Bigg Boss

''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally available through OTT platforms Voot and Disney+ Hotstar.

''Bigg Boss'' was originally started in Hindi language and has been extended into seven languages spoken in the Indian sub-continent, including Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam.

Overview

There have been seven versions of the show in different languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The first show of the franchise was '' Big Boss'' in Hindi which debuted in 2006 through Sony TV and from season two onwards it moved to and continues on Colors TV. In 2013, the franchise extended its presence in Kannada through Colors Kannada and Bengali through ETV Bangla, later rebranded into Colors Bangla. In 2017, it extend its presence in Tamil through Star Vijay and in Telugu through Star Maa. In 2018, it ventured into Marathi through Colors Marathi and in Malayalam through Asianet.

Though only celebrities were selected to be as housemates in the initial seasons, members of the general public have been chosen to be on the show in the latest seasons of Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam versions of the show.

Synopsis

Contestants called "housemates" live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Housemates are voted out, usually on a weekly basis, until only one remains and wins the cash prize. During their stay in the house, contestants are continuously monitored by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones.

The program relies on techniques such as a scripted back-to-basic environment, evictions, weekly tasks, competitions set by ''Bigg Boss'', and the “confession room” where housemates converse with ''Bigg Boss'' and nominate the housemates they wish to evict from the house. The housemates with the most nominations are then announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote via SMS or online through social media and smartphone applications for the nominee they wish to save from eviction. The last person standing is declared the winner.

The contestants are required to indulge in housework and are assigned tasks by the omnipresent authority figure known to them as ''Bigg Boss''. The tasks are designed to test teamwork abilities and community spirit of the housemates. The luxury budget is a weekly allowance to buy luxury food items other than the supplied essentials which depend on the outcome of assigned tasks.

History

Creation

''Bigg Boss'' is a Hindi language adaptation of '' Big Brother'' created in Netherlands by John de Mol Jr., largely based on the ''Celebrity Big Brother'' model owned by the Endemol Shine Group. The show was named ''Bigg Boss'' and a house was constructed for the show at Lonavla for season one to four and six to twelve, in Karjat for season five and in Goregaon from season thirteen onwards. ''Bigg Boss'' debuted on television in 2006 through Sony TV with Arshad Warsi as the host. The show gained popularity after Shilpa Shetty emerged as the winner in '' Big Brother 5'' and replaced Warsi as the host in the second season of ''Bigg Boss''. From the second season, the show's broadcast moved to Viacom 18's Colors TV. For third season Amitabh Bachchan hosted the show respectively and Salman Khan continued as a host from fourth season onwards, while Sanjay Dutt also hosted for fifth season along with Salman Khan. Farah Khan hosted the spin off season of eighth season in absence of main host Salman Khan.

Expansion

The show's acceptance and success among the Indian audience paved way for its expansion into other Indian languages. After the sixth season wrapped in 2013, ''Kannada'' and ''Bengali'' adaptions were created by Endemol through ETV Network. Sudeep hosted Kannada version. Mithun Chakraborty and Jeet hosted Bengali version respectively. While the Kannada version continued with subsequent seasons annually, similar to Hindi, became an instant hit and the Bengali version completed only two seasons in six years and did not turn out to be as successful.

In 2017, upon completion of ten seasons in Hindi, four seasons in Kannada and two seasons in Bengali, Endemol Shine India extended its presence in South India by creating Tamil and Telugu versions of the show with Star India. The Tamil version was hosted by Kamal Haasan. While the Telugu version started with Jr NTR as a host, later for second season Nani replaced the host and from third season onwards Nagarjuna continued as a host respectively. In 2018, the show was adapted into Marathi under Viacom 18 and hosted by Mahesh Manjrekar. The next language adaptation was Malayalam, which was produced by Star India and hosted by Mohanlal. Later in 2021 another version was adopted called Bigg Boss OTT where its episodes were shown on Voot which is hosted by Karan Johar.

Versions

: Currently airing – 4
: Upcoming for airing – 0
: Recently concluded – 2
: No longer airing – 1

Female Winners
Male Winners

Summary

Bigg Boss Hindi

''Bigg Boss'' is the Hindi and the first version of the franchise. The first season premiered in 2006 on Sony TV It was hosted by Arshad Warsi. The prize money was The license for ''Bigg Boss'' was acquired by Viacom 18 and the next season was aired on Colors TV with Shilpa Shetty as the host. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan was roped in to play host for the third season while Salman Khan appeared as the host in the fourth season. The fifth season was jointly hosted by Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan while Khan alone continues to host the show consecutively since sixth season until present. A lavish purpose-built house, with annual modifications was built in Lonavala, Mumbai for the show. A new house was built at ND Studios in Karjat, Pune for the fifth season. The house at Lonavala was rebuilt and used again from the sixth season. The prize was reduced to since the fifth season. A spin off series, '' Bigg Boss: Halla Bol'' was launched and merged into the eighth season with five finalists from the eighth season and five previous runner ups which was hosted by Farah Khan.

Atul Kapoor has been the voice of ''Bigg Boss'' since the first season.

Bigg Boss OTT (or Bigg Boss: Over-The-Top), a spin-off Indian Hindi-language reality digital series of the show Bigg Boss that aired exclusively on Viacom 18's streaming service platform Voot. The digital edition hosted by Karan Johar and the show premiered its first season on 8 August 2021.

