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 in Hindi which debuted in 2006 through Sony channel and from season two onwards it moved and continues in Colors TV channel. In 2013, franchise has extended its presence in Kannada through Colors Kannada channel and Bengali through ETV Bangla and later it rebranded into Colors Bangla channel. In 2017, it extend its presence in Tamil through Star Vijay channel and in Telugu through Star Maa channel. In 2018, it extend its presence in Marathi through Colors Marathi channel and in Malayalam through Asianet channel. Through only celebrities were selected to be as housemates in the initial seasons, members of the general public have been auditioned to be on the show in the latest seasons of Hindi, Kannada and Telugu versions of the show.
Synopsis
In this show, contestants called "housemates" live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Housemates are voted out until only one remains and wins the cash prize. During their stay in the house, contestant are continuously monitored by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones. The program relies on techniques such as a stripped back-to-basic environment, evictions, weekly tasks and competitions set by Bigg Boss, and the "Confession Room" where housemates convey their private thoughts to the camera and reveal their number of their fellow housemates whom they wish to be evicted from the house. The housemates with the most nominations are then announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote for the nominee they wish to be evicted or to be saved from eviction. The remaining last person is declared the winner. The contestants are required to indulge in housework and are assigned tasks by the producers of the show. The tasks are designed to test the teamwork abilities and community spirit of the housemates. The housemates' "luxury budget" depends on the outcome of assigned tasks.
The show's acceptance and success among the Indian audience paved way for its expansion into other Indian languages. After the sixth season was completed in Hindi in 2013, Kannada and Bengali adaptions were created by Endemol through ETV Network with the same house and resources with Sudeep and Mithun Chakraborty as hosts respectively. While the Kannada version became an instant hit, Bengali version did not turn out to be very successful. The Kannada version saw its subsequent seasons annually, similar to Hindi while Bengali version has completed only 2 seasons in 6 years. Upon completion of 10 seasons in Hindi, 4 seasons in Kannada and 2 seasons in Bengali. In 2017, Endemol Shine India extended its presence in South India by creating Tamil and Telugu versions of the show with Star India Network and Kamal Haasan and Jr NTR as hosts respectively. In 2018, the show has been adapted to Marathi version with Viacom 18 and hosted by Mahesh Manjrekar, and extended into Malayalam version with Star India Network and Mohanlal as the host.
Summary
Male Winners. Female Winners.
Versions
Bigg Boss Hindi
Bigg Boss is the Hindi version of the show and the first version of the franchise. The first season premiered in 2006 on Sony Entertainment Television with Arshad Warsi as the host with. as the prize money. The license for Bigg Boss was acquired by Viacom 18 and the next season was aired on Colors with Shilpa Shetty as the show's host. Veteran actor Amithabh Bachchan 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 Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan while Salman alone continues to host the show consecutively since sixth season till date. A lavish purpose-built house at Lonavala, Mumbai was used for the show in the first five seasons while a new house was built house at Big ND Studios in Karjat, Pune for the fifth season. The house at Lonavala was rebuilt and used from the sixth season. The prize has been reduced to from the fifth season. A spin off show — Bigg Boss: Halla Bol — was launched and merged into the eighth season with 5 finalists from eighth season and 5 previous runners-up which was hosted by Farah Khan. Though the show has largely been a celebrity-only show, it opened the doors for participation by the common people from the tenth season. Atul Kapoor has been the 'voice' of Bigg Boss since the first season.
Bigg Boss Kannada
Bigg Boss Kannada is the Kannada version of the show was the first south Indian adaption of Bigg Boss. Actor Sudeep was roped in by ETV Kannada to play the host of the show for the first season in 2013. Star India acquired the license for the show and the second season was aired on Suvarna with Sudeep continuing his role as the host of the show. The same house at Lonavala, Pune which was used for the Hindi version was used for the first two seasons of Bigg Boss Kannada. A new and bigger house was constructed at Innovative Film City in Bidadi, Bengaluru and is being used since the third season. Sudeep's contract to host the show was extended to 5 seasons starting with the third season which returned to Viacom 18's Colors Kannada. The fifth season moved to Colors Super, a sister channel of Colors Kannada. It is notable that the Kannada version is the only adaption where the host, Sudeep alone would be hosting the show for seven 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 for the first two, B M Venkatesh for the third and Srinivas Prasad since the fourth season.
Bigg Boss Bangla
Bigg Boss Bangla is the Bengali version of the show which was produced by ETV Bangla with Mithun Chakraborty as the host while the first season of the Kannada version was wrapping up in 2013. The second season was aired on Colors Bangla 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 adaptions with and respectively for the first and second seasons. This is the only adaption of the show that does not follow the annual format and the seasons have been produced once in 3 years.
Bigg Boss Tamil
Bigg Boss Tamil is the Tamil version of the show and the second south Indian adaption of Bigg Boss. Star India produced the show in 2017 with Kamal Haasan as the host on Star Vijay. This has been the only version to have none of its seasons shot at Lonavala. The house for Bigg Boss Tamil was constructed at EVP Film City, Chennai and is being used since the first season. All the three seasons so far have had as the prize money. The fourth season is planned to launch on June 2020 but delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic and it is postponed to October 2020.
Bigg Boss Telugu
is the Telugu version of the Bigg Boss reality TV show and telecasted by Star Maa. The first season Jr NTR is being hosted the show and the Lonavala house was used for the show and premiered on 16 July 2017. The second season is being hosted by Nani and a newly built house was constructed at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad is being used for the show and premiered on 10 June 2018. The third season is being hosted by Akkineni Nagarjuna and premiered on 21 July 2019.Ramya Krishnan was the guest host in week 6 of season three and for this season, house was continued at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad. The Three Seasons so far have had as the prize money.The fourth season is planned to launch on last week of June 2020 but delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic and it is postponed to August 2020.
Bigg Boss Marathi
Bigg Boss Marathi is the Marathi version of the show and the first season is being aired on Viacom 18's Colors Marathi. The Lonavala house is being used for this version and Mahesh Manjrekar is playing the host. This is the first and only adaption of Bigg Boss so far to have its language affiliation in the show's official name. The prize money is announced to be.3rd Season was scheduled to launch in May 2020 but delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic
Bigg Boss Malayalam
Bigg Boss is the Malayalam adaption for Bigg Boss which is produced by Star India and aired on Asianet. Veteran actor Mohanlal has been roped in to host the show and the Lonavala house is being used. The voice of big boss is still a mystery for the first season. The prize money is announced to be ₹1 crore. All the episodes of the show are available on the OTT platform Hotstar.Some new elements called 'Unseen', 'Spicy specials' and 'Bigg Boss Plus' was introduced by way of unseen and extra footage's uploaded on Hotstar. Bigg Boss Plus is aired on Asianet Plus and shows part of the day that weren't included in the episode.The second season launched on 5 January 2020 with Mohanlal returning as host and the house situated at EVP Film City in Chennai. 17 contestants entered the house on Day 1 and later joined by 5 wildcard contestants. However, due to the COVID-19 scare, EdmolShine India had to stop all shows and season 2 had stopped at the 75th day.
