Bigg Boss
India-wideBigg Boss franchise logo since 2021
Years	2004–present
Films and television
Television series	Bigg Boss (independent language versions and special editions –see below)
Miscellaneous
Languages	Hindi Kannada Bengali Tamil Telugu Marathi Malayalam
Produced by	Endemol Shine India (2006–20) Banijay Entertainment (2021–present)
Based on	Big Brother
Original network	JioStar (TV) JioHotstar (OTT)

Bigg Boss is an Indianreality competition television franchise adapted from the original DutchBig Brother, created byJohn de Mol Jr.^[1][2] The show features contestants called "housemates" who live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world.^[3]

The name "Bigg Boss" is inspired by Big Brother fromGeorge Orwell's novelNineteen Eighty-Four, and the housemates are continuously monitored during their stay in the house by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones.^[4] Throughout the course of the competition, they are voted out of the house (usually on a weekly basis) until only one remains and wins the cash prize.^[5]

Bigg Boss has had a significant cultural impact in India, influencing television trends and the concept of celebrity. The show is known for its drama, emotional moments, and the intense interactions between housemates. Various celebrities and public figures have participated in the show, further adding to its appeal.^[6] As of July 2025, multiple seasons ofBigg Boss have aired across different Indian languages, includingHindi,Kannada,Bengali,Tamil,Telugu,Marathi, andMalayalam. The editions, in particular, is widely recognized and often referred to by its initialsBB.^[7]

There have been seven versions of the show in different languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The first show of the franchise wasBigg Boss inHindi, which debuted in 2006 throughSony TV, and from season two onwards it moved to and continues onColors TV. In 2013, the franchise extended its presence inKannada throughColors Kannada andBengali throughETV Bangla, later rebranded asColors Bangla. In 2017, it extended its presence inTamil throughStar Vijay and inTelugu throughStar Maa. In 2018, it ventured intoMarathi throughColors Marathi and intoMalayalam throughAsianet.

Though only celebrities were selected to be as housemates in the initial seasons, members of the general public have been chosen to be on the show in the latest seasons ofHindi,Kannada,Telugu, andMalayalam versions of the show.^[8][9][10]

Contestants called "housemates" live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Housemates are voted out, usually on a weekly basis, until only one remains and wins the cash prize. During their stay in the house, contestants are continuously monitored by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones.

The program relies on techniques such as a scripted back-to-basics environment, evictions, weekly tasks, competitions set byBigg Boss, and the “confession room” where housemates converse withBigg Boss and nominate the housemates they wish to evict from the house. The housemates with the most nominations are then announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote viaSMS or online through social media and smartphone applications for the nominee they wish to save from eviction. The last person standing is declared the winner.

The contestants are required to indulge in housework and are assigned tasks by the omnipresent authority figure known to them asBigg Boss. The tasks are designed to test the teamwork abilities and community spirit of the housemates. The luxury budget is a weekly allowance to buy luxury food items other than the supplied essentials which depend on the outcome of assigned tasks.

Bigg Boss is aHindi language adaptation ofBig Brother created inNetherlands byJohn de Mol Jr., largely based on theCelebrity Big Brother model owned by theEndemol Shine Group. The show was namedBigg Boss and a house was constructed for the show atLonavla for season one to four and six to twelve, inKarjat for season five and inGoregaon from season thirteen onwards.Bigg Boss debuted on television in 2006 through Sony TV withArshad Warsi as the host. The show gained popularity afterShilpa Shetty emerged as the winner inBig Brother 5 and replaced Warsi as the host in thesecond season ofBigg Boss.^[11] From the second season, the show's broadcast moved toViacom 18'sColors TV. For third seasonAmitabh Bachchan hosted the show respectively andSalman Khan continued as a host from fourth season onwards, whileSanjay Dutt also hosted for fifth season along withSalman Khan.Farah Khan hosted the spin off season of eighth season in absence of main hostSalman Khan.

The show's acceptance and success among the Indian audience paved way for its expansion into otherIndian languages.^[12] After thesixth season wrapped in 2013,Kannada andBengali adaptations were created byEndemol throughETV Network.^[13]Sudeep hosted the Kannada version, andMithun Chakraborty andJeet hosted the Bengali version.^[14] While the Kannada version continued with new seasons annually, similar to Hindi, the Bengali version completed only two seasons in six years and did not turn out to be as successful.^[15]

In 2017, upon completion of ten seasons in Hindi, four seasons in Kannada and two seasons in Bengali,Endemol Shine India extended its presence inSouth India by creatingTamil andTelugu versions of the show withStar India. The Tamil version was hosted byKamal Haasan,^[16] for the first seven seasons and then from Season 8 onwards,Vijay Sethupathi became the host. The while the Telugu version started withJr NTR as the host, and later for the second seasonNani became the host. From the third season onwardsNagarjuna became the host.^[17][18][19] In 2018, the show was adapted intoMarathi underViacom 18 and hosted byMahesh Manjrekar later from fifth seasonRiteish Deshmukh hosted show.^[20] The next language adaptation wasMalayalam, which was produced byStar India and hosted byMohanlal. In 2021, another version was adopted calledBigg Boss OTT. Its episodes were shown onVoot later onJioCinema and hosted byKaran Johar,Salman Khan,Anil Kapoor.^[21][22]

