''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through

JioStar Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...

Network. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally available through the OTT platform

JioHotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

with 24/7 live stream. ''Bigg Boss'' started in the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

language, and has since been extended into seven Indian languages, including

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, Bengali,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, Telugu,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Overview

There have been seven versions of the show in different languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The first show of the franchise was ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through JioStar Network. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally availabl ...

'' in

, which debuted in 2006 through Sony TV, and from season two onwards it moved to and continues on

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of Soap opera, family dramas, Comedy, comedies, fantasy shows, youth-oriented Rea ...

. In 2013, the franchise extended its presence in

through

Colors Kannada Colors Kannada (previously known as ETV Kannada), is an Indian Kannada language general entertainment channel, owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programs such as serials, reality sho ...

and Bengali through ETV Bangla, later rebranded as

Colors Bangla Colors Bangla (previously known as ETV Bangla) is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel broadcasting in Bengali language owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programs su ...

. In 2017, it extended its presence in

through Star Vijay and in Telugu through

Star Maa Star Maa is an Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows and Telugu ...

. In 2018, it ventured into

through

Colors Marathi Colors Marathi (previously known as ETV Marathi) is an Indian Marathi language general entertainment channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programs such as serials, reality shows and ...

and into

through Asianet. Though only celebrities were selected to be as housemates in the initial seasons, members of the general public have been chosen to be on the show in the latest seasons of

, Telugu, and

versions of the show.

Synopsis

Contestants called "housemates" live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Housemates are voted out, usually on a weekly basis, until only one remains and wins the cash prize. During their stay in the house, contestants are continuously monitored by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones. The program relies on techniques such as a scripted back-to-basics environment, evictions, weekly tasks, competitions set by ''Bigg Boss'', and the “confession room” where housemates converse with ''Bigg Boss'' and nominate the housemates they wish to evict from the house. The housemates with the most nominations are then announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote via

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

or online through social media and smartphone applications for the nominee they wish to save from eviction. The last person standing is declared the winner. The contestants are required to indulge in housework and are assigned tasks by the omnipresent authority figure known to them as ''Bigg Boss''. The tasks are designed to test the teamwork abilities and community spirit of the housemates. The luxury budget is a weekly allowance to buy luxury food items other than the supplied essentials which depend on the outcome of assigned tasks.

History

Creation

''Bigg Boss'' is a Hindi language adaptation of '' Big Brother'' created in

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

by John de Mol Jr., largely based on the ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Celebrity Big Brother'' or ''Big Brother VIP'' is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, t ...

'' model owned by the

Endemol Shine Group Endemol Shine Group B.V. (stylized as EndemolShineGroup) was a Dutch production and distribution company of scripted and non-scripted content, responsible for programmes such as '' Big Brother'', '' Deal or No Deal'', '' The Money Drop'', '' Fe ...

. The show was named ''Bigg Boss'' and a house was constructed for the show at Lonavla for season one to four and six to twelve, in

Karjat Karjat (Pronunciation: əɾd͡zət̪ is a city administered under a Municipal Council in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It forms a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and is located approximately from both Mumbai and Pune ...

for season five and in

Goregaon Goregaon (Help:IPA/Marathi, �oːɾeɡaːʋ is a suburb of Mumbai city, in the Mumbai Suburban district of India. It has a Goregaon railway station, railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Line (Mumbai Suburban Railwa ...

from season thirteen onwards. ''Bigg Boss'' debuted on television in 2006 through Sony TV with

Arshad Warsi Arshad Khan (born 19 April 1968) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the recipient of List of roles and awards of Arshad Warsi, several awards including a Filmfare Award from five nominations and is noted for acting in varied f ...

as the host. The show gained popularity after Shilpa Shetty emerged as the winner in '' Big Brother 5'' and replaced Warsi as the host in the second season of ''Bigg Boss''. From the second season, the show's broadcast moved to

Viacom 18 Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate, part of JioStar. It is owned by Reliance Industries and Bodhi Tree Systems. The Organisation had various channels and content production studios in India. Following th ...

. For third season

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

hosted the show respectively and Salman Khan continued as a host from fourth season onwards, while

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who works in Hindi cinema in addition to a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi films. Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 160 films. ...

also hosted for fifth season along with Salman Khan.

Farah Khan Farah Khan Kunder (; born 9 January 1965) is an Indian film director, writer, film producer, actress, dancer and choreographer who works predominantly in Hindi films. Khan has choreographed more than a hundred songs in over 80 films, winning th ...

hosted the spin off season of eighth season in absence of main host Salman Khan.

