Pick up any season of Bigg Boss, and there is much happening on camera—from tasks to controversies, from flirtations to feuds. But things are equally dramatic off camera too. Do you know what happened after Bigg Boss season 2 contestants Rahul Mahajan and Raja Chaudhary breached the rules and jumped off the set’s outer wall? Or when Imam Siddiqui demanded to walk out of the sixth season? While we’ve seen the on-camera action for many years, this time, we zoom in on the people behind the camera who join forces every year to give us the reality show. From identifying interesting contestants to watching endless hours of footage, from running dummy episodes to setting up more than 100 cameras, they tell us what it takes to orchestrate one of the biggest reality shows.

Deepak Dhar, Founder and Group CEO, Banijay Asia & EndemolShine India, remembers that he watched the original Big Brother, a Dutch show, on DVD way back in 2005. The international team (of Banijay) had a simple ask—would it be possible to adapt the show in India?

“I was shocked when I watched it because a show like this is highly volatile and risqué. I couldn’t have watched the DVD with my family in the room. It was difficult to even fathom something like this could work in India, but I took it up as a challenge,” shares Dhar.

He pitched the adaptation to several broadcasters until Sony TV first picked it up. To date, Dhar remembers that the first contestant to enter the Bigg Boss house in 2006 was Salil Ankola, after which no one entered the house for over an hour due to a technical glitch. In the meantime, Ankola grew anxious, wondering if he was the only contestant on the show. Dhar laughs, “Salil thought it was a con job!”

Early on, the makers figured out that the show was more about emotions than showcasing risqué things. “The minute we see a person with an agenda, we strike him off the list,” asserts Dhar, adding that the idea has always been to rope in people who have stories to tell.

“The fourth season was a standout, where we had Shweta Tiwari, Dolly Bindra, Khali, and Pamela Anderson. That was the turning point of Bigg Boss in the country. It was also the year we got Salman Khan as the host. We even cooperated with the authorities when they wanted to come and monitor if Monica Bedi dropped some evidence,” he shares.

The show’s detractors often speculate that Bigg Boss is scripted. But Tushar Joshi, Editor in Chief (Creative Director), rubbishes the speculation. He notes that often, the contestants provide the drama, while the creative improvises at times, but the makers have never intervened in the proceedings.

“We have never briefed any contestant, or gone in the house,” asserts Joshi, who has been associated with the show from the fifth season. He says the show relies largely on contestants’ personalities and their inter-dynamics.

“If a contestant is my biggest character, I can’t suddenly change my creative. For example, Ankita Lokhande was one of the most talked-about characters in the house. I couldn’t sideline her unless the house decided to sideline her. It’s a chess game between them and us. Whenever we make a move, they will also react.”

The makers also got a few seasons wrong in terms of casting. Abhishek Mukherjee, Head of Project, points to the ninth and 12th seasons. “In the ninth season, 10 out of 16 contestants were failures. So, we pumped up [the show] through various tasks and situations.”

The crew consists of over 700 people, who are then divided into weekday and weekend teams. “One is the reality team, which handles the episode from Monday to Friday, and the other is the weekend team. Despite being the weekend team, they are expected to watch the entire footage during the week. Then there is another team that takes care of my 24/7 live channel interactivity and the Unseen Undekha section,” explains Joshi.

Which brings us to the most important part: the execution of Bigg Boss. It’s known that the show is shot 24x7 with over 100 cameras. While there are cameras stationed inside the house, there are also cameras placed near all the windows, with cameramen trying to capture the tiniest of actions and conversations. Did you know that when the contestants wash dishes at the sink, smoke in the smoking room, and sleep in the bedrooms, they have cameras directed at them from behind the tinted windows? If the cameraman takes a break, there is always someone to take their place.

Taking us around the set, Sarvesh Singh, Head of Production, says, “Everyone who enters the shooting alley around the house is expected to wear an all-black uniform to avoid reflections in the glass doors and windows. Every window is numbered. That way, when instructions are received from the control room, a cameraman can reach the right window to capture the required content. We have three rotational shifts for every crew member.”

Over 62,000 wires are laid down for every connection inside the house, which is later concealed to avoid monkeys disrupting the shoot. Mukherjee says that the pressure in the PCR (production control room) is tremendous. Ahead of a season, the crew has to undergo mandatory 15-day training, where they produce dummy episodes.

