One of the most anticipated reality shows of this year, Bigg Boss 9, premiered last night. While the entry act wasn’t much to write home about, Salman Khan more than made up for it with his goofy antics and quirky banter. Bless this man.
As we already are aware, this season’s theme is Double Trouble. Sticking to that, the contestants were seen entering in pairs of their choosing…the pairs are, Digangana Suryavanshi-Roopal Tyagi, Rochelle Rao-Prince Narula, Mandana Karimi-Keith Sequira, Ankit Gera- Arvind Vegda, Suyyash Rai-Rimi Sen, Kishwer Merchantt- Aman Verma and Yuvika Choudhary-Vikas Bhalla. Even though their entries lacked suspense or drama, there was one contestant who stood out…uh, not for the right reason though. Digangana’s intro focused on her obsession with princesses and fairy tales…with a room filled with Barbie dolls and a tiara on her head, she proclaimed her love for the princess culture. If that threw us off a little bit, Salman’s sparkling dance performances on his latest hits made us want to groove with him as well. He really kept the show moving with his effortless anchoring, easy charm and lop-sided smile.
Like every year, this one saw its fare share of overly-bubbly girl (Kishwer Merchantt), controversial folks (Aman Verma and Ankit Gera), firang tadka (Mandana Karimi), Bollywood starlet ( Rimi Sen) and passionate performer (Prince), along with shock element (Arvind Vegda). They look like a well-chosen mix of contestants who have the potential to take the show to the next level. But will they?
The set is brilliant as ever with a beautiful colour-combo and rich detailing. Thank god for that! No more airplanes and such.
We were hoping for a little bit of masala, considering how Prince wasn’t getting any partner on the show and the former reality TV participant was rather dejected with this. There definitely was a spark in this, which we are hoping would be explored later in the series. Talking about an opportunity lost, we would also like to mention the Media Roast aka the grilling session where Aman Verma and Ankit Gera were roasted by a panel of journalists. Even though the topics ranged from Verma’s alleged casting couch issues to Gera’s womanising ways, the whole bit looked more rehearsed than spontaneous. Even if it was indeed pre-planned, at least the writers could have given the two actors better comeback lines. Hopefully they are reading this and taking cues.
The only person who made the premiere hatke was Salman Khan, who looked dashing in black and a sexy crew cut. He danced. Joked. Pulled legs. And walked away with whistles and claps. There’s a reason he is Bollywood’s leading hero…
Let’s hope that the coming episodes have a lot to offer to us and are not a snooze-fest. Overall, it was a total treat for Sallu fans.