Bigg Boss Casting Crisis: 100 days of imprisonment, trash of image and misbehavior of influencers; Know why big TV and Bollywood stars turned away from ‘Bigg Boss’?

The audience eagerly waits for every new season of television’s most controversial and popular reality show ‘Bigg Boss’. But behind the scenes, the makers of the show are currently facing the biggest ‘Casting Crisis’. For the last few seasons, a pattern is clearly visible – established lead actors of the television industry, well-known faces of Bollywood and classic celebrities are now rejecting the offers worth crores of rupees from the show. Despite repeated approaches from the makers, the A-listers are clearly refusing to take the risk of being locked inside the house for 100 days. After all, why has that show, which once gave a new lease of life to sinking careers, become a ‘no-go zone’ for big artists today?

The main reason for staying away from the show is ‘Persona Damage’.

• In the television industry, an actor works hard for 10 to 15 years continuously and creates the image of ‘ideal daughter-in-law’, ‘cultured son’ or ‘decent hero’ among the domestic audience.

• In the environment of 24×7 cameras and psychological pressure in Bigg Boss house, when there is an outcry regarding ration, cleanliness or captaincy task, the dignity built on the screen gets shattered within a few weeks.

• It has been seen in many seasons that after coming out of the show, makers and brands avoided casting many controversial contestants in new TV shows or advertisements, because their public image had become completely negative.

For the last 3-4 seasons, makers have started bringing YouTubers and social media influencers into the house to attract viewership. This change has disillusioned traditional artists:

• Culture of misbehavior and abuse: In the race to get TRP and footage inside the house, it has become common for influencers to cross limits and misbehave with senior artistes.

• Poisonous PR and troll army sitting outside: When an established actor takes on a YouTuber inside the house, the YouTuber’s million-follower fandom sitting outside starts abusing, raping and giving death threats to the actor, his family and even his children on social media. No serious actor wants to put his personal life under this mental stress.

The feeling among the cast has become very strong that there is no ‘fair game’ left in the show:

• Only 1 hour episode is cut from the game which runs 24 hours throughout the week. Artists fear that for the sake of TRP, their good moments will be cut and only fights, aggressive behavior or wrong angles will be promoted.

• The editing of the show is done in such a way that one contestant is suddenly made the villain and the other the victim. Serious actors feel insecure with this narrative-driven format.

There was a time when Bigg Boss was the only way for actors to come back into limelight after TV. But today the entertainment landscape has completely changed:

• Expansion of OTT Platforms: With the advent of streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, JioHotstar and SonyLIV, the doors of web series, short films and digital shows have opened for the best actors.

• Social Media Monetization: An established TV actor easily earns lakhs of rupees per month through Instagram and brand collaborations without getting involved in any controversies.

• In such a situation, putting one’s mental peace at stake by being cut off from the world, family and smartphone for 3 months is now proving to be a loss-making deal for any sensible artist.