This could be a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s #MakeInIndia campaign, or just a logistically practical reason for the Chinese to dig into an Indian company’s expertise. But believe it or not, when the Chinese wanted to shoot their first version of the popular reality show Big Brother, they didn’t shoot it in Shanghai, or Beijing but came all the way to India. The set was the same one in Lonavala where the Indian version – Bigg Boss, is shot with superstar Salman Khan.
The Chinese version is titled, Housemate, Let’s Stay Together and it was shot in a start to finish schedule in Lonavala in September.
According to sources, the reason for shooting in India is the already available set, resources, infrastructure and expertise from Endemol Shine India, which has produced eight seasons of the Hindi reality series Bigg Boss, apart from two seasons of a Kannada & one season of a Bengali version.
Yes the Chinese wanted to use our expertise in shooting the popular reality show. The design of the set is the same but the aesthetics had to reflect their culture. Interiors were redone but largely infrastructure was the same.
– Deepak Dhar, Managing Director, Endemol Shine India
The Chinese show will have ten young contestants, five men and five women, whose identities have not been revealed yet. They are all reportedly from different backgrounds and we are told that the housemates include a female singer and a popular macho muscle man.
Many a times, proceedings on the show tends to heat up when some contestants turn violent, so you may think that the Chinese version would be controlled and mellowed down, but Dhar refuted this, “I also thought that they will be conservative and the show will be regulated because like the Indian culture they too are a bit orthodox keeping in mind the family audience but it was nothing like that. It wasn’t controlled.”
The Chinese show is not for a television channel but for the online platform Youku Tudou, which receives over 580 million unique visitors every month, an audience that is bigger than some Chinese broadcasters.
Housemate, Let’s Stay Together was shot in a start-to-finish schedule in about 6 weeks unlike the Indian version which goes on for over 100 days.
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