‘Bigg Boss’ on Malayalam television

The reality show, anchored by Mohanlal, hits the small screen tomorrow

Mohanlal is the host of ‘Bigg Boss’ Malayalam

Sixteen contestants, 100 days, one big house and… all eyes. As Bigg Boss Malayalam , hosted by Mohanlal premières this Sunday (June 24), the Malayali audience will get a look at celebrities going to stay under the same roof for over three months in a show of camaraderie and battle of wits. Cut off from the rest of the world, the “housemates” will be seen and judged only through the eagle eyes of cameras as the ‘Bigg Boss’ acts as the conscience-keeper between the participants and the audience. The show is modelled on the Dutch reality game show Big Brother .

Once in, the house becomes ‘the world’ for the contestants. “They hand over their belongings and every single accessory sealed in a basket before setting foot in the house. All 16 contestants are then safely ‘locked’ in by the host in the opening day. They live together in the same house under the same conditions doing different things and it gets as real as it can. This is a show where you don’t have any retakes,” says Reghu Ramachandran, senior vice-president of Asianet.

With no access to newspaper, cable television, Internet or mobile phones in line with the show’s format, the contestants’ only door to the outside world is through the Bigg Boss. “Their only connect to the outside world will be through the ‘voice’. All the contestants, once they enter the house as the show starts rolling, are supposed to be a family. Everyone only sees each other as they wake up every day. But that’s where the unpredictability comes in. We wait and see how they start regarding each other as the show progresses and how they nominate for a co-participant’s eviction,” says Reghu.

The host “appears” before them, of course only virtually, twice a week for eviction nominations and “confessions”, and unbeknown to the contestants, eliminations are based on “voting” from the audience. “Voting lines through SMS and online voting will be open for the public till the last minute of the eviction on a particular week. Ultimately, it’s the show’s followers who get to decide who goes out on a weekly basis until the last man standing,” says Hafiz Shamsudeen, associate creative head of the show.

At the film city in Mumbai, better known as Dadsaheb Phalke Chitranagri, the stage is set. Purpose-built in about 40 days for an “undisclosed budget”, the fully furnished “isolated house” is tailor-made to host the 16 dwellers. Brainchild of architect Shyam Bhatia, who has previously worked with

Bigg Boss Hindi and

Bigg Boss Kannada, the house itself is a work of art with a kitschy interior décor and a sophisticated “behind-the-scenes” monitoring system that incorporates a comprehensive network of cameras and microphones to capture each and every movement and sound.

The Bigg Boss house comes with a single large hall in the middle that triples up as living room, dining area and kitchen. Two separate large bedrooms with glass partitions for male and female contestants adjoin. Separately, there’s a pool, a gym area and ‘smoking area’ outside. The highlight is the ‘confession room’, where the housemates get to “speak and confess” to the Bigg Boss. This is also where they put in their nominations for elimination.

A touch of Kerala

Artworks display a mix of the experimental and the traditional. “We wanted the experiences, the life, the wonder and the pleasures of Kerala on a canvas and we have tried to capture this through the intricate interior artworks and murals, especially on the bedroom walls. We have also represented the traditional art forms of Kerala there. The idea is that the contestants will become conscious of the artwork around and hopefully this will reflect in their behaviour too, though physically they stay miles away from the State,” explains Shyam. The experimental part comes in on the flooring and ceiling. “They are done in a triangular-chequered pattern. There’s a lot of research work that went into their conceptualisation. You’ll know all that one you see the house for yourself on Sunday,” says Shyam with a chuckle.

Keeping round-the-clock watch on the contestants are about 60 cameras, both wall-mounted and hand-held ones fixed on trolleys. Each contestant will also be wearing a lapel microphone, except when sleeping or taking a shower. “The entire house is encircled by a camera gulley on the other side of one-sided mirrors. The housemates cannot see these cameras but we see them all the time. If any member of our technical crew has to enter the camera gulley, we follow a dress code of black to avoid any possibility of detection by the contestants,” says Shounak Ghosh, director of the production control room. Replenishment of provisions are done at a ‘store room’ and contestants are informed of re-fuels via ‘alarm bells.’

However, the biggest surprise will be the contestants, and the makers of the show are keeping the list as a guarded secret until the première. “But rest assured, it’ll be a mixed gang and for the first season of the show, we can expect only Malayali contestants,” says Hafiz, while indicating with a smile that that is all the information he’s ready to provide for the time being.

Bigg Boss Malayalam season 1 premières this Sunday. The show will be telecast Monday to Friday 9.30 pm and Saturday and Sunday 9 pm on Asianet.

(The writer was at the Bigg Boss house on invitation from Asianet)