Bigg Boss - The second innings

This is one reality show which is truly demented and the folks who willingly participate ( for a relatively small prize money ) are even more so. Imagine spending weeks in quasi house imprisonment without books, newspapers, TV, mobile cooped up with a such a motley crew where 100% of actions and thoughts are targeted at eliminating someone every few days.

And all of this under the constant scrutiny of omnipresent cameras ( with the exception of the loos, thank god ! ) with a daily feed dished out to a nation of peeping toms.

Whoevers read "1984" will get the connection to the naming of the original show as "Big Brother" ( is watching ) of which the Bigg Boss is a rip off ( or maybe I should say a desi version ). But then if "Who wants to be a millionaire" bacame "Kaun banega crorepati" or "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" was translated to “Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?” why dont we have "Bade Bhaiyya" instead of "Bigg Boss" ??? Clearly, the producers did not think the term "bhaiyya" which is used almost derogatorily and collectively to refer to anyone from UP / Bihar, would evoke the necessary cool image and branding required to drive TRPs for the show ...

Having seen season one sporadically I was curious to see who were the folks volunteering to subject themselves to this humiliating daily fracas. A failed politician, few starlets, wannbe movie stars, aspiring playback singer, socialites, jat dhaba owner + part-time biker and even a stand up comic with a characteristic drawl ... all clearly out of work with nothing better to do.

They've also gone and dragged in Jane Goody who'd made those caustic rascist remarks about Indians in general and Shilpa Shetty in particular on the last season of the original "Big Brother". Ostensibly she is here to redeem herself and demonstrate how much she actually loves India and Indians. How far will the channel wallahs go to garner cheap publicity and TRPs ???

This to me is the last straw ... what used to be just a demented show ... is now downright pathetic.