Bigg Boss 8 extended by a month.
By The American Bazaar Staff
MUMBAI: Director Farah Khan, who was feted at the Stardust Awards here as the ‘Dream Director’ of the year for ‘Happy New Year’, has a chance to stamp her authority on India’s most controversial reality show matching the wits and patience of celebrities in a confined space, Bigg Boss 8, as she will pick up the reins of being the anchor in the new year from Salman Khan.
Farah Khan has been surprisingly chosen to replace actor Salman Khan as the anchor of Bigg Boss 8 which has also got an extension of one month, with the celebrities there agreeing to a new contract, according to a report.
The show, which was on its last stretch, was expected to culminate on January 4, 2015, with a winner being declared. But the show’s ratings have gone up well this year, and the chemistry or lack thereof amongst the celebrities remaining on the show, has piqued the interest of the audiences like never before. It’s likely prompted the producers of the show to go for an extension.
Salman Khan’s busy schedule didn’t allow any leeway for an extension, and after alternatives like director, producer and actor Karan Johar, and actor and producer Anil Kapoor being considered to take over the high voltage anchor’s role, it’s Farah Khan who will take over as the anchor.
However, the choice of a female anchor in Khan also is likely because of the controversial ouster of model Diandra Soares from the show, after Salman Khan too had shown displeasure at her. It had become well known that Soares and contestant Gautam Gulati were getting to be intimate on the show.
Some of the criticism against the show is that it’s too male chauvinistic and was also inculcating themes like the rejection of a modern, free-willed woman by traditional Indian society. The criticism and rejection of Soares by Gautam Gulati’s mother being an explicit case in point.
It’s one thing for television serials in India to espouse the image of a sati-savitri wife under the watchful eye of a conservative mother-in-law in a traditional household, and quite another for a modern woman like Soares being rejected by not only the contestants of a reality show, but by a male anchor like Salman Khan and the conservative mindset mother of Gautam Gulati, outside the show.
It certainly was sending mixed messages to an Indian society which is grappling with changes like females being the breadwinner or the higher earning partner in a household.
The inclusion of Farah Khan, who is used to being the boss on her film sets, may be just the fresh breath of air that Bigg Boss 8 needed.