“In the first couple of days, my PCR team is taken through the old episodes, where we tell them how to divide streams, what to follow, and where the story lies,” explains Joshi.

“The next day, [a few crew members] go into the house, and start recording their own stories. In the next stage, we get dummy contestants and produce a few 12-hour episodes; we also do one 24-hour episode. It is not only for the crew, [but to ensure smooth functioning of everything]. Once the contestant enters, everything from plumbing to the smallest light needs to work for 105 days, or 45 days if it’s for the OTT. So, everything needs to be checked, including the pipes, flush, and gas. Sarvesh even instructs them to cook, just so that we can see if the stove is working.”

Everything a contestant carries inside the house is scrutinized by the team. Participants are not allowed to carry medications inside the house. If a person has a prescription for anti-anxiety, diabetes, or any other illness, it is delivered on a daily basis. “Senior journalist Deepak Chaurasia is in the house. He is diabetic and unable to walk, so we put inclines in the house for the wheelchair. Every day, his medicines and insulin shots are delivered,” explains Mukherjee.

With a show of this magnitude, the challenges are bound to be tenfold. Singh remembers the behind-the-scenes drama that unfolded when Mahajan and Chaudhary, in the second season, breached the boundary walls, leading the creative team to consider having an early finale.

“They had made a sexist remark, stating that there were no women in the house to cook for them. Bigg Boss told them that they had to make their own food. Rahul removed the mic, and said, ‘I’m not doing anything. If you don’t provide us food, we will jump off the wall.’ We thought he was [bluffing], but they jumped off the wall and started walking towards the main gate. People started capturing them on phone cameras, so we grabbed them, put them in the car, and brought them back.”

Joshi recalls another instance when Siddiqui wanted to leave the show at 3 am. “He said he has a friend in Lonavala and he wants to go to her house. It turned out to be an old bungalow of Smita Patil, which was later bought by Imam’s friend,” shares Joshi.

Shifting from their Lonavala set after season 12 was another challenge. He highlights that despite having a medical team on standby 24x7, they have dealt with problems from “non-declared miscarriages. There were people taking 30 to 40 milligrams of anti-depressants in anger.”

With the world embracing AI, it’s only a matter of time before we have a Bigg-Boss-meets-AI version. Dhar says, “We have started moving in that direction; maybe by the end of the year or early next year, the process will be in place.”

Did you know?

- A season of the Chinese version of Big Brother was shot in India.

- India is the only market globally where Bigg Boss plays out across two platforms (TV and OTT) within the same year.

- The production relocated from Lonavala’s 17-acre set to three acres in Film City.

- Every year, the crucial members of the Bigg Boss team meet their international counterparts worldwide to discuss the previous season.

It is impossible to steal some time from Priyanka Chopra's chock-a-block schedule. In between shooting for her television series Quantico in Montreal, promoting her upcoming Hindi film Jai GangaaJal from across the globe and preparing for her Hollywood flick Baywatch, she barely has time to breathe. At Cinderella hour, on the day she was gearing up for her Oscars debut as a presenter, we engaged her in a quick tête-à-tête.Was she nervous, jittery or anxious about her big Oscar moment? Nah! That's never been her style. Rather, her trademark candour is never jaded, even when she is dead tired.The actress was wicked with her replies as she spoke about being a tough woman in a man's world and her plans to wreak havoc in the lives of good people as the baddie in her Hollywood debut.

You are dodging bullets in both Jai GangaaJal and Quantico. Yet, these roles are as different as chalk and cheese. Was the transformation easy?
I am just an actor. I go from one job to the other. I shot for this film first, and then went on to shoot for the television show. Since I have done a lot of action in movies like Don and Mary Kom, I could manage them both so smoothly. The language disparity has never been an issue with me since Hindi and English are both my first languages.

Your character in your upcoming film demanded research. Did you find enough time for it?
A woman's superpower is multitasking and that makes our breed so infallible. Like all wonderful ladies, I, too, can manage to do a lot of things together because good work comes at a price.

