It’s that time of year when 15 contestants are trapped in a house, and the ensuing chaos is meant to be entertaining. Yes—Bigg Boss OTT Season 3, now hosted by Anil Kapoor—kicked off on 21 June.
But it’s not jhakaaaas!
After only three episodes, the new season has already set a new benchmark for how to butcher a TRP-magnet reality show.
My early take on Bigg Boss OTT 3? A cringe-worthy spectacle of forced confusion, fake drama and pretentious disputes. This season has many things but not entertainment.
Biggest flop
If we look back, the first season grabbed eyeballs with Kashmera Shah and Rakhi Sawant’s catfights, Rahul Roy shedding his Aashiqui image, and Sawant emerging as the OG entertainment queen. While the second season topped the rating charts due to a voluntary exit by a popular housemate, Rahul Mahajan, Kamaal R Khan’s atrocious behaviour was a highlight of the third season.
With fights, love stories and high-voltage drama, the show had all the ingredients to become the national guilty pleasure. In season 4, two contestants—Sara Khan and Ali Merchant—even took their wedding vows inside the Bigg Boss house. While their marriage didn’t last long, the televised wedding created quite a furore.
Television actors Sidharth Shukla and Rubina Dilaik cemented the reality show’s popularity in seasons 13 and 14 respectively. Their bold personality stood out for the audience. That’s what the ongoing season is lacking. Most participants seem characters from a daily soap instead of real-life personalities. And those who are not putting up obvious acts are too boring to be on the show.
Bigg Boss, which once boasted a lineup of TV actors, the occasional Bollywood stars, and models, with a couple of reality TV regulars, has evolved—or perhaps devolved—over time.
On the roster this year, we have actors such as Ranvir Shorey, Sai Ketan Rao, Munisha Khatwani, Sana Makbul, and Poulomi Das. There’s also a crew of social media sensations including Sana Sultan Khan, Shivani Kumari, Vishal Pandey, Lovekesh Kataria, Armaan Malik and his two wives Kritika and Paayal Malik. Chandrika Dixit, the famous Vada Pav Girl is also part of the show.
My issue isn’t with the contestants Bigg Boss has gathered this season, but rather with the cringe content being dished out so far.
The opening episodes have been nothing short of a chaotic mess, dripping with artificiality.
What used to be a treasure trove of unfiltered drama has now morphed into a fake spectacle—it has the entertainment value of a toddler’s tantrum at naptime.
From social media darling Pandey playing the sidekick to Kataria exuding arrogance and conjuring up anger out of thin air, Kumari playing the ‘village card’ while Dixit maintains her character from the social media videos —these hour-long episodes are becoming an endurance test.
And let’s not overlook journalist Deepak Chaurasia’s riveting performance. Not content with merely being a contestant, he has decided to moonlight as an entertainment news reporter, desperately trying to stay relevant by peppering the housemates with questions.
Honestly, if you’re injured, maybe consider staying at home. One wonders why Chaurasia is dragging himself out of bed inside the Bigg Boss house when he has nothing to add to the show.
It would have been so much better if a genuinely entertaining contestant had been given the opportunity instead.
Meanwhile, YouTube sensation Armaan Malik and his two wives still think they are shooting for one of their YouTube vlogs. This peculiar trio will either be thrown out of the show early or will end up showing their true faces soon.
We also have an actor-turned-Tarot card reader Munisha Khatwani and poet Sana Sultan. I guess they have been brought in as guinea pigs for initial evictions. Otherwise, I don’t see a point.
It’s almost as if the show has discarded any pretense of reality, serving up a parade of exaggerated emotions and staged confrontations.
The performance put up by Makbul and Rao in the third episode is a great example. They are just bad actors purposely trying to pick a fight.
And, the toxic masculinity of the contestants is getting on my nerves.
In the good old days of Bigg Boss, at least actors knew how to ‘act’—they could fake authenticity with some finesse. Now, we’re stuck with a sad, empty husk, where arguments feel like rehearsed monologues from a bad high-school play.
Also read: Khamosh—Sonakshi Sinha marrying a Muslim man is not everybody’s business
What to expect?
My interest in this season of Bigg Boss has dropped rapidly, like a lead balloon falling from the sky.
Bigg Boss OTT 3 is shaping up to be the biggest flop yet. Expect a steady stream of offensive language, petty bickering, unprovoked disrespect, and of course, loads and loads of utter nonsense.
This season, the showrunners have inexplicably allowed contestants to carry phones, adding a layer of manufactured drama with controversies and misunderstandings. What a pointless addition.
Bigg Boss is not Bigg Bossing the way it used to.
Views are personal.