In the beginning of April, someone jokingly said to me, "Why are we being put in the Bigg Boss house forcefully?"
From that to the end of September, India has seen a sharp rise in COVID cases, our GDP's sharp decline, many left jobless and with all this...we have the mother of all reality TV shows Bigg Boss claiming, "Bigg Boss dega 2020 ko jawaab."
Sir, jawaab toh humein chahiye aapse!
Recently Salman Khan and the team behind the show did a press conference stating how they are working to ensure that the show goes on smoothly. The contestants will be in strict quarantine before entering the house and the channel will ensure that the crew is regularly tested.
Let's Recap the USP of the Format of 'Bigg Boss'
I know I am not telling you anything new here, but Bigg Boss thrives on people losing their mind after being at home and no interaction with the outside world.
This sure worked well in the pre-COVID world, where you couldn't possibly imagine not stepping out for months...but what's new now?
These contestants think of ways to yell 24X7, get attention and be on camera...oh no wait, should I say, stay interesting enough to be in the episode cut.
In the recent press conference, the makers also said that the show is NOT scripted.
Staying in one house for days can be stressful, now I get that. But one wonders if the contestants are directed to act in a certain manner based on what trajectory they are taking on the show.
If you have followed the show, Salman Khan too has his favourites. It's no rocket science to figure that out.
Basically, it's like Parliament if you had to lock all these polititians in one house. Okay, I'd pay to watch that.
Talking About Yelling...We've Seen Enough!
I have three (if not more) friends/relatives who have said that they have stopped watching news on TV and especially at the dreaded hour of 9 PM when they say, "If they watched doggos bark on the streets, at least it would be cute."
I don't know how the format of Bigg Boss will make sense anymore in today's India!
We have seen a lot of Bigg Boss like events roll out on prime time. I mean...a said anchor (you know who) is quite a competition to Dolly Bindra or Arman Kohli.
And if the reality TV show is about trying to push someone over the edge...we have seen quite a lot of THAT too.
Do we really need more negativity with everything that's going on around us?
How is the Show's Mall, Theatre, Spa Going to Solve Anything the Country is Going Through Right Now?
The biggest overhaul for Bigg Boss 14 is that -
The contestant will be able to do what we (the general public) has not been able to enjoy in the past few months.
So, they introduced a shopping mall, a theatre and a spa facility in the house this season.
Might I ask, chida rahe ho kya?
I will give a penny if someone tried to explain how this makes sense. I mean we might have not gone to the mall to shop or to the theatres to watch a film but how does watching people do that on TV make a viewer feel better?
I am hella confused.
Do We Need Another Season?
IMHO when news channels are far from showing verified news and every other day watching prime time news seems high on theatrics, why then, a viewer so exhausted and spent, want to watch the same format that's run for 13 years!
All I can say is that, so far the only good thing to come from the show is that it provides employment to people for at least three months.
But will the sense of catharsis that a BB fan felt earlier, still remain? Hard to say!
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)