[Sana Farzeen] | Mumbai |
January 30, 2022 1:47:50 pm
The last quarter of the year becomes special for television audiences as Bigg Boss takes center stage.
Following the format of Big Brother, Bigg Boss sees a certain number of celebrities getting locked inside a house for months with no connection to the outside world.Apart from dealing with each other’s varying personalities, they also have to undergo tasks while entertaining viewers, whose votes decide the winner.This season, makers struck gold when they got small screen stars Karan Kundrra, Tejasswi Prakash, and Bollywood face Shamita Shetty onboard while show veterans Rakhi Sawant, Rashami Desai and Devoleena Bhattacharjee entered as wild cards.However, in the last four months, all the show could achieve were a few Twitter trends, which fizzled out as soon as they started.
The curiosity of the first few weeks soon wore off.While Karan, following his good friend Vikas Gupta’s advice, emerged as the ‘mastermind’; Tejasswi appeared like a version of bubbly and cute Shehnaaz Gill.Bigg Boss OTT alumni Shamita Shetty, Nishant Bhat and Pratik Sehajpal, meanwhile, were there to spoil their party initially.For all the format changes, the Bigg Boss formula, something we have been watching year after year for 15 seasons now, took over and viewer fatigue set in.
We instantly saw a romance ( Miesha Iyer-Ieshaan Sehgaal ), a brotherhood (Karan Kundrra-Umar Riaz and Vishal Kotian-Jay Bhanushali), bhai-behan connection (Vishal Kotian-Shamita Shetty), two contestants at loggerheads (Pratik Sehajpal-Karan Kundrra) and a person with desi tashan (Afsana Khan).The similar sort of content soon turned the season into a snooze-fest.
Even if you missed a few episodes, and returned to the show after a couple of days, it was stuck where it was.It was like watching the rewind of the previous seasons, with different faces playing the game.
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For Shefali Jariwala, who entered Bigg Boss 13 as a wild card, and yet managed to create a space for herself, there were ‘no stories’ this season.“Also, I feel this season was not true to its original format.It never makes sense why ex-contestants are brought back.Like many fans, I too felt there was favouritism at times which immediately puts you off.Random elimination, sometimes even by housemates or no one exiting for a long time also caused harm,” she exclusively told indianexpress.com .
Contradicting her thoughts, Vikas Gupta says that ex-contestants who enter as challengers are the only one who add spark.
For him, this season had fizz only after Rakhi Sawant entered.“Last four seasons, I have been inside the house.
I played the game and did what was needed for the show, even when it meant not trying to win.The reason why this season turned out this way is because no one cared except Rakhi.She played all kinds of characters in the show.Even if you remember, last season till the challengers didn’t come, it was worse than season 15.”
Most fans also do not like the idea of ex-contestants coming back as they’ve already seen their game, and all tricks they have up their sleeves.While Devoleena and Rashami tried to do something new by turning foes from their bestie bond, it tanked.Also, Rakhi Sawant, who calls herself the entertainer was given the least score during the recently held entertainment round.And it’s because viewers had seen her do the same performance last season when she dressed up as a witch and her alter ego Julie.However, Vikas’ claims that contestants were not really bothered holds true.
The season looked more like a paid vacation for many as they just ‘chilled’ in the house.
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Arti Singh, who was a finalist of Bigg Boss 13, on the other hand, said, “I cannot comment on what didn’t work for the season.However, I can say that people no longer enjoy the journey.When we were on the show, winning the trophy was not our focus.We were real and enjoyed each day.Now, everything revolves around how I can win the show.”
An industry insider, who did not want to be named also reasoned that not just Bigg Boss but most reality shows today are more like businesses than creative projects.“No one wants to put that effort.Most reality shows are carbon copies of each other.Coming to Bigg Boss, look at the tasks in the show, it’s almost a revamped version of previous seasons.
There’s a set pattern that continues and no one is bothered to be a differentiator.Kaam chal raha hai na (its working).Creative directors are now just mere titles as most decisions are taken by channels,” they said.
As Shefali Jariwala earlier mentioned, Bigg Boss makers do pick up a few contestants who they boost.We may not called it favouritism, as it’s all about doing business.
Viewers have noticed that out of the 24 hours of content, when the episode is edited, only a few lucky ones get maximum footage.If it wasn’t so, Colors wouldn’t have been rooting for Tejasswi and Karan to fall in love, even before they got attracted to each other.Most promos fed fans with Tejran content, so much so that many even questioned if their bond was fake.
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Shefali Jariwala also put up an important point saying that the show’s availability around the clock on OTT has worked against it.“What killed my enthusiasm to watch Bigg Boss is that there was no surprise or shock element.
The show is live-streamed, so everything is already available on social media.When I watch the episode, I already know what’s going to happen.
Even evictions are out in the open a day before it airs or sometimes even earlier,” Jariwala said.
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