Amitabh Bachchan to host Bigg Boss 3

knoughtyd

Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is set to host the third edition of reality TV show ‘Bigg Boss’ replacing Shilpa Shetty.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan will return to the small screen after a gap of four years. The superstar has settled his contract with Star TV — where he had hosted the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati series — and moved on to Colors.

The promos announcing Bachchan’s association with Bigg Boss will break on Colors starting September 7th 2009.

Colors, already riding the high wave with hit shows like Balika Vadhu and Khatron Ka Khiladi, may have another hit to its credit.

In the first two instances, he played the sympathetic host of a general knowledge quiz show. In his new avatar, Bachchan will be dealing with a bunch of people locked up in a house for almost 80 days, without any contact with the outside world.

Unlike KBC, which was regarded as a family entertainer, Bigg Boss is a voyeuristic, controversial show, known more for its dysfunctional group of housemates than anything else. In a departure from last year, this season Bachchan will invite viewers to send in their choices for housemates and Colors will attempt to get some of the people chosen by viewers.

The new season of the reality show will have Bachchan playing the role of ‘Pop Philosopher,’ which the channel hopes will be a significant differentiator for the new season. Bachchan will be the link between the show’s participants and its viewers, analysing developments that happen within the ‘Bigg Boss’ house. The show features 14 handpicked strangers, locked in a house for close to 85 days – with 35 cameras following their every move every minute of the day..

Talking of his association with ‘Bigg Boss’, Bachchan commented,

“This is one show that has intrigued me immensely as a viewer – its format, its contestants and the psychological battle within the house. That intrigue, coupled with the unique concept that Colors shared with me for this season, excited me to be a part of ‘Bigg Boss’ this year.”

The new season will offer viewers the chance to decide who they would like to see in the Bigg Boss house. Bachchan will urge the viewers to send in their entries and on that basis, the channel will try and get a few of those personalities into the Bigg Boss house.

Bigg Boss rated reasonably well when it was telecast on Colors last year soon after the channel's launch in July. But it was more successful at being constantly in the eye of a storm. There were complaints from viewers that the show was obscene and vulgar.

Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the Big Brother, first hit the Indian television screens in November 2006 and was hosted by Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi.

Bigg Boss 2 returned in August 2008 with Shilpa, who had previously won the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother in the United Kingdom.

knoughtyd

Excerpts from the interview with Amitabh Bachchan in Singapore where the actor spoke about his association with the show and the impact that he hopes to make with it

How did Colors persuade you to be a part of the show?

I did not need persuasion. They were keen that I work on this show and came to me with this concept. I was interested in knowing what I could add to the show, and that’s what prompted to me to come on board. I thought there would be a barrage of human interest angles and it will be interesting to absorb it, understand it and share it not only with contestants but with the public at large.

I felt that some kind of moral and social values may come out of it. We are not trying to educate people or influence them with our philosophy, we will be responding to situations as they unfold in front of the camera. I will have the chance to assess the situation and answer a few questions. For instance, why did a gentleman behave in this manner, could he have behaved differently? And perhaps in the prcoess, change the thinking of this gentleman or the people who are watching the show. In the light of what I have been doing for the last few years, I thought there could be some kind of a moral dignity that could go along with this.

Are you daunted at the prospect?

Creative work is always daunting. Even now when I go in front of the camera there are butterflies in my stomach; apprehension as well as the desire to excel, to be able to do good. Obviously its challenging, but I will be representing a channel that has seen prominence and will be associated with a show that has witnessed a certain amount of popularity.

Are reality shows going too far?

Our country follows a certain code of conduct which is governed by the government and the constitution. We have a censor board which is the regulatory board. Discussion and debate is always good in any kind of democacracy.

What sort of an impact are you looking to make with this show?

I have never looked at myself as some sort of a messiah. I will hope to do the job as efficiently as it is briefed to me and hope that people will like it.

What was the clinching factor for you regarding the show?

Bigg Boss is a very popular format and Colors is a channel which has grown exponentially in a short span of time so obviously they are doing something extremely good. It is good to be associated with them.

Safin

omg

This is shocking

You mean BigB will now engage in gossip from inside the house

Somehow this doesn't look a great winning formula to me. AB isn't the type to indulge in such foolishness(i mean ofcourse he is does indulge in such foolishness all the time, i mean in this case, it would be hard to please the audience

)

skylark

Weren't the earlier seasons enough torturous already?? Bah.. LAME reality shows!!

Chulbuli_Si

Thank god I dont live in India..

i dont have to face all This copied Stuff Of Bollywood if i dont wish to.. i can Can Watch Real Reality Shows..Which r way better

Agnel

^

You are a reality show on FE

xXx

Indian television can’t get any bigger than this. As the channel Colors’ CEO Rjaesh Kamat puts it, “It’s Bollywood Ka Boss meets Bigg Boss.”

Amitabh Bachchan has agreed to play a very special role in the third season of Bigg Boss which begins in October.

This is the Big B’s second television appearance after the spectacular Kaun Banega Crorepati. And hence crucial. Negotiations between the Big Band Colors were frantically on until late this week.

Finally on Friday the Colors team headed for Singapore to announce the Big B’s presence on the show.

Says Kamat, “Why Mr Bachchan? You may well ask. After the success of Season 2 we needed to take Bigg Boss to another level.

We went to the drawing board and concluded that the only way we could take the show higher was by introducing the concept of the Pop Philosopher. Earlier we had the anchors commenting on the goings on in the Bigg Boss.

Now the discussion would move to a dinner-table introspective level. Why were the contestants doing what they were doing…..what were their motivations? Etc etc. We needed a prophetic voice that would be heard and taken seriously.

Quite frankly if Mr Bachchan hadn’t agreed we’d have scrapped the concept of the pop-philosopher on the show.”

filmmakers and scriptwriters are making a beeline for Singapore. But does the Big B’s second major foray after KBC after years of being offered fiction and non-fiction mean he’s now in the mood to lean towards the home medium for a while?

“Not at all, ” says the Big B. “I finished my pending film assignments and then came here. My trip to Singapore was planned well in advance. The next lot of films are crystallizing.

In the meanwhile I took on Bigg Boss because they thought I could be a convincing voice of reason on the show. I’m not the host or the anchor. I’ve a totally different function as a commentator who could connect with audiences without talking down to them.”

The icon surprises you by saying he’s nervous. “You’d think KBC was harder because that was my first time on television. But no.

Every time I do anything new and that means starting a new film project too, I get butterflies in my stomach. I’m happy about this show because like KBC it has been conceptualized and created by the best minds and some of the finest psychologists. So I’m in safe hands.”

What a Reason

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