Bigg Boss Contestant (Big Brother Indian Version) & Supermodel Carol Gracias

Bigg Boss Contestant (Big Brother Indian Version) & Supermodel Carol Gracias

Censored 'Bigg Boss' puts off viewers

NEW DELHI: It has gossip, romance and drama, but India's prudish version of the worldwide hit reality show Big Brother has few takers on prime-time television long dominated by cat-fight soap operas.

The show went on air this month with 13 Bollywood film wannabes and has-been models, including a former Mr India, with the same format - but much less skin and scandal - as the international versions.

The series, called Bigg Boss here, will track participants over 100 days during which they are locked in a house and cut off from the outside world, with the television audience voting out one contestant each week. The last one standing takes home 500,000 rupees ($11,200; BD4,226).

The first episode was watched by fewer than three per cent of Hindi-language viewers among the nearly 62 million Indian households with cable television - a paltry share compared to the 11.4pc share notched by the top soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

According to TAM Media Research agency, the first episode of Bigg Boss ranked 22 among prime-time Hindi entertainment programmes - mainly soaps revolving around two women scheming to woo the same man.

"These ratings are quite low, especially for a new show for which there normally is far more buzz," said Ashutosh Bhagat of media buying agency Mindshare India.

The show is seen as a bellwether for advertisers who want to reach more than half of the 1.1 billion population who are under 25, said media consultant Praveen Tripathi, chief executive of Hansa Consulting.

As in other versions of Big Brother, shown so far in around 70 countries, in the show's second week romance is already brewing, but contestants are unlikely to be shown taking showers or having sex.

"We will respect the stars' privacy in the bathroom. We are not going to show any explicit footage or go live with uncensored version," said Rajesh Kamat, managing director of Endemol India, the show's producer. Bigg Boss producers, however, said the edited version of their show will not disappoint voyeuristic viewers. "Aryan Vaid has been quite touchy-feely of late," said Kamat, referring to the former Mr India who appears to be trying to woo starlet Anupama Verma.

Among others on the show are Bollywood siren Rakhi Sawant - known for her raunchy dance numbers in B-grade films. Also on the show is model Carol Gracias who hit headlines this year when her bustier fell off and exposed her breasts at a fashion show.