Expansion

The show's acceptance and success among the Indian audience paved way for its expansion into other Indian languages. After the sixth season wrapped in 2013, ''

'' and '' Bengali'' adaptations were created by

Endemol Endemol B.V. (stylized in all lowercase) was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted gen ...

through

ETV Network ETV Network is a network of Telugu language news and entertainment satellite television channels in India. It is based in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It also had some non Telugu-language satellite television channels. All non- Telugu satel ...

Sudeep Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Kichcha Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer and television presenter, who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He has also worked in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Te ...

hosted the Kannada version, and

Mithun Chakraborty Mithun Chakraborty (born Gouranga Chakraborty; 16 June 1950) is an Indian actor, film producer, screenwriter, entrepreneur and politician who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. In a career spa ...

and Jeet hosted the Bengali version. While the Kannada version continued with new seasons annually, similar to Hindi, the Bengali version completed only two seasons in six years and did not turn out to be as successful. In 2017, upon completion of ten seasons in Hindi, four seasons in Kannada and two seasons in Bengali, Endemol Shine India extended its presence in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

by creating

and Telugu versions of the show with

Star India Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...

. The Tamil version was hosted by

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

, while the Telugu version started with Jr NTR as the host, and later for the second season Nani became the host. From the third season onwards

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most importa ...

became the host. In 2018, the show was adapted into

under

and hosted by

Mahesh Manjrekar Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi language, ...

later from fifth season

Riteish Deshmukh Riteish Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and television presenter who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Marathi cinema, Marathi films. Known for his comic portrayals, Deshmukh is a recipient of several ...

hosted show. The next language adaptation was ''

'', which was produced by

and hosted by

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

. In 2021, another version was adopted called '' Bigg Boss OTT''. Its episodes were shown on Voot later on JioCinema and hosted by

Karan Johar Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...

, Salman Khan,

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Indian television and international films. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a ...

Versions

: Currently airing – 0 : Upcoming for airing – 2 : Recently concluded – 4 : No longer airing – 1 Female Winners/Runner-ups
Male Winners/Runner-ups
Playing_card_club_A

Wild-card Winners/Runner-ups

Summary

''Bigg Boss Hindi''

''Bigg Boss'' is the

-language and the first version of the franchise. The first season premiered in 2006 on Sony TV It was hosted by

. The prize money was The license for ''Bigg Boss'' was acquired by

and the next season was aired on

with Shilpa Shetty as the host. Veteran actor

was roped in to play host for the third season while Salman Khan appeared as the host in the fourth season. The fifth season was jointly hosted by

and Salman Khan while Khan alone continues to host the show consecutively since sixth season until present. A lavish purpose-built house, with annual modifications was built in Lonavala,

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

for the show. A new house was built at

ND Studios ND Studios is a film and television production studio located in Karjat, Maharashtra a north suburb of Mumbai. Established in 2005, it is owned by Nitin Chandrakant Desai . Apart from films, it is also the location reality TV series, ''Bigg Bos ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

for the fifth season. The house at Lonavala was rebuilt and used again from the sixth season. The prize was reduced to since the fifth season. A spin off series, '' Bigg Boss: Halla Bol'' was launched and merged into the eighth season with five finalists from the eighth season and five previous runner ups which was hosted by

. All subsequent seasons were then hosted by Salman Khan. '' Bigg Boss OTT'' (or ''Bigg Boss: Over-The-Top''), a spin-off Indian Hindi-language reality digital series of the show ''Bigg Boss'' that aired exclusively on Viacom 18's streaming service platform Voot (Season 1) and JioCinema (Season 2 and 3). The digital edition's Season 1 was hosted by

and the show premiered its first season on 8 August 2021, Season 2 was hosted by Salman Khan which premiered on 17 June 2023 and Season 3 was hosted by

which premiered on 21 June 2024. Atul Kapoor has been the voice of ''Bigg Boss'' since the first season for both versions.

''Bigg Boss Kannada''

Bigg Boss Kannada ''Bigg Boss Kannada (BBK)'' is the Kannada version of the reality TV show ''Bigg Boss'', which is broadcast in India through Colors Kannada channel. The show is produced by Endemol Shine India, who owns the global format of '' Big Brother''. ...

'' is the Kannada version of the ''Bigg Boss'' reality TV show and it was the first south Indian adaptation of ''Bigg Boss''. Actor

was roped in by ETV Kannada to play the host of the show for the first season in 2013 and for second season

acquired the license of the show and aired on Suvarna with

continuing his role as the host of the show. The Bigg Boss house at Lonavala which was used for the Hindi version was also used for the first two seasons of ''

''. A new and bigger house was constructed at Innovative Film City in

Bidadi Bidadi is a town situated on the Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States a ...

