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'Bigg Boss' is a crash course in real life: Dubai-based actor Sara Arfeen Khan
The 'Singham Again' and 'Total Siyapa' star talks about developing a thick skin in showbiz while staying in for the long haul, and the need for self love
- PUBLISHED: Mon 28 Jul 2025, 3:25 PM UPDATED: Mon 28 Jul 2025, 3:28 PM
As much as it is speculated that reality shows are scripted and dramatised, former Bigg Boss inmate, the no-nonsense, actor and women's coach Sarah Arfeen Khan feels otherwise.
"It has strengthened my bond with my husband though several people tried to pull us apart in the show. Quite like what happens in real life," she laughs. Her husband, life coach Arfeen Khan was an inmate as well. The couple and their six-year-old twins live between Dubai and Mumbai.
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Sarah was last seen in the Rohit Shetty movie Singham Again, and has been part of films such as Total Siyapaa, and noted television serials. "Bigg Boss was a crazy ride. I went in with the intention of having fun. When I walked in with Arfeen, we were targeted first. All of them wanted to break us and tried to pit us against each other because they felt that we symbolised double power. Honestly, people like to see warring couples on TV. People enjoy drama and Bigg Boss is all about drama in real life."
That's why she suggests that people who are looking for long-term relationships should enter the Bigg Boss house as a couple. ”It's really a crash course in real life. If you sustain, then you are sorted for life.”
In Bigg Boss, nomination is a process where housemates vote to put fellow contestants up for potential eviction from the show. Each week, contestants nominate one or more housemates they want to see leave the house. The contestants with the most nominations are then put up for a public vote, and the contestant with the fewest public votes is eliminated.
“When I started nominating people, it felt weird at first but then I realised how important it is to be non diplomatic and say it the way it is. It is tremendously liberating.”
It's a practice she has adopted in her real life. "Often, we tend to walk out of sticky situations, to avoid confrontation, but in the Bigg Boss house, I didn't have that space and raw emotions emerged.”
So, how much of the show is about acting and how much is real? "There is a lot of acting in Bigg Boss because people can fake it. But I cannot and my reactions were natural. People trigger you and you cannot act unbothered all the time." Sara explains no one is handed a script though the makers have a script in place.
So, what next for the actor, wife and mother of two? "I have shot a couple of music videos.” Her life has largely been unplanned — right from the time she was approached for a Star One show in London at 21, while she was at a restaurant and on the next table sat a producer. She then went on to do powerful roles on TV. "I hated the ‘kitchen politics,’ type of soaps and debuted in a powerful role based on the story of Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. It was called Dhoond Legi Manzil Hamein, directed by Sanjay Surkar. She was then approached for a travel show for the Epic channel, where she covered religious places of India.
Inspired by her husband life coach Arfeen Khan who has an impressive list of celebs as clients, she decided to work with women. "I have studied early child development and I always feel that once a child is born, the focus is always on the child and less on the mother. So I teach women the importance of self love. Women need to show up for themselves apart from being nurturers, caregivers and being just professionals.”
After Bigg Boss, she admits that she is a bit lost because there is a dearth of star managers in Mumbai.
"I have so many friends from the Bollywood film industry and have introduced many newcomers to them. Those people end up getting roles, I don't (laughs). I have realised that in Bollywood, it's not just enough to know people personally. You have to carve out your own journey and if it is written for you, it will happen."
A word of advice from Sara to aspiring actors. "You need to be thick skinned, ready to be judged, trolled and booed. A career in cinema is not merely about opportunities, glamour, talent and good looks. You have to have the skin of a pachyderm (laughs)." She also dissuades newcomers to trust someone completely and keep to their boundaries.
“Don't go all out till you are sure. We can end up trusting the wrong people but we can always draw boundaries and keep ourselves out of trouble. Draw that boundary and draw it fiercely,” she says.