From Basement Blues to a Battle for the Crown: Gautam Gulati and Shehzad Poonawalla Emerge as Final Contenders to become the Ultimate Ruler on Rise and Fall Season 2

The fall from the Penthouse to the Basement may have changed Priyanka Chahar Choudhary’s address, but it certainly hasn’t changed her attitude! One minute she was calling the shots upstairs, and the next she found herself dealing with an AC that wasn’t exactly living up to her expectations and a basement that clearly wasn’t matching the Penthouse life she was thriving in.

While Priyanka made her displeasure known downstairs, Gautam Gulati, Irina Rudakova and Swara Bhasker were busy dissecting her behaviour upstairs, with Gautam making it clear that he believes she needs to first be soft spoken. But the conversation didn’t stop at the Penthouse. Downstairs, Sara Gurpal and Niharika Tiwari also weighed in on Priyanka’s game, questioning whether her dominating nature could now be turning the Workers against her. From a powerful Ruler to the centre of everyone’s conversations, has Priyanka’s Fall made her the Tower’s newest target?

The evening may have been dressed in Bollywood glamour, but the Tower’s equations were never far from the surface. Shehzad took another pointed dig at Priyanka’s move to the Basement, while Irina and Tej Pratap Yadav added to the revelry with their own break-a-leg moment. The mood then took an interesting turn as the Rulers were asked to assign movie titles to one another by majority, turning a playful exercise into an unexpected glimpse into how they perceive their fellow Rulers. Downstairs, however, the Workers were far from amused by the treatment they had received. The lift attempted to lift their spirits with food and a reminder that beneath the anger was also affection, but for Sara, the gesture could not undo how she felt, leaving her visibly emotional.

If the party was about putting on a show, Swara had a very different strategy when it came to Priyanka. Telling Shehzad not to keep talking about her, she pointed out that the more they discussed Priyanka, the more footage they gave her, adding, “A girl like her thrives on attention the best thing we can do is deny to her”. She also called her a narcissist, saying that attention was like sunlight for them. Yet with Priyanka being discussed across both floors, the very attention Swara wanted to deny her seemed to be following her everywhere.

And then came the twist that transformed the Bollywood party into the Tower’s next major power battle. Tej Pratap Yadav’s reign was coming to an end, and a new Ultimate Ruler had to emerge., ‘Ab twist hai toh lift hai, a set of tickets arrived in the lift, with three-ticket combinations determining who would be removed from the Ultimate Ruler race.

Shehzad and Tej took Raj’s name, while Swara chose Karan’s, sending Raj out of the race. The next combination brought Gautam, Karan and Irina into play, with Karan choosing Tej, while Irina and Gautam both picked Swara – putting Swara out. The following round saw Tej, Shehzad and Raj take Karan’s name, while Gautam chose Shehzad and Raj and Karan picked Tej, ultimately sending Tej out of the race. In the final round, Karan, Swara and Tej went back and forth over their pick, with Irina eventually being eliminated from the Ultimate Ruler race.

With the field narrowing, Gautam and Shehzad emerged as the final contenders for the Ultimate Ruler crown. But Tej was clearly not ready to let his exit pass without questioning the play that led to it. Turning to Shehzad, he said, “Humko ishaare kar rahe the issliye, galti tumhara tha.. Humko confusion mein daal diye”. He later told Irina, “Humko ishara kar raha tha yeh shehzad”, while Irina offered her own verdict: “He does not have chances tomorrow”. And as Swara and Shehzad continued getting closer as friends, another alliance seemed to be quietly taking shape just as the Tower prepared for its next power shift.

Below in the Basement, however, the conversations took a far more personal turn. When Niharika asked Kajal Raghwani about the cut on her hand, Kajal opened up about a difficult phase that had left her hurting herself. Manish Kashyap urged her to love with all her heart but know when to let go, while Niharika questioned whether the act was really rooted in love. Kajal’s response took the conversation in another direction – she revealed that it had been something she had done for herself. Elsewhere, Kajal, Sara and Niharika made a pact to give 100%, whoever they were performing for.

From a Ruler struggling to make peace with the Basement to a Bollywood celebration that quietly turned into a ruthless fight for the crown, the Tower has once again proved that beneath every performance lies a power play. With Gautam City and Shehzad now standing between each other and the Ultimate Ruler throne, who will have the last word when the final battle begins?

Produced by Banijay Asia, Rise and Fall Season 2 is hosted by Virender Sehwag and streams free, exclusively on Prime Video, with fresh episodes every day at 12 noon. The show is available to audiences through MX Player by Prime Video on the MX Player Android app, as well as across mobile devices, Connected TVs, the Amazon shopping app, Prime Video and Fire TV.