House arrestWith the Bigg Boss finale round the corner and only a handful of people remaining in the house, we were curious to know what they were feeling and how they were spending their remaining time together... Our visit to the sets of Bigg Boss in Karjat starts at 9.30 in the morning from central Mumbai. During the one-and-a-half-hour road journey one thinks of several pros and cons of living in the Bigg Boss house without any contact with the outside world and how the housemates, celebrities in their own ways, have lived for over 70 days without their loved ones and in the absence of the necessities of their lifestyle each one is used to. What really attracted them to the game show? Is it the money? Or is it publicity that the show will give them? Or is it both? Or is it that they simply wanted to go through a test of endurance? Whatever it is, when we finally reach the sets we realize that it could be a combination of various factors, different in each case. The set of Bigg Boss is a secluded world within a world. Totally guarded from the outside world the set in art director Nitin Desai's sprawling studio in Karjat is an eye opener even to a seasoned journalist who has seen television grow from the Juhu-Madh Island-Goregaon bungalows to grand sets and magnificent villas. In terms of content, manpower and production logistics and execution Bigg Boss is a huge attempt on the part of Sony that is always attempting something different and offering viewers an alternative viewing experience. With one character getting evicted from the show every week it's a challenge to show a story from ordinary and day to day routines of people who are not acting but living out their own selves. Just imagine 28 cameras recording as many parallel stories 24x7 under the watchful eyes of 12 editors who are constantly looking at three major tracks to spin out an episode at any given time. Call it crazy or genius; it is an attempt that is sheer awesome. To top it all, the stories come in a linear pattern. For instance, if there is a major track happening at 2 pm over dinning table, followed by another major happening at 6 pm, neither of the two incidents can become the opening lead of the day's episode because the story has to unfold in sequence, from the drab morning with Carol yawning or Ravi Kishen making his usual strong masala chai which no one likes. "Mornings are boring," says Ranjana Jaitley, chief editor of the show who has seen the housemates from day one. In fact, she is a rich source of information on every housemate, evicted or surviving, of the house. Getting up at 8 am may be too late for most of us but not for Bigg Boss' inmates since they don't sleep before 1 or 2 am. But they all perk up and start playing games by 12 noon. "That's when all the drama begins," informs Ranjana. Are they desperate to get out of the house? "At times they seem frustrated and show desperation to get evicted but now they have realized that the game has reached the crucial stage. Having lived for over 70 days it's a matter of another three weeks. So now the game is to survive till the last," feels Ranjana who gets an update on the mental health of all the inmates from psychiatrist Seema Hingorani who visits the sets every week and attends to emergency calls if required. "The psychiatrist feels they are all mentally sound." However, there have been times when the psychiatrist had to attend to emergencies. Like when Amit Saadh cracked up during the shooting of an eviction episode that saw Baba Sehgal packing up his bag. Amit's problem was his girlfriend Neeru Bajwa who he was missing the most besides a few other things that were bothering him, we are told. But there have been occasions when at times, one or the other housemate - Ravi Kishen, Deepak Tijori, Rupali, Anupama et al - cried like kids and wanted to leave the game by forfeiting the money due to them besides payinga certain sum for leaving the game mid-way. However, we are told that it didn't take long for them to come out of their lows and bounced back in the show to play the survival game. So all the talk of their wanting to get out of the house is a show.
What is also a show is bonding and friendship. Politics and groupism is their daily indulgence. This is why daily, weekly and special tasks are assigned to them. "The tasks are meant to break group dynamics, to switch over to another group or to forge new bonding which helps them understand the other person's real intentions," says Ranjana who takes us to the camera gully from where we see Ravi Kishen and Rupali sitting under shade in the swimming pool area and talking leisurely. As we go back to the central editing room we see Carol smoking. "Some of them are habitual smokers and therefore a weekly quota of cigarettes is given to them," adds Ranjana. It's 2.15 pm and we see Amit Saadh eating his lunch. Ask Ranjana how he knows that it is lunch time and she says none of them know the time but their body clock has got used to important daily routines. "Besides they also have developed sense of time and most of the time they get it right, give and take half-an-hour hour here and there," she says. Usually they lunch after 2 pm and don't eat dinner before 10. Living like captives they miss a lot of things of their normal day-to-day life. One of them is afternoon siesta since it is banned in the house. Following rules of the house bothers them a lot. When they get frustrated they start abusing and breaking things, we are told. They also use cuss words quite liberally. Mosquitoes and insects are the other problems they are putting up with. Tea is the major addiction. After every 45 minutes Ravi Kishen walks into the kitchen to make tea for everyone. Since nobody trusts anyone, there are groups within groups. The onscreen camaraderie is just for public consumption. Their biggest opportunity to let out frustration is the confession room where they speak their heart and mind. The moment Bigg Boss calls them to the confession room their spirits get a sudden lift. They may say that they hate to nominate people they like or dislike but the fact is nominations are done without any hesitation. Again politics and mind game plays a big part when they nominate people for eviction. If Carol comes out as a genuine person, Rupali is said to be the real fake. Her crying and boding with different people each week is said to be her way of surviving eviction. However, the housemates finally saw through her game and Rupali has been evicted from the house. Ravi is the real entertainer of the show while Rahul Roy is perceived as the most complicated person. Be it politics, fake relationships, tears, laughter, fights, plotting and scheming to heroes and villains it is all there in Bigg Boss. And it is all unscripted and without retake just like the Lok Sabha proceedings that come live on DD with 542 characters. It is a drama of different kind. Take it or leave it but it's difficult to ignore it.
http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=14655
Edited by Manoj_Tina fan - 18 years ago
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