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and is being used since the third season. Sudeep's contract to host the show was extended to five seasons starting with the third season which returned to Viacom 18's

. The fifth season moved to Colors Super, a sister channel of

. It is notable that the Kannada version is the only adaptation where the host,

alone would be hosting the show for nine consecutive seasons. All the seasons so far have had as the prize money. Commoners were allowed to be a part of the show from the fifth season through auditions. Three artists have been the 'voice' of ''Bigg Boss'' as of fifth season -

Amit Bhargav Amit Bhargav is an Indian actor who has appeared in films and television shows in Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He became popular for his role in the Kannada television series '' Seethe'' in which he played Lord Rama Rama (; , , ) is a ma ...

for the first two, B M Venkatesh for the third and Srinivas Prasad since the fourth season. '' Bigg Boss OTT'' (or ''Bigg Boss: Over-The-Top''), a spin-off Indian Kannada-language reality digital series of the show ''Bigg Boss'' that aired exclusively on

's streaming service platform Voot. The digital edition hosted by

Sudeepa Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Kichcha Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer and television presenter, who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tami ...

and the show premiered its first season on 6 August 2022.

''Bigg Boss Bangla''

'' Bigg Boss Bangla'' is the Bengali version of the show which was produced by ETV Bangla with

as the host while the first season of the Kannada version was wrapping up in 2013. The second season was aired on

in 2016 and was hosted by Bengali actor Jeet. The Lonavala house used for Hindi version was used in both seasons and the prize money for the show has been lesser than the other adaptations with and respectively for the first and second seasons. This is the only adaptation of the show that does not follow the annual format and the seasons have been produced once in 3 years. The reality show however has been discontinued after season 2 but a leading Bengali TV channel is planning to launch its new season and discussion about copyright issues is still on and show makers are yet to finalise it.

''Bigg Boss Tamil''

'' Bigg Boss Tamil'' is the Tamil version of the show and the second south Indian adaptation of ''Bigg Boss''.

produced the show in 2017 with

as the host on Star Vijay. This has been the only version to have none of its seasons shot at Lonavala. The house was constructed at EVP Film City,

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and is being used since the first season. All the three seasons so far have had as the prize money. Halfway through season 5, the main host actor

fell ill and was replaced by actress

Ramya Krishnan Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970), also credited as Ramya Krishna, is an Indian actress predominantly known for her work in Telugu and Tamil films, along with appearances in Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films. Early life Ramya was born ...

to host the show until he recovered. '' Bigg Boss Ultimate'', a spin-off Indian Tamil-language reality digital series of the show ''Bigg Boss'' that aired exclusively on

Disney Star Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...

's streaming service platform

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

. The digital edition hosted by

but later he replaced by

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar (born 3 February 1984), popularly known as Simbu or by his initials as STR, is an Indian actor, producer, and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. He is the eldest son of director T. Rajendar. ...

and the show premiered its first season on 30 January 2022.

''Bigg Boss Telugu''

'' Bigg Boss Telugu'' is the Telugu version of the ''Bigg Boss'' reality TV show and telecasted by

in 2017. The first season Jr NTR is being hosted the show and the Lonavala house was used for the show. The second season was hosted by Nani. From third season onwards

continued as a host for the show.

and Samantha Akkineni appeared as a guest host in Season 3 and Season 4 respectively in the absence of main host. From second season onwards a newly built house was constructed at Annapurna Studios,

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

is being used for the show. All the Seasons so far have had as the prize money. '' Bigg Boss Non-Stop'', a spin-off Indian Telugu-language reality digital series of the show ''Bigg Boss'' that aired exclusively on

's streaming service platform

. The digital edition hosted by

and the show premiered its first season on 26 February 2022.

''Bigg Boss Marathi''

Bigg Boss Marathi ''Bigg Boss'' (or colloquially ''Bigg Boss Marathi'') is the Marathi-language version of the reality television programme ''Bigg Boss'', based on ''Big Brother (franchise), Big Brother'', which airs on Colors Marathi. Mahesh Manjrekar hosted th ...

'' is the Marathi version of the show and the first season is being aired on Viacom 18's

. The Lonavala house is being used for this version and

is playing the host. From the 2nd season onwards house is made in

film city,

. This is the first and only adaptation of ''Bigg Boss'' so far to have its language affiliation in the show's official name. The prize money is announced to be .

''Bigg Boss Malayalam''

'' Bigg Boss Malayalam'' is the Malayalam adaptation of ''Bigg Boss'', produced by

and broadcast on Asianet. Veteran actor

has been roped to host the show and the Lonavala house was used for the first season. The prize money for the first season was announced to be ₹ 1 crore (US$140,000). All episodes of the show are available on the ott

digital platform. For second, third and sixth seasons, house shifted to EVP Film City in Chennai. The fourth and fifth seasons, the house being in Film City, Mumbai.

References

{{Big Brother Indian reality television series Endemol Shine Group franchises Indian television series based on non-Indian television series