I was excited to be assigned to visit the Bigg Boss house, because it’s THE house, where one of India’s biggest and most popular reality show was going to play out for the next couple of months.
As I reached the location, I noticed that the newly designed Bigg Boss house as usual very different from the regular homes that you or I live in (even though they try to make it look that way). It looked like any other film or TV set. The inner me was slightly disappointed as I was expecting it to be fancier than it looked. There was a large metallic gate with paint peeling off, leaves scattered around, paint stains on the ground, the production crew running from one place to the other, food being cooked in gigantic utensils and watching over all this were hoardings of Arshad Warsi, Shilpa Shetty, Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan displayed season by season on various parts of the sets.
I felt like a kid standing at the gate of an amusement park with so much to witness. I had already mentally prepared a list of places to get a picture clicked in, like - the confession room, the garden area, the swimming pool, the living room and yes! the bedroom. Adding to my excitement was the fact that Omung Kumar, the designer of the Bigg Boss house, would be personally giving me a tour of the house.
Bigg Boss House: The Living Area
The large wooden gate swung open as it does when each contestant enters the house for the first time. As I stepped into the garden area, the first thing I saw was the iconic huge eye of Bigg Boss staring right at me with the branding just below it.
The memories of watching the Bigg Boss house started flashing by as I stood near the swimming pool. The benches in the middle of the garden area, the gym, the smoking area - though it was my first time in the house, it all looked familiar.
Standing there I could see the interiors of the house and my first reaction was, “Wow! It’s so colourful”. As I opened the glass doors and entered the living room, my eyes literally popped out - so much space and colours. I would grab the opportunity to be a contestant on Bigg Boss just to live in here.
The huge wall which holds the LCD which connects Salman Khan and the contestants was filled with colourful buttons of various sizes. More than anything, the colours took my breath away. Right next to it was a pure black and white wall with several comic-style illustrations on it giving the room a contrast and much needed visual break.
The sofa set, on which everybody sits so that Sallu Bhai can take their case was now divided into two which had colourful cushions with comic illustrations. A third wall in the living room area had bright coloured flowers on it.
Bigg Boss House: The Kitchen and Dining Area
We then turned towards the kitchen and dining area, where most fights in the house start. It was decorated with huge horse-shaped mirrors, colourful glass bottles, vintage style kitchen cupboards with sketches of kettles and milk bottles, and two doors which had green and red artificial apples stuck on them. My eyes fell on the famous kitchen counter, where more gossip than food is cooked up.
This time the dining table is round in shape and Omung Kumar explained the reason for it:
The dining table is consciously made in a round shape so that the contestants can face each while talking or fighting which couldn’t be done in previous seasons.Omung Kumar, designer of the Bigg Boss 11 house.
The Bigg Boss House Goes Pop
Other parts of the house were designed with varied quirky themes. There was a silver shimmery sofa shaped like lips and another sofa in the shape of a fallen Britain classic red telephone booth placed against a wall full of doodles. I quizzed Omung about how he decided on which look to go with.
I wanted the house to be colourful and modern that is why I kept in my mind the pop art theme. My wife Vanita helped me in the production of this idea. I played with colours, buttons, flowers and then kept black and white just to keep the balance. I changed the design also, now the bathroom has an entry from inside the house rather than being from outside the house. I changed the look of the jail as well as I was asked to make it look like what it was in Sarabjit. I took approximately 45-55 days to redesign the house, because the entire old set was broken. There are 90 cameras in the house,Omung Kumar, designer of the Bigg Boss 11 house.
Bigg Boss House: The Bedroom
The bedroom had big double beds and again was so colourful with pink, orange and red splashed on the walls. The beds looked so comfy that I realised why the housemates would hate getting out of bed to do tasks at 7 am.
Bigg Boss House: The Bathrooms
The bathrooms had grassy green doors, with small pastel-shaded colourful flowers popping out of the walls and wow, that black and white jacuzzi, make me a contestant already!
Bigg Boss House: The Confession Room
As the big black leather door to the confession room opened, the voice “Bigg Boss chaahte hai ki aap confession room me aaye,” played in my head. The couch here was designed like a car with a BB 11 number plate on it. The walls were plastered with eyes conveying all kinds of expressions - eerie!
Bigg Boss House: The Jail
As we stepped out, ready to end the Bigg Boss house tour, Omung asked, “Aren’t you guys missing on something?” and that’s when it struck me, we hadn’t seen the jail.
I took a 360-degree turn, to catch the black cell which was almost underground. It looked like a dungeon from the Game of Thrones with low-voltage bulbs being the only source of light. As Omung had mentioned, it was designed after the jail created in Sarbjit. Forget an air conditioner, the cell did not even have a fan, all it contained was three beds, two low voltage bulbs and a lot of darkness.
To all the contestants on Bigg Boss this year - you really don’t want to be stuck in there!
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