Virender Sehwag-hosted Rise and Fall Season 2 premiered on Saturday, and the fireworks have already begun. The much-anticipated rivalry between Swara Bhasker and Shehzad Poonawalla erupted in the second episode, with the two getting into a heated war of words. The tension had been brewing since the premiere episode, when Shehzad ignored Swara after she entered the penthouse. He later made body-shaming remarks about her behind her back and brought up an old incident in which Swara was allegedly ignored by Salman Khan while dancing at his Ganpati Visarjan a few years ago.

On Saturday, after Swara entered the show, Shehzad ignored Swara and spoke behind her back. He said, “Once during a visarjan, one bhai was dancing, Swaraji, to get mileage and footage, danced at somebody else’s Visarjan, and he also ignored her. I am in the same ignore mode. We don’t have a personal issue; our opinions clash, and for that, I can go to any extent.” Later, Shehzad, Manish Kashyap, and Siwet Tomar made body-shaming remarks about Swara and said that she had only been eating ever since she entered the show.

 

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On Sunday, after all contestants joined the show, Virender Sehwag confronted Shehzad Poonawalla for ignoring Swara Bhasker. He said, “Shehzad, you spoke a lot about Swara Bhasker on social media; you tried to provoke her. Now, when she came inside the tower, you didn’t even speak to her. Awaaz baith gayi hai kya?” Reacting to this comment, Shehzad said, “Mera swar dabane wala abhi tak koi maai ka laal paida nahi hua. But yes, I don’t sit with negativity. If you poke me, I won’t spare you. It’s my life’s motto: opinions are paramount, and I cannot budge from them. Nobody’s father feeds me, so if anyone thinks that they can flaunt their elitism, ideas, or identity, they can leave it at home. If you come on to me, I will answer back. I am not scared of fighting; you must have seen my debates.”

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Sehwag, in response, said that he had not seen a single debate of Shehzad. His answer left Swara laughing. When Sehwag pointed out Swara’s reaction, Shehzad added, “I ignore such people. She is used to being ignored. Haven’t you seen her video? (laughs)” Swara also hit back at Shehzad’s comment. She told Virender Sehwag, “Ignoring someone means you won’t acknowledge someone, but he has made 36 tweets, 3-4 videos, and over 50000 messages. Rather than asking for votes for him, his team is appealing to people to send me to the basement. That’s not what ignoring means.”

Soon after, a heated argument broke out between Swara Bhasker and Shehzad Poonawalla. Shehzad said, “Whoever speaks against the country, we will speak against them.” Swara hit back, “This is a game, not an election, and this game won’t save his drowning political career.” Shehzad responded, “Don’t worry about my career; try to make your husband win first.” Swara then said, “My husband got a party ticket at 32, not like you, who has to knock on several doors hoping to get a ticket. In this show, you are also trying to whitewash that image.”

Replying to Swara, Shehzad said, “Don’t worry about me. If I wanted to win elections, I would have stayed in the party. I walked out of it and stood up on my own.” Swara tried to end the argument and told Sehwag, “I know a lot about him. If I say that here, his standard will drop miserably, even though he is used to such low standards; I don’t want to do it. I am not interested in kichad-matti.”

Swara Bhaskar calls Shehzad Poonawalla a troll

Before entering Rise and Fall Season 2, Swara Bhasker exclusively spoke to SCREEN and called Shehzad Poonawalla a troll. She said, “I have just discovered him, actually. And he has been pitching himself like that. For me, he’s a troll. And maybe now an elevated troll. I don’t really see what his other credentials are. And it seems to me that once I agreed to do the show, they needed a rivalry. That’s how they found him. So he should say thank you to me. Sounds like he’s in this show because of me. And he’s milking it; he’s only doing interviews, talking about me like he’s obsessed. He’s made three or four videos and shared tweets. I have many trolls, and he is one of them.”