Rhea Chakraborty Revisits Her Jail Experience, Talks About Inmates, Humour and Life After the Controversy

Rhea Chakraborty has opened up about her time in prison and the intense period that followed Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, recalling how humour helped her process an experience that once made even ordinary conversations feel uncomfortable.

Rhea Chakraborty has revisited one of the most difficult chapters of her life during a candid conversation with comedian Tanmay Bhat.

The actor spoke about her time in a women’s undertrial prison, the people she met there and the way inmates passed their time. While discussing an experience that remains closely associated with the intense public scrutiny she faced in 2020, Rhea repeatedly used humour to revisit memories that were once difficult to discuss openly.

Rhea on life inside a women’s prison

Rhea was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in September 2020 in connection with a drugs-related investigation following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She subsequently spent several weeks in custody before being granted bail.

During her conversation with Tanmay Bhat, the actor offered a glimpse into the everyday environment she encountered inside the women’s undertrial prison.

Asked what inmates did for entertainment, she responded that they would sing, dance and make thecha, referring to the spicy Maharashtrian chutney.

The exchange then moved towards Rhea’s observations about the social environment inside the prison.

She said that, in her experience, there was little of the social hierarchy that exists outside and that inmates were treated according to numbers rather than their names.

Her comments were specifically about her experience in the women’s undertrial prison and should not be interpreted as a general assessment of every prison or prisoner.

Rhea uses humour while discussing prison food

Food also became part of the light-hearted exchange.

When Tanmay asked Rhea about what was served in prison, she responded with jokes rather than offering a conventional description of the meals. She humorously mentioned items such as sushi, champagne, vada pav and chaat.

The remarks were made in a comedic setting and were clearly part of the banter surrounding the conversation.

Rhea then joked that she was writing a book about the experience and gave it the deliberately provocative title “Chudail ka badla.”

The exchange demonstrated the tone of the conversation: rather than revisiting the past entirely through seriousness, Rhea appeared comfortable turning some of her memories into material for humour.

‘People inside jail are better than people outside’

One of the more striking observations from the conversation came when Rhea discussed the people she encountered behind bars.

She said that people inside were, in her view, better than people outside, explaining that the undertrial prison environment did not operate according to the same social hierarchy she had experienced elsewhere.

Her comments appeared to reflect her personal experience rather than a broader statement about the criminal justice system.

The distinction is important because people held in an undertrial prison have not necessarily been convicted of an offence. Rhea’s reference to the women around her therefore related to the particular environment she experienced while in custody.

How the 2020 controversy changed social interactions

Rhea also recalled how uncomfortable social situations became during the period of intense media attention surrounding her.

She described entering rooms where people who had previously been laughing and talking normally would suddenly change their tone.

According to Rhea, the atmosphere could become noticeably tense, with people apparently unsure about how to interact with her.

That experience, she suggested, was one of the stranger consequences of becoming the focus of such intense public scrutiny.

Why humour became a way of coping

The conversation also explored the role of comedy in dealing with difficult experiences.

Tanmay Bhat compared Rhea’s approach with his own experience of facing controversy around the comedy collective AIB. Both discussed how humour can become a coping mechanism even when people around you are uncomfortable with jokes about a painful subject.

Rhea recalled that, during the height of the controversy, attempts to joke about what was happening could make an entire room uncomfortable.

People, she said, often did not know whether they were supposed to laugh.

Years later, she appears to have gained enough distance from that period to discuss some of those memories more openly.

The ‘Imma bounce’ moment becomes a joke

The conversation also revisited a widely discussed episode involving a private WhatsApp message in which Rhea used the phrase “Imma bounce.”

Tanmay joked about how the expression had reportedly been interpreted during the controversy, turning the phrase into a humorous example of how ordinary messages could acquire completely different meanings in the media frenzy surrounding her.

The discussion illustrated the extraordinary level of scrutiny surrounding Rhea at the time, when even casual conversations and private messages could become subjects of public debate.

Rhea responded with another joke about now wanting people to clarify even seemingly harmless messages.

Rhea describes this period as her ‘Chapter 2’

In recent years, Rhea has spoken about rebuilding her life and career after the extraordinary attention surrounding the events of 2020.

She has referred to this stage as her “Chapter 2”, signalling a desire to move forward rather than remain defined by the controversy.

Her conversation with Tanmay Bhat represents another example of that approach. Instead of avoiding difficult memories, she discussed them through a mixture of reflection, sarcasm and comedy.

That change in tone is significant because much of the public discussion surrounding Rhea in 2020 was dominated by speculation, television coverage and intense debate.

Her latest appearance offered her an opportunity to describe aspects of that period in her own voice.

Rhea Chakraborty’s career moves forward

Rhea has continued working in entertainment while gradually returning to public-facing projects.

She is associated with the upcoming second season of The Traitors, the reality series hosted by Karan Johar. The new season features a large celebrity cast and is scheduled for release on Prime Video.

She is also attached to Netflix’s upcoming series Family Business, directed by Hansal Mehta and featuring actors including Anil Kapoor and Vijay Varma.

As Rhea moves into this next phase of her career, her recent conversation suggests that she is increasingly willing to discuss the past without allowing it to define her entire identity.

For an actor who spent years at the centre of one of India’s most intensely followed celebrity controversies, that shift—from defending herself against relentless scrutiny to discussing the experience on her own terms—may be the clearest sign of what she means by Chapter 2.