‘Diana is a good friend, but I like Sonel’

n television circuits they are calling him India's first reality television star. It's not everyday that a common man wins not one, but two much talked about reality shows, beating 'favourites' in one year Former dhaba owner, Sahranpur's Ashutosh Kaushik's story seems scripted right out of a movie.

Ashutosh, who won Roadies 5 earlier also pipped favourites Raja Chowdhury and Zulfi Syed to win Bigg Boss — Season 2, walking off with a handsome prize money of Rs 1 crore. Small wonder then that his is the face that's dominating prime time news television and reams of prints space is being dedicated to him. Predictably, Ashutosh is floating on cloud nine and admits that he wouldn't mind doing "more reality shows" and is now gunning for Bollywood glory. "I am ready to do any kind of role that comes to me. I don't want to pick or choose roles yet."

The new television crorepati says, he is not going to spend his money partying around, and is going to invest in a house instead. "I want to move to Mumbai with my family, so I am planning to buy a house. I doubt, I'll have any money left to buy things for myself after that," he avers.

From being a nobody to a television celeb, life has really changed for Ashutosh. But he prefers to be grounded, "God's blessing has given me so much in life. Earlier only people in my village knew me, today almost everyone knows who I am."

For those of you who have always felt reality shows are scripted, Ashutosh firmly says, "Durga maa ki kasam sab sach hai. I have never been given any scripts for the reality shows I did. I am just the way I appear. I admit I did play up to the gallery a bit, but the audience loved it. Their trust and affection translated in my victory."
Ashutosh also seems proud of what he is and admits that he's only studied till Class XII and not been able to complete college, can "speak only Hindi" and has spent the last few years "running a dhaba."

During Roadies and Bigg Boss 2, he had been linked with co-contestants Sonel Singh and Diana Hayden respectively. Ashutosh confesses, "Diana is just a good friend, but I like Sonel. And she (Sonel) likes me too. At the moment she's angry with me. So, I'll have to sort our misunderstanding."