| MUMBAI:
After hosting two seasons of Kaun Banega Carorepati on Star Plus, Amitabh
Bachchan is set to make his appearance on the idiot box again. This time, though,
the Bollywood star will be on Colors, a rival Hindi general entertainment channel
from Viacom18. Colors
has signed Bachchan to host Endemol’s reality show Bigg Boss 3 (second
season on Colors), with a mandate to take the show to greater heights – of
popularity, scale and excitement.
The
show will mark the entry of Bachchan on TV after a gap of
four years. He was last seen on Star Plus’ KBC Dwitiya
in 2005. Bachchan will be playing the role of ‘Pop Philosopher’,
one of the differentiators of this season, the company announced
in a press conference in Singapore.
“Can
it be bigger than this?” Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat told
Indiantelevision.com. “The Bigg Boss house is
a pot-boiler of emotions, and being a man of this stature,
Big B’s role will be to decode the emotions on the show.”
Kamat, however,
refused to reveal the financial terms with Bachchan and who the participants of
the show will be this year. In
Bigg Boss 3, as 'Pop Philosopher', Bachchan will bridge the gap between
participants and viewers – through contextualising events, simplifying emotions
and analysing developments that happen within the Bigg Boss house.
Bigg
Boss, a reality format show based on Big Brother, was
first launched on Sony Entertainment and was hosted by Arshad
Warsi.
The
first season of the show on Colors (Bigg Boss 2) was
hosted by Shilpa Shetty, who was in limelight after winning
the Big Brother in UK.
Colors will
start the promos announcing Bachchan’s association with Bigg Boss from 7
September, when it is launching second season of Fear Factor Khataron Ke Khiladi.
Bachchan
said, “This is one show that has intrigued me immensely as a viewer –
its format, its contestants and the psychological battle within the house. That
intrigue, coupled with the unique concept that Colors shared with me for this
season, excited me to be a part of ‘Bigg Boss’ this year.”
The channel
is also asking viewers to decide who they want to see in the Bigg Boss house.
As part of the promotional activity, Bachchan will urge the viewers to send in
their entries, based on which Colors will try to get a few of those personalities
into the Bigg Boss house. Kamat
added, “While last year Bigg Boss helped us sustain the momentum and
inch closer to the category leaders, this year Bigg Boss is a part of our effort
to strengthen our leadership position and increase the gap with other players.”
The
show format brings 14 strangers to a house, for close to 85 days – with 35
cameras following their every move. Colors claims that Bigg Boss 2 was
watched by 70 million viewers over a period of three months. | 
