who had never been to South Africa, counts being called on stage to perform alongside Afrikaans rapper Jack Parow and visiting a home for the disabled as two of the most memorable experiences there. “I was so inspired by the people I met there. They are so unfortunate and yet so happy that by the time I left the home I had a smile on my face,” she says.
Although Kirat and Archana are friends, they didn’t know the other participants as well. “Everyone kind of knew one person in the show and things just flowed from there,” Kirat explains. Which is a welcome bit of a change after the scores of catfights one is subjected to on other reality shows. “The fact that five girls are being lumped together could turn out to be anything, but thankfully it didn’t. Even if they wanted us to fight it wouldn’t happen,” Kirat laughs.
A ‘bucket list’ for globetrotting celebrities strikes one as being odd, unwarranted even, for isn’t ticking things off it a part of the job description? “A lot of my work is travel but I’ve never been able to pack in so much in such little time. In a span of 18 days, I did 40 activities. I got hit on my face by a shark’s tail. So it was all about conquering my fears and doing the things I always wanted to do,” Archana says.
(“Life Mein Ek Baar”premieres on March 18 and will air every Monday and Tuesday at 10 p.m.)
