In 2018, when the #MeToo wave hit India, it appeared that time was truly up — on sexual harassment and misconduct, and power imbalance. But four years on, we are, unfortunately, a long way from effecting change. The entertainment industry’s moral bankruptcy came sharply into focus last week, as #MeToo accused Sajid Khan was brought on as a contestant on Bigg Boss 16.

Bollywood has habitually rehabilitated many of the accused, be it Anu Malik turning judge for Indian Idol 11 and 12, or director Vikas Bahl whose Goodbye opened in theatres yesterday. Even as the powerbrokers remain silent on the latest move, there is an online petition to evict Khan from the reality show.

On Wednesday, digital content creators Chandana Hiran and Sukriti Chauhan launched a petition on Change.org, demanding Khan’s ouster. Earlier in the week, singer Sona Mohapatra, in a series of tweets, slammed his inclusion on the show, calling Indian TV channels a “depraved and sad lot.”

Hiran tells mid-day, “We have collected over 13,000 signatures. Celebrities like Sona Mohapatra, Meera Chopra, Saloni Chopra and Chinmayi Sripaada have come out publicly and condemned this. But Colors TV is yet to acknowledge our petition. We want them to respond. One understands that they have already shot a few episodes [with Khan], but we want to know their stand on the matter. Are they planning to continue despite protests?”

In 2018, Khan was accused of sexual harassment by several actors and a journalist, among others. He was dropped from Housefull 4, a film that he was then directing, and had stayed away from the limelight until Bigg Boss 16. Hiran is hopeful that the rising voices will make the officials at Colors TV do right by the brave women, instead of chasing TRPs.

“They have been eerily silent. All we want to hear right now is that they condemn sexual harassment, and he should be evicted immediately. They need to take responsibility. We have reached out to the Viacom 18 TV Head [Nina Jaipuria] and Viacom 18 CEO [Jyoti Deshpande].”

After mid-day’s repeated attempts to reach out to Colors TV officials, the channel’s spokesperson declined to comment. A source revealed that Khan had been  approached for one of the previous seasons as well. “Sajid was chased down by the show’s casting agents a few times before. It took a lot of to and fro between the legal teams to lock him for this season. He is getting votes, which works for the show’s format.”

There has been a seismic shift in the entertainment industry over the past year as OTT platforms emerged as a worthy rival to television and theatres. The reach of digital entertainment is only strengthened further as the biggest reality show in the country goes online. Bigg Boss, which kicked off in 2006 and has been led by Salman Khan since 2010, will have its 15th season premiering on Voot Select.

Since 2008, the reality show has been airing on Colors TV, with the superstar host and the contestants’ headline-grabbing antics making it one of the most watched offerings. This time around, the top brass at Viacom 18 — the parent company of Colors TV and Voot — have decided to cash in on its popularity. 

“The company has internally adopted the digital-first approach, so, Bigg Boss will be launched online. The television premiere will take place six weeks after the original airing,” says a source, adding that the move will bring two-fold benefits. “The platform will be able to increase its user base drastically. Secondly, the show will be far more interactive. The junta factor will give the common man the powers to hand-pick the contestants, and have a say in their tasks and exit from the show.”

The 15th season is slated to kick off in August, but the final date has yet to be locked. As is par for the course, rumours about the possible celebrity contestants in the upcoming edition abound.

Confirming its online premiere, Ferzad Palia, head, Voot Select, says, “Bigg Boss has grown to become India’s biggest entertainment property. The launch of Bigg Boss OTT on our platform is another step towards solidifying our ‘Digital First’ approach. We are confident that our subscribers will enjoy our 24-hour live feeds, interactivity and gaming.”

Salman Khan is gung-ho about his upcoming co-production, the much-talked-about television quiz show, The Big Picture. The actor, who through his venture Salman Khan Television has collaborated with Banijay Asia on multiple projects in the past, says this one is their “biggest yet”. To be hosted by Ranveer Singh, this is one of the biggest quiz shows globally.

“I have always wanted to create content that is big and exciting for my viewers. People need to enjoy and have fun when they watch our shows. Till now, we have collaborated on multiple projects, but I know that this one is going to be massive! The idea is to keep getting bigger and better with the kind of content we choose to create,” says Salman. Touted to be one of the biggest and most differentiated game shows, The Big Picture will air soon on Colors TV.

“I have been a part of the Colors family for many years now and believe it is the perfect platform for a show like this and I am excited to see Ranveer bring it to life,” adds the actor.

“Like the title of the show, everything about the show is big. It has always been a pleasure to be associated with Salman Khan Television and creating this show together is a strong step forward in putting together content that is novel and path-breaking. Moving forward with time and acknowledging the power of the visual medium as the evolved language of new-age India, we, in association with Colors and ITV Studios Global Entertainment BV, are excited to add another unique show to the mix,” says Deepak Dhar, Founder and CEO, Banijay Asia.

