Mumbai, Feb 22, 2021, IANS
Television actress Rubina Dilaik was declared winner of Bigg Boss season 14, in a star-studded grand finale that started on Sunday night and went into the early hour of Monday.
Rubina came into the reality show with a huge fan base she had earlier garnered with her roles in shows such as Shakti: Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki and Chotti Bahu, and she took home the Bigg Boss trophy plus Rs 36 lakh.
Over 140 days of battle inside the house had seen Rubina maintain her position all along as a strong contender for the trophy. She defeated Rakhi Sawant, Aly Goni, Rahul Vaidya and Nikki Tamboli in the grand finale.
Rakhi, who entered the show as a challenger in the middle of the season and created some fireworks in the later episodes, was admired for her dose of entertainment in the show. She chose to walk out by taking a briefcase with Rs 14 lakh in the final.
After walking out, Rakhi said on the stage: "I am very happy with this. I will pay for my mother's hospital bills with this (money). Initially I did not want to take it but Vindu Dara Singh said that you will not win because everyone here is very big."
Talking about her decision, show host Salman Khan said Rakhi took the right call by walking out with the briefcase.
The top five contestants were also seen performing before Rubina was feted with the winner's tag.
Rakhi performed her famous numbers such as Pardesiya, Dekhta hai tu kya and social media content maker Yashraj Mukhate's Rakhi's Bigg Boss mash-up Saandni.
Salman was seen enjoying her performance as he grooved and whistled. After her performance he was heard praising her: "Rakhi, what do you do! After a really long time I saw an entertaining performance."
He described her dance as "outstanding".
Aly Goni and Jasmin Bhasin, who are fondly called Jasly by their fans, put up a stunning water act on the number Zara zara.
Rahul and Ali performed on tracks such as Yeh dosti, Main khiladi tu anari. Nikki Tamboli joined the boys. The trio performed on rapper Badshah's Genda phool.
Rubina and Rahul had a dance-off on the number Allah duhai hai from Salman's Race 3.
The Bigg Boss 14 grand finale also saw a motley of Bollywood personalities such as Dharmendra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Nora Fatehi, Riteish Deshmukh, Dharmesh Yelande, Tushar Kalia adding glamour to the night.
Veteran actor Dhamendra, whom Salman tagged as "Darling" of decades, "most handsome hero" and his favourite actor, entered the show on the number Yamla pagla deewana.
While talking to the contestants and host, the 85-year-old veteran said: "I did not become an actor for fame. I saw Dilip saab and I saw the love. That is what I wanted."
Salman, Dharmendra and Rakhi later re-enacted an iconic scene from Sholay.
Madhuri, Dharmesh, Tushar were present in Bigg Boss to promote their upcoming dance based reality show Dance Deewane 3. Nora, who was a contestant in the ninth season, set the stage on fire with her performance on numbers like O saki saki and Garmi.
While talking to Rahul, Rubina and Nikki, Nora said: "Bahut saare memories aa rahi hai (several memories are coming back)."
One of the highlights of the show was when Salman shook a leg with Nora. He was seen performing the hook steps of Nora's hit dances such as Dilbar, "O saki saki, and Garmi with her.
Another highlight was Salman dancing with former contestant Sonali Phogat on the number Tip tip barsa paani from the 1994 film Mohra.
Also present at the finale were eliminated housemates Jaan Kumar Sanu, Pavitra Punia, Eijaz Khan, Kashmira Shah, Rahul Mahajan, Arshi Khan, Shehzaad Deol, Jasmin Bhasin, Shardul Pandit, Naina Singh and Devoleena Bhattacharjee.
Friends and family of the top five housemates attended the grand finale, too.
Salman also announced about the auditions of Bigg Boss season 15. However he did not divulge too much.