Big Brother USA debuts in India
December 19th, 2008Big Brother, the extremely popular US show — like the desi Bigg Boss, is a version of the UK Big Brother (where the Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, right, famously faced, and overcame, racist jibes to win the show) — has made its debut in India. On Monday, Vh1 began airing the US edition of Big Brother: ‘Till Death Do You Part’ Season 9′.
Ashutosh Kaushik may have beaten all the odds to walk away with Rs1 crore, but there’s more than money on offer in Big Brother. Billed as the hottest season so far, 16 houseguests will compete for a cash prize of $500,000, and a chance to find, well, true love.
Bigg Boss, and its controversies, ensured extremely high TRPs, but will Big Brother be as popular? Bigg Boss fans seem to think so. Gurjender Singh Virdi, an executive editor with a national magazine, and an avid Bigg Boss viewer, says, “The best part of the show is the fact that it is spontaneous. Nothing seems planned, or scripted in advance, making it a good show.” A big fan of reality shows, he is looking forward to the Big Brother series, more out of curiosity. “I want to compare and see how the Indian version is different,” he says.
Divya Nair, a self-confessed fan, and a follower of both seasons of Bigg Boss, says, “These shows thrive on controversy, but are very real. I, personally, prefer this season to the last one.” Bigg Boss, for her, was far more interesting than the daily soaps. Her one complaint is that the Indian version was edited too much, denying viewers a peek into what actually goes on. “I am sure that the US version will be bigger, less edited and freer, in terms of content,” she says, adding that these are reasons enough for her to watch the new show.
For Lubdha Ogale, an associate account manager at a PR firm, the first Bigg Boss outdid the second one. She adds, “This season was more dramatised, and had little to do with reality. People were too bitchy.” Comparing the two versions is her primary reason for wanting to watch Big Brother. Besides, “They are showing it for the first time for an Indian audience, so I would like to see the approach.”
Big Brother promises to be different from the desi version. The season being aired on VH1 may be an old one, but for many it’s the first time they are exposed to an international Big Brother. And that has got the voyeur in them interested.