Dekho yar, we have talked enough about Kundra's fall from the first two weeks ka manipulator who looked like a mastermind and a strong player to becoming Shamita and Teja's lapdog, and most recently one half of the cringefest called TejRan. Personally, I am not a huge fan of his and frankly this is the first time I'm watching him in anything although I have known about him for years because of his involvement as a gang leader on Roadies.
But I have to say this: The narrative that Kundra is a bad player is totally wrong and woefully misinformed. He has played the game very well every week so far based on the feedback he has been getting. He has two major weaknesses: he is over-aggressive (as we saw with the Pratik incident) and he is over-image conscious. But I think the latter can be forgiven for a celebrity of his position, having worked for so long and earned a reputation. Haan, there is another factor that he does not scream and shout, and instead plays his game through manipulation. But in my opinion, that is good! He is a sharp player and knows how to keep his cool in difficult circumstances. Waisebhee Shukla and Asim have become stamped in people's head as a the angry young men of the blockbuster BB season. Good that this season's potential winner has different qualities to help him stand out.
1. The first few weeks the game was simple - make the map and get to the main house. Kundra naturally emerged into a leadership role among the junglewasis and took charge in internal decisions related to duties and responsibilities without being assigned captain officially.
2. His sharp instinct for reality shows became most evident when he and Vishal, along with the other junglewasis, perfectly executed the plan to create tension between the three main house members.
3. On the weekends, he kept on observing two obvious things: His game was being appreciated. And Shamita's game was being defended. Note the difference.
4. He made his biggest blunder by slamming Pratik. He spent the next few days terrified of the consequence so he started defending himself on camera so that he has a point to put forth if needed.
5. Salman/makers handled it with total favor to Kundra. He obviously saw, processed, and understood this. He probably has a contract and MG to protect himself from situations anyway, but I'm sure even this was unexpected as it was an open-and-close case of physical violence. He realized that the game is in his favor, but now he must protect his image.
6. When he was sanchalak with Shamita, he stayed away. The battle was too small for him to pick a fight against Shamita, who Salman has so far blindly defended. Many people didn't like this including me, but in hindsight I can understand that this is a good move.
7. When he started getting clear signals from makers that TejRan was working, he doubled on it. He basically showered the editing team with TejRan content. So much that they could make any story they wanted out of it, as they were being cute, funny, fighting, and flirty all within the same day. Teja also has a sharp mind so she played along. Who knows, maybe this was preplanned entirely.
8. Now that TejRan is established, Kundra knows he can't milk this cow nonstop especially when there are so many others in the house too and content gets repetitive. So this week, we are seeing the re-emergence of gamer Kundra. His sweet, soft-spoken, subtle manipulation of Umar yesterday is proof of this. Kundra has a skill to plant ideas in your head and make them think they are yours.
Obviously, his game is not perfect but I still think he has proven that he is one of the (probably THE, tied with Nishant) best player of the season. So many people are saying that he is a bad player despite all the reality shows he has done, but that is totally wrong. The makers are to blame for his downfall. The only mistake he made was getting physical with Pratik. Baki sab has been based on feedback and instinct for content.