Life is tough, for every Indian. For many of us, it revolvesaround putting food on table. These fellow Indians have nothing much other thanthe daily grind of their office or factory to look forward to. Then, there aresome, for whom life revolves around somehow passing time. For these fellowIndians, finding the next thing that stimulates them is a tall order.
Next, the social hierarchy presents celebrities as if theyare perfect human beings who live every moment in a textbook-like fashion and cannever do anything questionable.
What if the understandably human need for unwinding afterhard work or the human need to pass time is coupled with raw human emotions andthose humans are not common people, but public figures – entertainment celebrities.
This intersection is where Bigg Boss lives.
Many logical, rational people have asked themselves thatwhat it is about Bigg Boss that they find so alluring, that their thinking goeson vacation while they indulge themselves and let their worries go.
There are a couple of reasons which contribute to theaddictive helplessness a Bigg Boss viewer find themselves in.
Celebrities, when they engage in routine behavior become relatable.Since, the participants are enclosed in a limited space 24x7 for an extendedperiod of time; it becomes difficult to put up a façade, even if someone wantsto. Thus, the people that everyone is used to watch in expensive dresses andsuits, reciting well-rehearsed lines in a show become everyday people. A viewermay think that the celebrities are no better than themselves, and this providesthe viewer a satisfaction.
Humans find unpredictability exciting. When a carefully selectedcollection of temperaments is forced to live under one roof, with no contact withoutside world, and under the authority and guidance of the directors of theshow, every moment becomes unpredictable. A viewer may find that a woman whosecharacter in a show is docile can be capable of malice and aggression, or a manwhose character never looked at any woman other than his wife is anaccomplished flirt inside Bigg Boss’ house.
Another attraction of a viewer is the ability to live vicariouslythrough their favorite house member, imagining what they would have done in thesituation. Replaying in mind various scenarios along the lines of ‘I wouldnever tolerate that’, ‘I would have promptly washed the dishes’, and so on getplayed in the minds of the viewer. And then, the viewer comes back for anotherhit, another dose of pleasure and keeps on watching the show.
Finally, the Bigg Boss environment is a microcosm of reality,but the show edits out the banal parts and presents the controversial, sensual,and other juicy content. Also, tidbits presented out of context have a highlikelihood of being misunderstood, and thus fueling the entertainment of everyone involved.