Sometime back in July 2006, when the controversy around Big Brother erupted in Australia, it sure made a round of news in Indian dailies, or atleast on their web editions. I was surprised then how Indian television did not copy / steal the concept and make it into an Indian soap. Fast Forward to Nov 2006. Enter Big Boss.
As I see Arshad Varsi announcing the launch of Big Brother on Sony Television, I feel aghast. Probably I have seen all this and therefore I am making a comparison. Or probably my subconscious mind feels disgusted with the cheap copies that made Big Brother to Big Boss. Big Boss, as they launch, will surely be a hit amongst the Indian crowd, with the masala it pumps into the everyday life. Employees will have things to talk about while at work, call centre agents will attempt to morph into one of the characters and some feminist will rant about how sick indian men could be. Believe me, each one of them will enjoy.
Coming to the show and its setup, I was almost over the nostalgia when Arshad Varsi showed the Big Boss house. Exactly same outdoors, although sauna has been replaced with a swimming pool, same gym, same sitting area and same mirrors on the walls. Indoors there are quite a few changes. There was no change room for Aussie housemates. There is a dark camera-less change room for the Indian counterparts. The kitchen is same. The bedrooms is same. Heck, even the diary room looks the same. The green couch gave way to a red sofa.
I really don’t know what justice would Arshad Varsi do to the role played by Mark Goldwin, and what would Rakhi Sawant do in place of Camilla. And No, I don’t expect Indian housemates to roam about in Bikini as they did in the aussie version, but I want them to act a bit less dramatic. For whatever I could gather from Sony’s website, the logo looks the same but is in Red rather than blue. The rules are almost the same. Now where is Friday Night Live?
Hi Buddy,
I think you are living in left over world - “DOWN UNDER” . You saw Australian version and later saw the Indian version to say they did the EXACT copy. What about the Australian version ???. Initially, it was started in US, then it moved to UK, Europe, Australia and then ASIA. It is not copied by anyone. It is the worldwide copyright of the company ENDEMOL which has partnership with Indian copy “SONY” for all the reality shows. Hence you see all the reality show - Indian Idol, Big Boss etc which are customized to suit the indian audiences. They did the same in Australia too. You said all the setting, colors were same. It’s because it’s done by the same company - worldwide.
Most of the shows what you watch in Australia are either COPIED(your word) from US or from UK. What do you say ??.
Buddy,
Now any shows have worldwide copyrights and it CANNOT be copied. The copyright holder make sure that he gets his profit by sharing his show worldwide.
Do reaserch from which country did the “Friday Night Live” started and compare with the Australian version to say EVERYTHING looks same ??. Well, for Indian audiences, it new reality show and they will enjoy it . They are not concernced whether it the ORIGINAL script was written here like the Australain audiences. People like to have fun to watch different shows.
Amogh Samaga.
Chicago, USA.