You are referred to as 'Madamsir' all through the film. Didn't that feel strange?
It is a respectful way of addressing senior officers in the Indian police force, and I think it is one up for feminism when women are addressed that way professionally. But while researching for the film, I realised that women in the police force are not given as much credit as they deserve. A woman in uniform can pack a punch just as hard as any man. This is what the film stands for - the power of the uniform. 'Don't judge me because I am a man or a woman... judge me for my job' is what Abha (my character) believes in and so do I.

Do you feel that women cops are not taken seriously in our country?
Forget women officers, people generally don't take the police seriously in our country. It is a vicious circle that covers the entire spectrum - from police to the law enforcement wings to the public. In this film, we explore the gundaraj of Bankepur and why law enforcement is essential to curb anarchy at its nascent stage. I love the fact that the film puts the spotlight on some pertinent issues.

Did you give feedback to your director Prakash Jha, who makes his debut as an actor with this movie?
The minute Prakashji came to the set as an actor, I became a bully. I never missed a chance to tell him that it is his debut and on that count, I am a senior (chuckles). But he has done a commendable job at both acting and direction. I admire his bold filmmaking and his vociferous point of view. I believe every filmmaker should have a distinct voice of his own and Prakashji, besides being a curious observer with a defined perspective of his own, is someone who is vocal about how he feels.

While you are leading the ensemble in a popular American TV series, you are still asked about the saleability of a woman-oriented film? Is that awkward?
We can't deny that we live in a man's world. It is entirely male dominated and women all over the globe are waging their own individual battles. They are fighting strong and hard to land positions on the basis of their merit. In my case, the reason why I have been able to hold on to films like Jai GangaaJal and Mary Kom, is because the opportunity has come my way. Fortunately, those films are made well these days. It is a great time for any female actor in the entertainment business. Finally, people are willing to watch stories that are good. Today, it is irrelevant whether it is a man or a woman on a movie poster.

You are pretty much the unofficial Indian spokesperson in the US. Do you feel more responsible about your actions and words now?
I have never been the kind of person who has done anything to impress anyone. If you want to get rid of being judged for being a man or a woman, Indian or American, Brown or Caucasian, you need to be your own judge, and set your own benchmark. I have always just focused on being brilliant at my job. I have kept my head down and worked very hard. Eventually, people get impressed by your dedication and calibre more than anything else. I owe my success to my training in the Hindi film industry, and today, I can play any kind of character and be accepted for it.

There is so much of talk in India about you being a successful celebrity in the West. Do you think that our entertainment industry seeks too much validation from Hollywood?
I look at it as an acceptance of Indian talent on foreign soil. It is an achievement because the person has gone into an alien set-up and has managed to conquer it. It has nothing to do with our notion of Hollywood being superior to Hindi cinema. At least, not to me. I am an actor and I can go to any country and work. I can play any character or speak any language that a script demands. I have done work in English, Hindi, Tamil, Bhojpuri and Marathi. I am producing a Punjabi film as well. Cinema as an art cannot be judged based on geography or the colour of an actor's skin.

Do you plan to produce Hollywood films as well?
Hopefully, though I haven't thought of it yet. I don't really plan my career. Let's take it one day at a time. I know for a fact that my prerogative is to tell good stories. Let's see where being a producer takes me.

Have the 'exotic' songs taken a backseat for you?
It is true. I have been a bad mother to my music. But, right now it is 12 o'clock at night in LA. I am juggling between two different continents, in two different time zones. This is difficult, but then again, difficult is what I do best.

You are playing a negative character in your debut Hollywood film Baywatch...
(cuts in) And, I am on cloud nine about it. Playing negative characters is so much fun. There is a certain novelty to it. You have to let go off all your inhibitions. I have been a huge fan of Baywatch. In the 90s when I was growing up, the show was such a big deal in India. Pamela Anderson was hugely famous. I admire Dwayne (Johnson). He is a business-minded actor who was from a completely different profession and made it big here on his own. I am looking forward to making lives difficult for all the good people out there.

Having achieved so much in the past few months, what is the last thought on your mind before you sleep every night?
That I am so exhausted (laughs). Honestly, achievement can never be limited, as long as someone has the drive. That full stop cannot exist for an artiste. Moreover, I have always believed in the saying that success is a journey not a destination.