‘Bigg Boss Telugu’ and ‘Bigg Boss Tamil’, the regional avatars of the ‘Big Brother’ reality format are both phenomenal successes, thanks to the controversies and their eventual acceptance by the masses. Here’s how they do against each other.
The Hosts: Kamal Haasan vs NTR Jr
NTR Jr wins this one, hands down. I say this despite being a Kamal fan.
Kamal Haasan reprises his role as village head, which he played to critical acclaim in Thevar Magan (1992). He is the benign, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-just clan leader whose moral compass is never wrong, and whose judgement is never questioned.
His interactions with the disqualified contestants is very interesting to watch. But it allows too much room for sycophancy, which is by far the most abused feeling on screen in the show.
While Kamal Haasan wants to join in the fun, the spectators and the inmates won’t let him, thanks to their awe-filled perception of the ‘Ulaganayagan’ (universal hero).
NTR Jr has it good. In fact, he has it better. He has the advantage of being attached to the legacy of NT Rama Rao, Telugu cinema’s biggest hero, and also the most popular CM. But NTR Jr is in his thirties, and allows himself the frivolity and the camaraderie that the show demands.
NTR Jr’s presentation is much more focused. No meandering words, no ‘err...umm...aahs’, every dialogue or response is delivered faster, and with equal wit. Who won’t like a star who’s prepared?
The Contestants: Familiarity Breeds Viewers
‘Bigg Boss Tamil’ wins big with this one. ALL of the contestants, including the non-filmy Julie, are familiar faces.
Julie, Snehan, Vaiapuri, Harish, Suja, Ganesh, Haarathi, Kajal, Aarav and Bindu; all of them are famous enough for the public to put names to the faces. Putting out old videos from movies/serials the inmates have acted in, immediately after an episode, has by now become a tradition online. The fact that there’s enough material on each of the contestants to meme-fy, deify or simply-fry, adds to the overall appeal.
‘Bigg Boss Telugu’ has much fewer names with stickiness; Archana, Dhanraj, Sameer, Mumaith Khan...that’s about it. The rest are actors who look familiar, but are unknown. This is one of the reasons why the Tamil version is doing slightly better than the Telugu one, TRP wise.
It’s impossible to replicate an internet phenomenon like the success of Oviya on ‘Bigg Boss Tamil’. It is the stuff of dreams. But it helps to get familiar names in the meantime.
Mumaith vs Namitha
While the contestants overall make for a better collection in Tamil than in Telugu, some of the individual contestants have fared better in Telugu, and are definitely worth a mention.
Diva, vamp, good guy, comedian, girl next door, pain-in-the-arse aunty, lover boy. These are the typical Bigg Boss characters, in some combination of the above.
The vamps, in this case, are played by Mumaith (Telugu) and Namitha (Tamil). Namitha was the most sought after ‘item girl’ in Tamil (and sometimes, Telugu) from 2002 to 2009. She has more or less retired after that with very few movies and fewer public appearances. As a contestant in ‘Bigg Boss Tamil’, she neither brought in the villainy that is stereotypically expected of such a performance, nor did she bother to interact with the rest of the contestants.
Mumaith Khan, on the other hand, is still popular in Telugu cinema, and has achieved a certain level of notoriety, thanks to a five hour interrogation by the CBCID in a drug bust. From day one to her elimination, and subsequent ‘re-entry’ into the secret room, she has kept the audience entertained, and has been more or less forthcoming and candid, which seems to be the way to go.
The Road Ahead: Season 2 and Forward?
Where Telugu trumps Tamil is that NTR Jr and the show itself is open and ripe for reinvention.
While both Kamal Haasan and NTR Jr are capable of ‘becoming’ whoever they wish to, the luxury of playing a different character, or a host with a completely new set of reactions and idiosyncrasies is denied to Kamal Haasan. He has always been the benign, well-read, righteously indignant, pure Tamil atheist off-screen. He will not be accepted as anyone else.
This, above all else, will limit the variance that ‘Bigg Boss Tamil’ will allow itself in future seasons. More than half of the show is on the host, and that’s a Bigg deal to carry without the possibility of a do-over.
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