When Ravi Kishan sent Chunky Panday back into his ‘pichla janam’ on reality show, he saw Britishers. Watch

In 2010, Chunky Panday went into his past life on national TV. The actor appeared on reality show, Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka, hosted by Ravi Kishan. On the show, Chunky underwent past life regression therapy to get a glimpse at his previous life. During the session, the actor said he could see his ‘past life’, and that he was killed on a ship in colonial India. Also read: Chunky Panday’s past life quest

Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka was a reality show that aired on NDTV Imagine for two seasons from 2009-11 and claimed to be based around the concept of reincarnation and the technique of past life regression. Celebrity guests appeared on the show, while psychologist Trupti Jayin conducted past life regression sessions for them.

A video from Chunky’s appearance on the show was recently shared online by a meme page on Instagram, which used the clip as an example of how ‘fake’ Indian reality shows are. In the clip, Ravi introduces the concept of the show, and how it helps people get to the bottom of their fears by facing traumas from past lives. During the session, Chunky said he saw his ‘past life’ in colonial India, where he was tasked with transporting gold to Goa during the British rule. He said he also saw a British girl, whose name he ‘recalled’ as Rebecca. Chunky said his ship was attacked and he died there. In the comments section, many remembered how they watched the show as children, while others said how absurd the premise was.

Past life regression has been criticised and discredited by the medical community, which calls it ‘unscientific’. Many critics also raised doubts about the processes shown on Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka, as it differed from a usual past life regression session. In 2010, an NGO named Bharat Jan Vigyan Jathan got the Punjab and Haryana High Court to issue a statutory notice to the show for allegedly spreading superstition.

The show’s first season began on December 2009 and featured celebrity guests like Payal Rohatgi, Shekhar Suman, Manavendra Singh Gohil, Celina Jaitley, and Monica Bedi. Host Ravi Kishan himself participated in a session as a guest in one of the episodes. The second season began in October 2010 with Chunky as the first guest. The subsequent 19 episodes featured names like Shakti Kapoor and Mahima Chaudhary among others. The show came to a close in January 2011.