Bigg Boss Kannada

Bigg Boss Kannada is the Kannada version of the Bigg Boss reality TV show and it was the first south Indian adaption of ''Bigg Boss''. Actor Sudeep was roped in by ETV Kannada to play the host of the show for the first season in 2013 and for second season Star India acquired the license of the show and aired on Suvarna with Sudeep continuing his role as the host of the show. The Bigg Boss house at Lonavala which was used for the Hindi version was also used for the first two seasons of Bigg Boss Kannada. A new and bigger house was constructed at Innovative Film City in Bidadi, Bengaluru and is being used since the third season. Sudeep's contract to host the show was extended to five seasons starting with the third season which returned to Viacom 18's Colors Kannada. The fifth season moved to Colors Super, a sister channel of Colors Kannada. It is notable that the Kannada version is the only adaption where the host, Sudeep alone would be hosting the show for seven consecutive seasons. All the seasons so far have had as the prize money. Commoners were allowed to be a part of the show from the fifth season through auditions. Three artists have been the 'voice' of ''Bigg Boss'' as of fifth season - Amit Bhargav for the first two, B M Venkatesh for the third and Srinivas Prasad since the fourth season. From third season onwards, the show is going to air from October month onwards on every year but the eight season get delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is likely to launch from mid February 2021 onwards.

Bigg Boss Bangla

Bigg Boss Bangla is the Bengali version of the show which was produced by ETV Bangla with Mithun Chakraborty as the host while the first season of the Kannada version was wrapping up in 2013. The second season was aired on Colors Bangla in 2016 and was hosted by Bengali actor Jeet. The Lonavala house used for Hindi version was used in both seasons and the prize money for the show has been lesser than the other adaptions with and respectively for the first and second seasons. This is the only adaption of the show that does not follow the annual format and the seasons have been produced once in 3 years. The reality show however has been discontinued after season 2 but a leading Bengali TV channel is planning to launch its new season and discussion about copyright issues is still on and show makers are yet to finalise it.

Bigg Boss Tamil

Bigg Boss Tamil is the Tamil version of the show and the second south Indian adaption of ''Bigg Boss''. Star India produced the show in 2017 with Kamal Haasan as the host on Star Vijay. This has been the only version to have none of its seasons shot at Lonavala. The house was constructed at EVP Film City, Chennai and is being used since the first season. All the three seasons so far have had as the prize money. The fourth season was planned to launch in June 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season eye logo tile revealed on 27 August 2020 and launching on 4 October 2020 onwards and finished on 17 January 2021. The fifth season telecast will be from 3 October as per latest promo released on 20 September. Half way through season 5, the main host actor Kamal Haasan fell ill and was replaced by actress Ramya Krishnan to host the show until he recovered.

Bigg Boss Telugu

Bigg Boss Telugu is the Telugu version of the Bigg Boss reality TV show and telecasted by Star Maa. The first season Jr NTR is being hosted the show and the Lonavala house was used for the show and premiered on 16 July 2017. The second season was hosted by Nani and premiered on 10 June 2018. From third season onwards Nagarjuna continued as a host for the show. The third season premiered on 21 July 2019. The fourth season is planned to launch in July 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and launching begin from 6 September 2020. Ramya Krishnan and Samantha Akkineni appeared as a guest host in Season 3 and Season 4 respectively in the absence of main host.From second season onwards a newly built house was constructed at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad is being used for the show. The Three Seasons so far have had as the prize money. the upcoming fifth season of the show planned to launch in June 2021 but it delayed due to second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and launching begins from 5 September 2021 onwards.

Bigg Boss Marathi

Bigg Boss Marathi is the Marathi version of the show and the first season is being aired on Viacom 18's Colors Marathi. The Lonavala house is being used for this version and Mahesh Manjrekar is playing the host. From the 2nd season onwards house is made in Goregaon flimcity, Mumbai .This is the first and only adaption of ''Bigg Boss'' so far to have its language affiliation in the show's official name. The prize money is announced to be . The third Season was scheduled to launch in May 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the show was cancelled for a year. On 21 June 2021, the makers had officially launched the season 3 promo. On 26 August 2021, the makers officially announced that the launch of season 3 will be on 19 September 2021 onwards.

Bigg Boss Malayalam

Bigg Boss Malayalam is the Malayalam adaptation of Bigg Boss, produced by Star India and broadcast on Asianet. Veteran actor Mohanlal has been roped to host the show and the Lonavala house was used for the first season. The prize money for the first season was announced to be ₹ 1 crore (US$140,000). All episodes of the show are available on the ott Disney+ Hotstar digital platform.
The second season premiered on January 5, 2020, with Mohanlal returning as host and home located at EVP Film City in Chennai and due to the COVID-19 scare, Endemol Shine India suspended season 2 on the 75th day and all the contestants were sent home.
On February 14, 2021, the third season was released with Mohanlal returning as host for the third time and the house used for the second season was continued. All contestants entered the house following a 14-day period of quarantine and testing for COVID-19. The fourth season of the series will be launched on March 27, 2022 and will return to the house located in Lonavala with Mohanlal who is also still hosting the season.

References

{{Big Brother

Indian reality television series
Endemol Shine Group franchises
Indian television series based on non-Indian television series