Cinema VinesFarah Khan and co‑host Riteish Deshmukh have taken over as the new faces of Netflix’s reality series Lock Upp Season 2, replacing Kangana Ranaut. The pair stepped into a role that demands a blend of authority and empathy, a challenge Farah admitted she had foreseen when she first approached the production team.
During an interview with India Today, Khan revealed that the show has left her emotionally affected. “I had tears in my eyes,” she said, describing how the contestants’ stories—particularly Sufi Motiwala’s struggle with family rejection—touched her deeply. She added that the drama of redemption, secrets and raw human emotion sets Lock Upp apart from other reality formats like Bigg Boss.
When fans called her a “soft jailer,” Khan defended her approach. “I have told the makers that I will get emotionally involved. I am an emotional person,” she explained. She noted that if a contestant’s story resonated with her, it would inevitably affect her, and suggested that a stricter figure such as Kiran Bedi would have been a different kind of host.
The series, created by Ekta Kapoor, places contestants—known as inmates—inside a jail‑themed set where they compete in tasks and face eliminations. Season 1, which aired on ALTBalaji and MX Player, was hosted by Ranaut and won by Munawar Faruqui. Season 2 now streams exclusively on Netflix, featuring a roster that includes Sunita Ahuja, Harshad Chopda, Shivangi Joshi, Shreya Kalra, Riyaz Aly, Shresta Iyer, Dheeraj Dhoopar, Ram Kapoor, Yogesh Rawat, Akanksha Choudhary, Pamela Serena, Varun Yadav, Akanksha Chamola, Madhuri Jain Grover and Shilpa Shinde.
So far, Sunita Ahuja, Shresta Iyer and Madhuri Jain Grover have been eliminated from the new season, leaving the remaining contestants to vie for the coveted title.
