Bigg Boss Nau: evolution & achievements

‘Bigg Boss Nau’ proposes bringing in double the entertainment this year, and it intends doing it by enhancing activity inside the Bigg Boss house, hence the theme is being promoted as Double Trouble.

Double Trouble is an international theme and markets like US, UK, Australia have already explored it. In India too, it has been adapted week on week to suit the Indian audiences. Deepak Dhar, ‎Managing Director  & CEO, Endemol India smiles, “You will have to wait and watch to see the different desi factors that have been added to the show. I can’t tell you everything as of now.”

The show set has been designed by Omung Kumar this year as well. New spaces and new elements have been included in it keeping the theme of the show in consideration. Dhar details the creativity and time taken in creating it, “Omung has always done a fantastic job for us and this year also he has been terrific. The set took close to two months of designing and about four months of construction. We spent almost two months building the layout portion and then putting that into construction.” He adds, “We sit with our international counterparts once a year to see what the new learnings in the format are and from that too we get in some ideas while designing the house. “

As for the celebrity participation, interest in the show has been increasing year on year. Dhar informs, “In the first few seasons the challenge was the consistency. With time Bigg Boss has become an iconic property and some of the contestants see it as a big career opportunity. We have a waiting list of celebrities who want to be part of ‘Bigg Boss’ and it has gone up every year. There are celebrities who desperately want to be part of it but unfortunately we can only take the right mix into the Bigg Boss.”

A core team of 20 people across production, technical, software etc is constantly at work to make Bigg Boss a success yet again. The overall team will be about 300 people.

It is a large collaborative effort to make the show seamless and blend in the theme well and identify the right contestants. Dhar informs, it is a very collaborative process and in Bigg Boss you are creating content every day for the night telecast. There is no room to work in isolation. It has to be collaborative. Objective is to bring out the best content, the best reaction and the best entertainment for everyone to watch.

The time change to 10.30 p.m. is an oft discussed subject this year. It remains to be seen if it would have an impact on the show’s viewership – positive or negative. Dhar explains, “Bigg Boss has become a family event in every household of India as well as other markets.  I don’t think time change is a challenge; to the contrary it’s an opportunity. So far, every year we were against the biggest shows in the country and we understand that this time this may not be the case.

As for the journey so far and expectation this year, he sums it up by saying, “I think I am the only factor who has been part of it from season 1 onwards  - from the day when people thought that it would not be successful due to its controversial nature and edgy content to reaching season 9. We have done three seasons for the regional version as well, and a season for Chinese version too. It has been quite a journey. Obviously it’s far more accepted and has become an iconic property today. Back in those days it was a challenge to get the contestant celebrities on the show. Obviously that part has changed with ‘Bigg Boss’ becoming a brand in itself.”