She has a predecessor in Rakhi Sawant. TV actress Ratan Rajput is unsure if her televised 'swayamvar' will meet its due end with a wedding, but she has a special, "P2 formula" of choosing her future groom.
"It's very important to live practically these days...and for that you need both 'pyaar' (love) and 'paisa' (money)...that's my P2 formula of finding my groom," said the vivacious Ratan, who has 16 boys to choose from, in
her swayamvar "Ratan Ka Rishta" on Imagine TV.
"I don't want to run after work and money all my life, I want to live a balanced life. There's nothing wrong if I say money is important and that I do look forward to being with a man who can take care of my emotional and
monetary needs," Ratan told.
The show will go on air May 30.
Dressed in a maroon and beige lehenga, the charm on Ratan's face matches that of any prospective bride. She has been staying at the Shiv Vilas resort on the Delhi-Jaipur highway shooting for the show. She is busy
taking the "most crucial decision" of her life.
"When I came here, I felt like I am already done with my 'bidaai' from my parents' home. I felt the same nervousness that one perhaps feels before leaving the parents' house and going to a new house.
I felt
this is my new house, where I have to take one of the most crucial decisions of my life. I definitely have butterflies in my stomach, but I also have elephants and rats running with them," said the actress who featured in
"Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo".
So will we see "Ratan Ka Rishta" end with a grand marriage ceremony a la Rahul Mahajan's wedding in the previous season, or like Rakhi Sawant's broken engagement following the first season of the swayamvar?
The 20-year-old retorts: "I don't want to lie. Does anyone know what will happen tomorrow? So how can I say?"
"I want to get married, I am looking for boys, but I can't claim that I definitely will. I believe in living every moment of life; so I am living these moments happily. But, again, the very fact that I am talking about the
swayamvar so confidently means I am serious. Hopefully I will find my match here," she said.
Ratan received a total of 54,863 wedding proposals after the announcement of her swayamvar. Out of those, 16 prospective grooms, mostly from small towns like Haridwar, Aligarh and Rishikesh but settled in metro
cities or even abroad, have been selected for the show.
The irony is that none of the participants is from Ratan's home state, Bihar, where she was born to a retired joint commissioner (sales tax) and a homemaker.
"I don't have to get married to a state. My husband may be from anywhere - Bihar, Punjab or Maharashtra or abroad. A good family, a good man, is all I want. Videshi or desi, Bihar or Uttar Pradesh, these things don't
matter. I respect everyone," she said, clearly giving a taste of her maturity level.
What about her acting career? Will Ratan be able to leave that if her groom demands?
"See, it's not going to be a decision by me alone after the wedding - it will depend on my life partner too. But I do expect that my husband will let me continue with my career because what I am today is because of my
work.
"And this is not a condition, this is an adjustment that I will demand. If I am ready to make an adjustment by reducing my work hours from 24 hours to 12 hours, I think a person who loves me unconditionally would
agree to do that much adjustment," she said, flashing a million-dollar smile.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 12:31 IST