Showing posts with label Salil Ankola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salil Ankola. Show all posts
Rehab ka decision zaroori tha mere liye-Salil Ankola
3:32 PM
S Farah Rizvi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 11, 2026)
After successfully completing treatment for depression at a mental health care centre near Pune, former Indian cricketer and national selector Salil Ankola is making a fresh start. He opens up about his experience in the rehab journey and the challenges he overcame along the way.
“I am much better and at peace. Rehab ka decision zaroori tha mere liye,” says the 58-year-old.
Sharing his experience at the care centre, Ankola says, “For the first 15 days, I was also not in touch with my family. I was in a complete detox from all worldly clutter.”
He adds, “Not just that; medication also helps. In the long run, everything from going out in open space to workouts actually helps. But what helps the most is to accept and be able to talk about it. I came out of the worst frame of mind, and now I am in the best frame of mind.”
Speaking of the stigma that still persists in society, he says, “That needs to be shed. Aapne liye hum nahin sochenge toh kaun sochega, logon ko toh baat banani hain.”
Looking forward, Ankola is eager to get back to the field. “I have taken up Marathi commentary and am hopeful to resume Hindi too. Cricket has never been a job or task for me. I love being on the ground,” he concludes.
Revealed: What goes behind-the-scenes in the making of Bigg Boss
8:40 AM
Mid-day takes a look at the behind-the-scenes action to understand the making of the longest-running controversial reality show, Bigg Boss
Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; July 9, 2024)
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.
Inception
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!”
Getting the right players
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.”
Takes a village to make the show
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.
Let’s make it happen
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.
Challenges
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.”
The way ahead
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.
There was a time when I was sleeping on the road or in my car-Salil Ankola
8:11 AM
Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; November 13, 2016)
Salil Ankola is no stranger to controversy. The once-star cricketer who quit due to an injury shot to fame through movies and television shows, and then gathered infamy due to alcoholism. The actor, who is all set to make a comeback with a new fiction show, Karamphaldata Shani, claims he is now two-and-half- years sober. In an exclusive chat with hitlist, the actor talks candidly about life and what matters most.
What compelled you to take up Karamphaldata Shani?
I don’t think there was any reason for me to say no to the show. I was offered two roles, but I preferred to portray Surya. Between my last reality show, Power Couples, and this, I was offered quite a few shows, which I am glad I didn’t do. It took them time to convince me to take it up.
You say that your worst time is over. Do you worry about the future?
My time was bad because my perception of life was very different. The only possibility of bad times returning is if I go back to addiction, which will never happen.
So did going to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings help you deal with your addiction?
I don’t believe in AA meetings. I went to about a 100 of them and they didn’t work for me.
What worked for you?
Nobody knows what works. One day, this was in March 2014; I woke up on my birthday and decided to just quit. I was done.
Do you still consume alcohol – even if just socially?
It’s been two-and-a-half years now, and I haven’t touched a drop. I have a lot of parties at my house and my whole fridge and bar is full with the best liquor in the world, but I don’t touch it.
What changes do you see in yourself now that you are free of the addiction?
My thinking, perception of life and my behavioural pattern has changed. I was not rational then.
Salil Ankola with his kids
Is there anything that you did then that you regret now?
That’s one thing an alcoholic should never be doing. It had to happen. I didn’t ask for it to happen — that’s why alcoholism is not a stigma, it’s a disease. Frankly, I can’t remember anything after I was drunk. I’ve had blackouts for 14 days straight.
When you met Ria (second wife) for the first time, were you already an addict?
Yes, I was already in that state when I met her. We connected on Facebook. I found her through a common friend, Sangeeth Sivan, who I adore. I liked her and I said, ‘Hi’ and within 20 days, we met. She was in Allahabad, I was in Pune, and soon, we decided to get married. She knows everything about me, but she stood by me. Her family obviously didn’t approve of me, but over time, they have accepted me.
When you look back at your life, what has been your lowest and highest point?
I can always get back materialistic things. But losing out on relationships was the worst thing I did. I lost out on my kids growing up years. My first wife passed away. I was not there for my mum and dad. But Ria came into my life and everyone has come back. My kids are more close to her than me.
Have you ever sat down with your kids and explained your situation to them?
No, it has never happened. I don’t want to justify myself. It’s done, gone and finished. It was never about forgiveness, I just needed them to trust that their dad will never do that again. That comes with time. I met my mum after two years, I entered the room and she sniffed liquor. I told her I am two years clean now and she believed me.
Do you feel that you’ve lost out on a lot of opportunities in this time?
I am lucky I am alive. That changes your perspective. I shouldn’t have been.
Do you think the cricket world has been unfair to you?
I don’t think they were ready for an open-minded person like me. I should have been born at least 13 years later. May be I could have played a little longer, but I had to give it up because of my injury. I stopped when I was 27. I was supposed to go for the West Indies tour just before the accident.
When you Google yourself, does the news bother you?
At least now, better stories appear. In between, it was all negative, about being caught drunk driving or my first wife and my separation in 2008 or other things like that. I was seeing someone else and I was happy for her because she was dating someone too. God knows what prompted her to take her life, but that was bad for me. I always wanted to quit but didn’t know how.
Financially, how did things work out for you?
I did television but not when I was lost. There was a time when I was sleeping on the road or in my car. There was no stability. I didn’t have a home, just a car, in 2008. At that time no one helped me.
Do you watch Bigg Boss?
I watch it for Salman Khan. He’s an inspiration, inspite of all the ups and downs he has been through, and it’s amazing to see him now. He didn’t have a godfather, even though he is an industry child. My friend Rahul Dev is there, so I’m watching it.
Salil Ankola with wife Ria. Pic/Nimesh Dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)