Bigg Boss

Hello Friends,

Today I wish to talk about me being a part of the reality show Bigg Boss. There have been many opinions, judgements, assumptions etc on why I chose to be a part of Bigg Boss and why I challenged the organizers when I was invited for re-entering the Bigg Boss house via a wild card entry. The news reports that I came across were sadly an attempt to sensationalise or scandalise the truth rather than getting to the root of the problem. I lay here my reasons for both joining and agitating-which are debatable.

To start with I felt challenged when I had received the invitation to be a participant in the show. No politician had ventured into that arena and entered a place where he would be watched 24x7. So I thought: Why not?

Another very crucial reason in my mind was that by being a part of the reality show I would be in a position to show the people of the country that politicians are not always what they are projected as. They are human too. They have emotions. They also crave to spend time with their families . And if I may say so, they too have interests in cooking, singing and arts. I believed I was not doing anything wrong.

It is altogether a different matter that I was nominated within a day of being in the House and mostly for the reason that – people did not understand me. For example Jade Goodie nominated me because she couldn’t recollect everyone’s names but mine. However, I wanted to leave gracefully, which I did.

As I watched the subsequent episodes, I realized that there wasn’t any clarity in the way participants were being voted out. [I am not laying any allegations.] I did get to hear similar thoughts from many people and I myself felt that something was amiss somewhere. Also the vulgarity of the show was increasing day by day. Brushing the thoughts under the carpet I moved on with my daily schedule.

Then I was invited for the wild card entry. This is where I put my foot down. The show had lost its decency. It was to be a family show in my understanding. But the vulgarity levels had reached their peak. The use of foul language had become an irritant. My belief system wouldn’t let me be a part of this evident vulgarity.

Along side I asked the organizers to show me the proof of the votes that had come in. I told them: “I will go once I am satisfied that the voting process is foolproof.” I wanted it to be transparent. But they were not ready to show the voting statistics. Why were they not ready to show the votes polled for various participants who were voted out? When it is a reality show and the rule of the game is public vote, why this shyness in revealing the figures? I feel the trust of the people in the organizers would have increased manifold had they been open about the process. But sadly, they weren’t.

Hence, I opted out. Was I wrong? I will appreciate your opinions – positive or negative on the not so transparent voting process and the increasing vulgarity of the show. I will try to respond to them.

Regards,

Sanjay Nirupam.