Okay maybe a little late in the day to write a review on a show that has been off air for six months now.
Since I was part of the show, I think I would like to share my views with the members at MS.
When I was offered to be a part of this show, the first thing on my agenda was to view the dvds of Big Brother UK. The show seemed interesting but would it really work in an Indianised format, was the question that was on everyone’s minds.
The Big Brother episodes were slow paced as life would be in reality and the people seemed to enjoy that given the fact that the show has been a success in more than 70 countries the world over.
The challenge was to make the Indian audiences get used to the idea of a reality show where nothing was scripted and where people were actually locked up in a house.
The few weeks before the launch, the mighty task was to keep the fact away from press and everyoen else who the contestants were going to be.
A daily newspaper even went ahead and printed their own wishful list with more than 70 per cent wrong names.
A trip to Karjat a week before the launch and the house looked like any other set. One didn’t even imagine that 13 people would walk in and make it their home for weeks to come.
Even the afternoon before we shot the launch episode, the celebrities were carefully brought in at different times and we tried to keep the secret of who the other housemates would be a secret.
Once inside the house, no one knew who would take a liking to whom and how things would progress.
The first difficult task was milking the cow, and the housemates failed. And we had a Ravi Kishen going mad because he wasn’t used to taking it easy. It was great to see him transform and get used to the peace and quiet in the coming weeks. Also he was the only one who made good use of the gym equipment and came out a fitter man.
Rakhi Sawant shocked all of us. Most of us asumed she was how the media had projected her. Once in the house, we all realised that there is a sweet side to Rakhi as well and all the nautanki that she does is not for effect - that is who she is. Except for the mug fight with Amit - no one knows where that came from. That apart, it was great fun watching Rakhi do her antics.
Rupali Ganguly - our very own cry baby. Lot of people were disgusted at the way she behaved. But her friends will vouch that this is how she is. There was no faking it or being artificial and none of the drama she did was scripted.
That was the most difficult thing for people to digest that the show wasn’t scripted. Haven’t you heard - fact is stranger than fiction and that is exactly what it was.
Kashmera Shah - from the moment go, all that Kash wanted to do was to play a game. She thought that would get her far and to her disappointment that led to her being evicted. The cryptic conversation between her and Aryan took more than a few brains and more than a few hours to crack!
Carol Gracias - the only thing that troubled me about Carol was the fact that she never let her emotions out completely. In spite of having stayed in the house for the longest duration, there was not once that Carol was completely open about her feelings. She had the immense control of always holding back.
Anupama Varma - Well what can I say about Anupama? She is probably as complex a person in real life as she appeared to be on the show. Getting all the attention from Aryan didn’t help much. But the bonds that she made with Deepak Parasher and Bobby Darlin in the house were as honest and are still as true on the outside.
Aryan Vaid - don’t really have much to say about him.
Ragini Shetty - hats off to this girl for living it up in the house. She was the only one who had an agenda once she went inside the house and she did what she chose to do.
Deepak Tijori - another one I wouldn’t really want to comment about. His only intention probably was to make a film on Bigg Boss once his tenure in the house was done with. And that was the only thing driving him inside the house. He would come up with these stories and try to get each one against the other. his only drawback was that he came in a little after some relationships in the house had already formed.
Amit Sadh - Amit was probably the most the most unpredictable guy in the house. He manipulated situations to his own advantage and succeeded in doing so quite well.
Rahul Roy - My favourite guy! Not because he emerged the winner but because he had the resilence and the patience to take it all in his stride. Except for once, you never saw Rahul lose his cool or throw a tantrum or misbehave. The maturity and the calm that he has achieved in his life is surely something we can all learn a lesson from.
Most people I have met had a lot of fun watching the show as much as we had making it. Until the next season . ciao .