Bigg Boss season 6 ends to leave a void after enthralling viewers!

In the non-fiction genre, reality shows on television are gaining popularity and are on par with fiction shows and soaps where audiences today are concerned . One such show of this genre is the reality show  ‘Bigg Boss’ which has been a hot favourite with all age groups who enjoy tuning to watch the lively banter, arguments, camaraderie and also watch sparks fly between the housemates  of the show. It depicts the true nature of the contestants and their capability to get along with the other contestants inspite of being cooped up within the house for a minimum period  of nearly 90 days.

Bigg Boss a reality TV programme follows the Big Brother format, which was first developed by Endemol  in the Netherlands by John de Mol. Bigg Boss in 2006 was the first season of the Indian reality TV programme . It aired on Sony Entertainment Television from 3rd November 2006 to 26th January 2007, for a total of 86 days. Unlike other versions of Big Brother the Indian version uses celebrities as housemates not members of the general public.

A number of contestants (known as "housemates") live in a purpose-built house and are isolated from the rest of the world. Each week, housemates nominate two of their peers for eviction, and the housemates who received the most nominations face a public vote. Of these, one would eventually leave, having been "evicted" from the House. However, there are exceptions to this process as dictated by Bigg Boss. In the final week, three to four housemates remain, and the public vote decides who is the winner  for  the particular season. Every week tasks are set by the house for the housemates which include games, festivities and other activities.

A new Bigg Boss House is built for every season. The house was earlier located in the tourist place of Lonavala, however the house for the fifth season was located in Karjat. The house is well-furnished and decorated. It has all kinds of modern amenities, with one or two bedrooms and four toilet bath rooms. There is also a garden, pool, activity area and gym in the House. Holding utmost importance is the Confession Room, where housemates are called in by Bigg Boss on a regular basis for any kind of conversation and for the nomination process. The House has no TV connection, phones, internet connection, clocks, pen or paper.

The all powerful Bigg Boss, rules the lives of 13 handpicked celebrities from various fields. He makes them do things that could never be imagined and reveals  a side of them that has not been seen before. This unscripted soap entertains with its unadulterated drama, raw emotions, genuine laughter and much more. The USP of Bigg Boss is that it shows viewers live drama as it unfolds which results in a unique primetime soap that leaves audiences asking for more!

Some of the milestones that may be recalled include the second season when actress Shilpa Shetty known to be involved in the controversial series of the UK's Celebrity Big Brother season 5 became the host for Season 2 of the show Bigg Boss. Her spat with Jade Goody a British national became a major issue and coincidentally the latter was one of the housemates in that particular season.

There have also been instances when a contestant has been nominated only to make a comeback in the very same season. Nonetheless, the house has played home to a number of controversial figures who have left an indelible impact on the viewer’s minds. Two such cases being that of the loud and outspoken Dolly Bindra and Samir Soni of Parichay fame. They were evicted from the house following a huge fight in which they broke most of the rules.

The Bigg Boss house has also witnessed temporary stays of illustrious celebrities as house guests during the fourth and fifth seasons. Ali Merchant and Pamela Anderson made appearances in the 4th season of the show and Swami Agnivesh, Andrew Symonds & Yamamotoyama appeared in Season 5 and Jyoti Amge has been seen in the latest season Bigg Boss 6.

In the fifth season audiences who became more familiar with the show realized that with every weekly eviction, a specific trend was being followed whereby the least controversial housemate who has had negligible interaction in fights gets evicted after getting nominated for that week. It became widely believed that contestant were getting evicted from the show as a result of not making headlines for the reality show. Various opinions poured in expressing their views on the show . They felt that barring a few educated and well-mannered celebrities, most of the Bigg Boss contestants had failed to exercise self-restraint and maintain their composure thereby raising a doubt if the dramatic scenes in the house were actually real or faked for the audiences ! Tempers flare unbounded and morality and ethics take a backseat. They tend to become selfish and switch sides for personal gains too, to keep themselves safe from being nominated.

The contestants of Bigg Boss are those who may have not made it big in their respective fields and  have been away from the limelight . It is believed that Bigg Boss found the ultimate assistant in Arshad Warsi who  helps them in finding celebrities for the show.

‘Bigg Boss’ can do wonders for the contestants who come into the limelight and ultimately make a name for themselves when spotted by famed producers or directors from the film industry as in the case of  Sunny Leone who  ended up winning a role in ace filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s film ‘Jism 2’In the initial years the  winner of the show walked away with a  prize money of Rs. 1 crore which has  now been brought down to an amount of Rs. 50 lakhs.

