Rannvijay

Name: Rannvijay Singh Singha

Born on: 16th March, 1983

Height: 6'

Education: Went to 9 different schools. Graduated from Hansraj College, Delhi University with a Bachelor's of Commerce

First Job: As a construction worker, in New Jersey, US

Shoe size: Bata 9/ UK 9/ Swiss 10

One Secret: Rannvijay is a superhero freak. He collects action figures, comic books, jeans, chappals and even superhero underwear. His favorite comicbook superhero is Wolverine - "his attitude is unbelievable. Very sardar-like". A close second is Batman.

Tete-a-tete with your VJ

You won the first season of MTV Roadies. And since then, you've become a VJ and the host of Roadies. What made you audition for Roadies? And how did you become a VJ?

After graduation, I was all set to join the army in 2 months. My family has been in the Indian Army for 6 generations. My dad is a brigadier, my brother is in the navy. Then the Roadies auditions came along, and I thought about it - on one hand, I would have had a 40 year career set out before me, with no problems - housing, medical, everything would be set with the Army. And on the other hand, was MTV and the uncertainty that came along with auditioning. But my dad supported me. He didn't want me to regret it 20 years down the line.

Funnily enough, when I auditioned, and throughout Roadies, I just knew I would make it. Plus, it was the bike that motivated me to audition in the first place. I just really wanted to win the bike! Then after the show ended, I was pretty popular?people liked me. The MTV producers asked me to try Veejaying and not join the army. The liked the way I interacted with people. I was very camera shy, but I thought it would be fun. I think that was the hand of fate. I ended up in a totally different profession.

And as a child, what did you want to do?

I wanted to be a sports star - a basketball player. I wanted to get paid playing my favorite sport.

You've done a few films too? Do you plan to continue making movies?

Yes, I recently did Mumbai Cutting. And I have a couple of films lined up for this year. Once I became a VJ, I knew I'd be doing movies. I'm a very filmy person, as in, I watch a lot of movies; I'm a movie buff and a film critic.

So if you had to choose between MTV glory and Bollywood fame?

Done the former, waiting for the latter!

You mentioned you're a bike lover? When did the love start, and how many bikes do you own?

I'm crazy about bikes really. Everyone knows me as a biker. On my 1st birthday, I was given a tricycle. I rode it well! And by the time I was 8, I was teaching kids older than me how to ride cycles. By 14, I used to maro bikes from people?as in, ask them to let me ride. Then my dad bought me a bike - a Hero Honda Splendor. It's a Sports bike. I have a few other bikes - a Suzuki GSX 600, a Kawasaki Ninja, a 225 CC modified Hero Honda Karisma which I won on Roadies, a 50 CC Pocket bike and a Royal Enfield Bullet.

Do you play any sports apart from basketball? What do you do to maintain your body?

Yes, I'm a complete sportsman. I play all kinds of sports and I love outdoor activities. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs. My adrenaline rush is being in the outdoors and doing something adventurous. That's the high that comes with Roadies - I try all the tasks myself. I play a lot of basketball. I like playing soccer in the rain, Table Tennis in the office. And I go to the gym to run once in a while, or when I'm doing Roadies.

Do you believe in God?

100%. I'm not religious but I believe I have a one to one connection with God. I imagine talking to someone. I love Gurunanak. I love any religious place. I find them very peaceful.

Who matters to you the most in your life?

My younger brother. My mum and my dad. And my friends too.

The perfect girl to you is someone who?

Well, beautiful or not, that girl needs to be confident and carry herself confidently. However beautiful she is, if she's dumb, she's dumb. If she's not stylish, it's okay. But don't wear things you end up looking silly in. That's what wannabes do. She should have a firm head over her shoulders. And needs to be spontaneous, because I am, I'm very adventurous.

Aids awareness is one of causes you support right?

Yes. But I also am involved with Fight Back, which is a network 18 initiative to fight against female oppression in every form. Raghu is also involved now.

MTV Roadies 2

Season 2 auditioned over 10,000 wannabe roadies across six cities in India. All tried, some cried but only 7 made it to the first cut. These guys will travel from Kolkata to the Wagah border, namely the historic Grant Trunk Road. The not so silk route will take our roadies across Lucknow, Allahbad, Bodh Gaya, Agra and more. Sure enough, there were tasks tested the physical and mental endurance of the super seven. But more exciting than the journey itself, was to see first hand, how the seven strangers turned into friends, enemies, maybe even lovers. Kuch bhi ho sakta hai.

MTV Roadies 1

Hunk Rannvijay emerged as the heart-throb of Roadies 1. Season 1 witnessed 3 vote outs, a threat from a roadies father, lots of swear words, tears and then some. What else do you expect when you put 4 boys and 3 girls on a 40 day journey from Chennai to Chail. Without parents. With a chance to become famous. The journey itself was filled with challenging tasks, adventure and some totally unscripted masala. Even today roadies forums are buzzing. True enough MTV Hero Honda Roadies lived up to becoming India's biggest reality adventure series. For Season Two, the stakes were higher - the most popular roadie walked away with 5 lakh rupees, all those who completed the show won Karizmas. To make things just that much more exciting, viewers were be able to poll via sms and select their favourite roadie.

Format

The selected Roadies are provided with Hero Honda Karizma bikes to travel on a pre-decided route. Each episode features a vote-out, at the end in which the Roadies eliminate one of their fellow Roadies by an anonymous vote, thereby decreasing the number of Roadies carrying on with the journey.
Each episode consists of number of tasks or challenges which they have to perform. These tasks can be either "Money tasks" or "Immunity tasks". In the "Money tasks", the Roadies add cash to their account on successful completion of these tasks while in "Immunity tasks", the team or roadie which wins gets Immunity. The team or roadie which attains Immunity becomes safe from vote-out i.e its members cannot be voted-out in that particular episode. The above mentioned tasks are either team-based (i.e. performed between two or more teams) or individual-based (i.e. performed one-on-one). At the end of scheduled journey, the last Roadie who survives till the end is declared the winner and walks away with the total cash accumulated by performing the money tasks.
The fifth season was the first time when an Advantage task was introduced. The winner(s) of an Advantage task get(s) some advantage in the vote out, which may include multiple votes or being the only one(s) to vote in the vote-out.
The Indian version of the show is based on the original MTV reality show Road Rules which started in the year 1995.