The channel airing Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza posted an apology on social media and also stated that they have taken this up with the creative team and the production house to ensure that the show is produced in line with the channel's vision. However, host Krushna Abhishek feels the controversy has been blown out of proportion. “First of all, I would like to apologise to Tannishtha Chatterjee for whatever happened. She is a woman, I respect her as an artiste and she was our guest on the show. But it would have been better if Tannishtha would have watched the show before she agreed to get roasted,“ he says. Krushna adds, “Has she ever seen the way I make fun of Bharti (Singh) or how people take digs at me and my appearance on the show? The format is such that we are making fun of everyone's appearances. I have called Bharti a buffalo and she has called me a horse a thousand times. And if Tannishtha felt that a comment on her skin tone was racist, why didn't she raise the issue during the performance. She went home and then decided to post this on her social media account. Had she told us that she felt insulted or shocked by such comments, we would have rectified it. That's why I feel the controversy has been blown out of proportion and she was doing this for publicity. And by 'publicity' I mean she is doing this to create a controversy and not for the publicity of her film. When there is no issue why are you creating a controversy? There are so many artistes who come on our show and they ask us to edit certain portions and we do that. We could have done that this time too. Tannishtha was nice to everyone on the show. And I again reiterate that she should have watched the show before agreeing to be part of it?“

After a successful two-and-a half year stint on Colors, Comedy Nights With Kapil came to an end a few days ago. Clearly, there was a huge fall-out between Kapil Sharma and the channel. While Kapil has spoken about the issue, Colors refrained from making any comment so far. But CEO Raj Nayak has now decided to speak out. Excerpts from the interview...

You refrained from speaking about the issue all this while, what made you change your mind?
Whatever transpired between Kapil Sharma and us was a private matter and I wanted it to be that way. We have a lot of respect and love for him. But our silence was being misinterpreted. Our niceness was being misconstrued as our weakness and since much has been said, I felt is is important to set the record straight once and for all.

What exactly went wrong between Colors and Kapil Sharma?
Kapil Sharma was on television for over 10 years, first on Laughter Challenge and then on Comedy Circus before he did Comedy Nights with us. He is a nice person and is extremely talented. We gave him a platform and co-created Comedy Nights with him. It was the channel's decision to call it Comedy Nights With Kapil (originally the show was to be titled Comedy Nights), as we felt that it would give him a sense of ownership and his loyalty to the show would be 100 per cent. We even helped him set up his production company. The success of the show meant that we had a person who suddenly became a star and found it difficult to manage his success. He started renegotiating and asking for more money which we gave, but the more important and worrying thing was that he violated his contract by hosting shows on competitive channels inspite of having an exclusive contract with Colors for TV, which we felt was not ethical.

What about Kapil's allegations about the channel giving Comedy Nights Bachao more prominence and even diverting celebrities to the show?
Film stars do integrations for movies and want to be on non-fiction shows that rate well. We would encourage stars to appear on both shows. Kapil's insecurity or those of people around him was when the problem began. His managers started panicking when in terms of ratings, Bachao... started doing well and better than Comedy Nights With Kapil in some episodes. And instead of working with our creative team and finding ways to reinvent and make the show ratings better, they kept living in denial and started casting aspersions on the channel. Both the shows were equally important to us. To ensure that both succeed, we kept promoting them with equal weightage. We were clear as a channel that the success of either show need not necessarily be at the cost of the other. For us, they were both mutually exclusive.

Was Comedy Nights Bachao started with the idea of easing out Kapil's show?
Not at all. We didn't do Comedy Nights Bachao by choice. Instead, we requested Kapil not to make his show once a week as it was financially not feasible to us. He said he is busy with movies and doesn't have the time. He did not give us a choice and made his show a weekly and in the process, also doubled his fee. He ensured his personal remuneration didn't suffer, but caused a big financial loss to us. The truth is that we were forced to make CNWK once a week. And since we had built the weekend 10 pm slot as comedy, we had no choice but to bring in another comedy show in the slot vacated by Kapil.

How tough was it to actually let go of Kapil's show, given that it was one of your top shows?
In a normal course, no channel would let go of a good show. But it has to also be economically viable and more importantly, business has to be conducted in an ethical manner. For many reasons, the decision to let go of Kapil has been very tough. It has has been an emotional show for us. Together, Kapil and our creative team created magic. He is extremely talented, probably one of the best in this genre. We never asked him to go. He was not happy with us and implied that we couldn't have another comedy show on the channel. That was unacceptable to us. He chose to walk out. He is a nice guy being misled, I guess, by others around him for their own survival. I am very fond of him and feel really sad to see him go.

Does it worry you that Kapil is going to be on a rival channel?
I am not worried. I feel sad that after all that, we as a channel had done to package him, promote him and treat him like an integral part of the Colors family, he has chosen to move on. Our best wishes are with him in his future endeavours. I am sure he will experience the difference.

There have been fights in the TV industry and the warring parties have even patched up at a later date. Will Colors and Kapil too come together some day?
My team and I love Kapil Sharma the person and the artiste. We have not had any issues with him. He had issues with us. We respect his talent and would be happy to work with him in the future. The only condition being that he has to have a good set of managers and the terms of engagement should be mutually acceptable and respected.

What is your equation with Kapil?
Personally, I have a great equation with him. He wished me on my birthday and I wished him for New Year's. Professionally, we have had our differences. I am answerable to my organisation and I have to act and make decisions in the best interest of the channel.