Karan Oberoi, best known for being a part of Indipop boy band A Band Of Boys and TV show Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, has been away from the public eye for quite some time. The actor-singer faced a “harrowing ordeal” when he was incarcerated after being accused of rape and extortion in 2019, when the #MeToo movement was at its peak.

Recalling his time in jail, Oberoi says, “I would often ask myself, ‘How did I land up here?’ I’ve never even broken a traffic rule, I’m so by the book. What I took solace in was, while I was fighting a very hard battle inside, there were other people who were fighting a bigger battle outside for me, because they were connected to my pain”

Acknowledging that he lived in a bubble all his life, the actor shares that he “didn’t eat or sleep for six to seven days” and thought he was “going to die”. He recounts, “Everyone thought I was going to die. They didn’t think I could survive the ordeal. There were times when I thought it was the end of the road.”

Though the 45-year-old was out of jail in a month’s time, he confesses that the dark phase gave him a greater regard for human life. “I’ve seen such brutality in jail that it made me question everything. There was an episode where I feared I would die because of asphyxiation. Today, I cherish the very air I breathe,” Oberoi shares, without divulging details.

Ask how the industry reacted to his arrest and if it affected his work opportunities the actor says: “I received messages from people who I worked with twenty years ago. They were shocked to see me linked to such a heinous crime. So, there was a lot of generosity extended towards me.”

Despite his ordeal, the actor says his perspective towards the #MeToo movement hasn’t changed. He calls it a “wonderful” movement, but goes on to say: “It went wrong, like any other utopian idea. The idea is that we are human beings first, genders later. There are dark shades to everyone. So, while the movement was right, it went south when it became a tool for personal vendettas.”

Oberoi last worked as a writer and producer on the 2022 web series Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy.

Now, he has exclusively revealed that the band is getting back together very soon. “Band Of Boys is coming back with a bang and we would be releasing a full album that should be out hopefully in a month’s time,” he tells us.