Bigg Boss  this season took the nation by storm beginning 3rd  November 2012. Unlike in Season 5 where actor Sanjay Dutt co- hosted the show with Salman Khan this season the latter hosted the show single handedly. A third time host Salman Khan has been impressive   since the beginning of the season . His spontaneous acts, wit and humour have never failed to  thrill viewers till date.

The theme in the sixth season was launched as a ‘Parivarik’ season with a Gujarati tagline- ‘Alag Che’. The idea this time round was to present a cleaner and family like image to the show given the fact that the show is watched by the entire family including the young and old alike. Commenting on the season, Manisha Sharma, Weekend Programming Head, COLORS said, “With Bigg Boss Season 6, we have changed the game – right from the treatment to the format to introducing never done before elements. This season was created to attract more family audiences that pushed us to constantly innovate, adding a lot of parivarik punch with the mix of celebrities to the variety of tasks. Besides this Salman’s charm and audience connect has worked in our favour and taken brand Bigg Boss notches up. Looking back, we are happy that we’ve managed to achieve what we set out for.”

Speaking about the format and the show, Deepak Dhar, CEO, Endemol India said, “This season, we have innovated, taken risks and introduced surprising elements that differentiates this season from its previous editions. Be it the new padosi house, or bringing the family members in the house, that created controversy, panic room, flash mob, LVA tests, Bigg Boss Season 6 has always been one step ahead of the viewers and has lived by the philosophy of expect the unexpected. And as we close this season, we are proud of the content and the high achieved with this show, making it truly an unpredictable and unparalleled format on Indian television.”

Bigg Boss Season 6 culminated with the grand finale aired on Colors on 12th January 2013 .The two hours episode was filled with entertainment in the form of dances and comedy to keep the audiences on the edge of their seats but all along the suspense and excitement in the air was palpable . All contestants who had participated from the beginning of the season were present and so also the near and dear ones of the finalists who had come to cheer the winner of this season. Sana Khan, Niketan Madhok , Imam Siddique and Urvashi Dholakia were the final four contestants   from whom the winner was to be chosen.

Salman Khan ushered in the evening by  shaking a leg to the 'Alag Che' song. He danced to the theme song much to the joy of the audience present. He later  introduced the last surviving members and finalists  of the show viz. Imam Siddiqui, Sana Khan, Niketan Madhok and Urvashi Dholakia.

Prabhu Deva and Remo D’Souza too entertained the audiences with their  electrifying performances  and impromptu dances . The other guest performers for the evening included Rashmi Desai, Yana Gupta, Neha Dhupia, Tusshar Kapoor, Kamya Punjabi and Ace comedian Kapil Sharma  and popular Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi.

The first eviction among the four finalists was that of Niketan Madhok who was voted out of the 'Bigg Boss' house leaving Sana, Urvashi and Imam in the house. With entertainment at regular intervals  came the next announcement of Sana Khan’s exit from the show and she too was voted out of the house. Salman then walked towards the 'Bigg Boss' house to bring Imam and Urvashi out on the stage. He also interacted with the audience and the near and dear ones of the contestants  to know about their personal choices and the gut feeling they had about the winner.

Then came the final moment when the much awaited announcement was made and popular small screen vamp Urvashi Dholakia was announced the undisputed winner of Bigg Boss Season -6! Imam Siddiqui was the first runner up while Sana Khan and Niketan Madhok were second and third runner-ups respectively.

“Some people loved it while others didn’t,” says Salman Khan, about Bigg Boss 6 . “Fights in Bigg Boss can get out of hand and are difficult to control. Even I miss the fights and masala. But I feel that there should be a balance,” he opined.

An emotional Urvashi Dholakia took home the jackpot prize of 50 lakhs along with a glittering trophy . “My sons are with me right now, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see them after so many weeks. My world is complete,” said Urvashi on her win . “Packing for 3 weeks, I came with a thought of not staying long. The excitement, the adrenalin, the whole experience of surviving the country’s biggest show is unbelievable! I had never imagined I would last till the end and emerge as the winner after all the madness, drama, fights, cries and what not! I dedicate this victory to my late father, my fans who supported me, without them this would not have been possible. Having my own share of ups and downs with each of my co-contestants, I definitely need to credit them for putting up with me and making this journey worthwhile. There is a lot that I am taking back with me from this experience of Bigg Boss Season 6,” she added.

That brought the curtains down for 'Bigg Boss 6' no doubt  leaving viewers and audiences all over the country and globally sad since their favourite show had come to an end but they definitely look forward to the next season with much eagerness and enthusiasm !