Big B to host Bigg Boss on Colors

Ankit Jain - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
After four years off the small screen, Bollywood's biggest icon, Amitabh Bachchan, has returned to the Indian television. This time to host the third edition of Bigg Boss, a reality show on Colors, the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from Viacom18.

Rajesh Kamat, chief executive officer, Colors, says, "Big Boss 2 was immensely popular. This time we wanted to make it more broad based and pan-India so it appeals to people from the ages 4 to 64."

"Once we decided on Amitabh Bachchan, we worked out the pop-philosopher role for him. The idea was to deconstruct the emotions of those in the house and initiate discussions where we can keep the audience engaged." Kamat says.

Commenting on his association with Colors, Bachchan said, "This is one show that has intrigued me immensely as a viewer. I am looking forward to my role that gives me the unique opportunity to help viewers decode emotions and comprehend simple philosophies of life."

Bigg Boss, modeled on the popular English reality show Big Brother, is expected to go on air around Diwali. The format requires over a dozen celebrities to spend three months locked in a house and monitored round-the-clock thorough 35-television cameras.

The second edition was anchored by film actor Shilpa Shetty, who won the UK edition of Big Brother following a controversy over a racial slur by fellow participant, the late Jade Goody. It is not clear whether Shetty will be a part of Bigg Boss-3.

Bachchan was last seen on the small screen in 2005, hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) 2 on Star Plus, the famous reality show adapted from the international hit-series Who wants to be a Millionaire? that first aired on the channel in 2000 (Bachchan hosted it till 2005).

With an average television rating points (TRPs) of 14.13 over its 309 episode run, Bachchan's charisma swept the entire nation, revived his flagging career, and propelled Star Plus to a nine-year reign as the top GEC.

Star Plus recreated the buzz by bringing back Bachchan in August 2005. The first episode of the second season broke TV records by pulling in at least 9 TRPs. Ten-second spots were reportedly sold for at least Rs 3 lakh. A neat price for a show that garnered an average rating of 8.76.

The 100-odd episodes of Bigg Boss 2 had helped Colors reach the top positions among a dozen Hindi GECs last year. Bigg Boss 2, generated average TRPs of 3.5 to 4, which is considered good by the media planners, who buy on-air time on behalf of the advertisers.

Bigg Boss is said to be one of the most expensive reality shows when it aired on Colors last year with a per-episode cost of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. The per-episode cost for Bigg Boss 3 is expected to increase 20 to 30 per cent on account of celebrity fees and the entry of Big B.

Since April, when Colors first took the No. 1 spot from Star Plus, a battle has been on between the two channels. For the week ended September 3, Star was at No. 1 again with 300 GRPs and Colors coming in second with 289 GRPs. Zee TV was at the No. 3 position with 281 GRPs, according to TAM Media data.

The question is, will Bachchan be able to do for Colors what he did for Star Plus nine years ago? Colors is confident that this big-ticket investment, that's for a 12-week period to begin with, will be a winning one.

As Kamat puts it, "Advertisers on reality shows actually sign up not only for FCT (free commercial time) and ratings, they do it for association. And association with brand Bigg Boss and Bachchan, I think it's a winning combination."

According to Ravi Kiran, CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group, KBC did well because it was the first to have a superstar host and impressive prize money. Advertisers are not awestruck by stars any more. "They will pay serious amounts of money to buy spots or sponsorships, but they will evaluate on merit, with or without a star." he says.

Sameer Nair, CEO, NDTV Imagine, oversaw the birth and growth of KBC during his time at Star India. Though he agrees that the impact of KBC cannot be replicated, he maintains that it would be unfair to compare the shows.

Nair reasons, "Bigg Boss and KBC are completely different formats and it would be unfair to compare Bachchan's performance between the two shows. From what I understand, Bachchan will be present only on the Friday episodes of the show, during the elimination process, and not daily as a host. But I do believe Bachchan's presence will attract new audiences who are otherwise not drawn to reality shows like Bigg Boss."