‘I Will Never Be A Traitor To The People I Love’

Lakshmi Manchu signed up for The Traitors thinking it would be a fun, reality experiment.

What she didn’t expect was the emotional whiplash that followed.

The actor-producer tells Rediff‘s Shristi Sahoo why the experience left her shocked. “There were a bunch of lions and I was thrown in like a goat.”

How did The Traitors make you feel?

It was like a whack.

I was like, what the heck is this?

What is going on here?

I love making friends and meeting new people. And yes, these were all your friends but you turned around and they were talking about you.

Once I came out of the show, I needed therapy to really understand and separate myself from what had just happened on the show.

It was quite tumultuous for me, honestly.

Who do you think consistently outdid the competition?

I think I was the underdog. I had no clue what was going on111111.

There were a bunch of lions and I was thrown in like a goat.

Everyone came in strong.

Initially, I thought Ashishji (Vidyarthi) was just sleeping but be it Uorfi (Javed) or Jannat (Zubair). everybody bought in their A-game.

It was not a fun experience because I was at the edge of my seat all the time.

I think my heart rate was 150 throughout!

I’m not a person of strategy, so I don’t know if I would have played it differently.

Did you make any friends on the show?

After the show, I feel this show gave me some beautiful friends.

Raj and I met on the show, but I know if I call him at 3 am, I know he will drop everything and be there.

Sahil (Salatia) is also one of those guys.

Raftaar and Jasmin (Bhasin) have become family.

I was at Raftaar’s wedding.

Now, Jasmin, his wife and I have become this trio and we talk to each other at least four times a week.

Each one has a little piece of my heart because I got to see who they are apart from what we see of them on social media.

What drew you to this show?

Oh, they kept saying, ‘Go be yourself, Lakshmi’. I was like, okay.

That’s all I wanted because I put in thousands of hours of work, coming from the family that I do, to separate me from my last name, or my tag, or how I was raised.

So I put in a lot of work to just understand who am I without any of these.

But going there, that really did not reflect.

It just tore me apart.

What makes The Traitors so different from other reality shows in India?

I have just moved to Bombay.

This was not a format where you’re locked up in a house for three months.

This was their main launch in India; there will not be a bigger noise.

I always like to put myself in places I haven’t been, things I haven’t done.

As an artist, that’s the only way you can grow — keep shocking your system and doing things that people don’t expect of you.

All the cards felt right for me, that’s why I agreed.

Is betrayal necessary today?

There choices in life where you can do shortcuts and benefit out of them.

Being a producer and actor, I see this all the time.

But ultimately, you’re walking yourself home and you have got to be genuine, honest.

Even with a gun to my head, I will never be a traitor to the people I love.

Even to people I don’t like, I can’t be a traitor.

I may put them out of my life but will never backstab them.