Payal Rohatgi – Hindi actress of ‘Bigg Boss – 2’ fame

Payal Rohatgi is a Hindi actress best known for her association with television soaps. She has also done a few supporting roles on Bollywood big screen. She has been a successful model too. She is quite active in social media platforms and is known for her controversial remarks, mostly related to religion. She gained popularity through Bigg Boss – Season 2 in 2008, where she appeared as a contestant. She is in relationship with actor-wrestler Sangram Singh since 2011.

She started her career as a model and participated in Femina Miss India 2000

Payal Rohatgi was born in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad in 1984. She grew up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She started her career as a model and holds an engineering degree in computer science. She modelled for popular brands like Amul, Nescafe and Nirma. She got noticed after she was featured in Cadbury’s Tempation. Later she appeared in a few music videos before joining films.

She participated in Femina Miss India pageant year 2000, alongside  Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta and Dia Mirza. Later she represented India internationally in Miss India Tourism and also won the title of Miss World Tourism in 2002. Her success in modelling career earned her break to films.

Her film journey was not successful

‘Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai’ in 2002 was her debut flick, where she became a part of the ensemble cast. After the film’s flop, she was seen in supporting roles and also a few item numbers. 36 China Town was her second release. Her role in Corporate got noticed. Dil Kabaddi, Ugly Aur Pagli, Plan, Rakt, Police Force etc are a few more roles in her brief Bollywood journey. She earned the image of a sex symbol through the brief journey in Bollywood.

She gained recognition through the reality show, Bigg Boss

She was a part of Bigg Boss – Season 2 in 2008, which brought her to spotlight. After appearing in an episodic role of Hum Ne Li Hai Shapath in 2013, she marked her TV debut through Humsafars in 2014. After she turned active in social media, many of her statements turned controversial. In 2019 her remarks on Nehru-Gandhi family ended her in jail as well. Earlier she claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru was not legitimate child of Motilal Nehru. Her Twitter account got suspended multiple times for various reasons. In 2020 she received a huge fan base following her support in demanding a fair CBI enquiry in Sushant Singh Rajput’s murder mystery.

Her relationship with Sangram Singh

She met wrestler, actor and motivational speaker Sangram Singh for the first time on the sets of reality show Survivor India. They have been in a relationship since 2011 and got engaged in 2014. They participated in dance reality show Nach Baliye 7, and stayed in the show till the 7th final episode. Sangram Singh was finalist of season seven of Bigg Boss in 2013 and has been awarded the title of World’s Best Wrestler by the World Wrestling Professionals. Sangram has always supported her when she makes statements in social media.

Payal Rohatgi – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She has been a brilliant student in academics and is a Gujarat board topper and computer engineer. However she always dreamt to join Bollywood, and hence pursued her career as an engineer.

2. She was romantically involved with her housemate Rahul Mahajan during the second season of Bigg Boss. Later she complained of physical assault, which resulted in the breakup.

3. It was also rumoured that she was dating South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs in year 2010.

4. She has appeared in music videos by rock band, Silk Route and Indipop artist, KK.

5. In 2010 she appeared in a theatre play, Four Play.

6. In 2012, Rohatgi alleged sexual harassment by Bollywood directors Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap.

7. She along with Sangram Singh was caught in a sting operation by Cobrapost and CNN/IBN openly asking black money.