  Currently airing – 1

  Upcoming for airing – 1

  Recently concluded – 5

  No longer airing – 0

  Female Winners/Runner-ups
  Male Winners/Runner-ups

Bigg Boss is theHindi-language and the first version of the franchise.^[32] The first season premiered in 2006 onSony TV.^[33] It was hosted byArshad Warsi.^[34] The prize money was₹1 crore (US$120,000).^[35] The license forBigg Boss was acquired byViacom 18 and the next season was aired onColors TV withShilpa Shetty as the host.^[36] Veteran actorAmitabh Bachchan was roped in to play host for the third season whileSalman Khan appeared as the host in the fourth season.^[37][38] The fifth season was jointly hosted bySanjay Dutt andSalman Khan while Khan alone continues to host the show consecutively since sixth season until present.^{[39][40][41][42]} A lavish purpose-built house, with annual modifications was built inLonavala,Mumbai for the show.^[43] A new house was built atND Studios inKarjat,Pune for the fifth season.^[44] The house at Lonavala was rebuilt and used again from the sixth season.^[45] The prize was reduced to₹50 lakh (US$59,000) since the fifth season.^[46] A spin off series,Bigg Boss: Halla Bol was launched and merged into the eighth season with five finalists from the eighth season and five previous runner ups which was hosted byFarah Khan.^[47] All subsequent seasons were then hosted bySalman Khan.^[48]

Bigg Boss OTT (orBigg Boss: Over-the-Top), a spin-off Indian Hindi-language reality digital series of the showBigg Boss that aired exclusively on Viacom 18's streaming service platformVoot (Season 1) andJioCinema (Season 2 and 3). The digital edition'sSeason 1 was hosted byKaran Johar and the show premiered its first season on 8 August 2021,Season 2 was hosted bySalman Khan which premiered on 17 June 2023 andSeason 3 was hosted byAnil Kapoor which premiered on 21 June 2024.

Atul Kapoor has been the voice ofBigg Boss since the first season for both versions.^[49]

Bigg Boss Kannada is the Kannada version of theBigg Boss reality TV show^[50] and it was the first south Indian adaptation^[51][52] ofBigg Boss. ActorSudeep was roped in byETV Kannada^[13] to play the host^[53] of the show for the first season in 2013 and for second seasonStar India acquired the license of the show and aired onSuvarna^[54] withSudeep continuing his role as the host of the show. The Bigg Boss house atLonavala which was used for the Hindi version was also used for the first two seasons ofBigg Boss Kannada. A new and bigger house was constructed at Innovative Film City inBidadi,Bengaluru and is being used since the third season.^[55] Sudeep's contract to host the show was extended^[56] to five seasons starting with the third season which returned^[57] to Viacom 18'sColors Kannada. The fifth season moved^[58] toColors Super, a sister channel ofColors Kannada. It is notable that the Kannada version is the only adaptation where the host,Sudeep alone would be hosting the show for nine consecutive seasons. All the seasons so far have had₹50 lakh (US$59,000)^[59] as the prize money. Commoners were allowed to be a part of the show from the fifth season through auditions.^[60] Three artists have been the 'voice' ofBigg Boss as of fifth season -Amit Bhargav for the first two, B M Venkatesh for the third and Srinivas Prasad since the fourth season.

Bigg Boss OTT (orBigg Boss: Over-the-Top), a spin-off Indian Kannada-language reality digital series of the showBigg Boss that aired exclusively onViacom 18's streaming service platformVoot. The digital edition hosted bySudeepa and the show premiered its first season on 6 August 2022.

Bigg Boss Bangla is the Bengali version of the show^[61] which was produced byETV Bangla withMithun Chakraborty as the host^[62] while the first season of the Kannada version was wrapping up in 2013. The second season was aired onColors Bangla in 2016 and was hosted by Bengali actorJeet.^[63] The Lonavala house used for Hindi version was used^[64] in both seasons and the prize money for the show has been lesser than the other adaptations with₹20 lakh (US$24,000)^[65] and₹35 lakh (US$41,000)^[66] respectively for the first and second seasons. This is the only adaptation of the show that does not follow the annual format and the seasons have been produced once in 3 years. The reality show however has been discontinued after season 2 but a leading Bengali TV channel is planning to launch its new season and discussion about copyright issues is still on and show makers are yet to finalise it.^[67]

Bigg Boss Tamil is the Tamil version^[68] of the show and the second south Indian adaptation ofBigg Boss.Star India produced the show in 2017 withKamal Haasan as the host^[69] onStar Vijay.^[70] This has been the only version to have none of its seasons shot atLonavala. The house was constructed at EVP Film City,Chennai and is being used since the first season.^[71] All the three seasons so far have had₹50 lakh (US$59,000)^[72] as the prize money. Halfway through season 5, the main host actorKamal Haasan fell ill and was replaced by actressRamya Krishnan to host the show until he recovered.^[73]

Bigg Boss Ultimate, a spin-off Indian Tamil-language reality digital series of the showBigg Boss that aired exclusively onDisney Star's streaming service platformDisney+ Hotstar. The digital edition hosted byKamal Haasan but later he replaced bySilambarasan and the show premiered its first season on 30 January 2022.

Bigg Boss Telugu is the Telugu version of theBigg Boss reality TV show and telecasted byStar Maa in 2017. The first seasonJr NTR is being hosted the show and the Lonavala house was used for the show. The second season was hosted byNani. From third season onwardsNagarjuna continued as a host for the show.Ramya Krishnan andSamantha Akkineni appeared as a guest host inSeason 3 andSeason 4 respectively in the absence of main host. From second season onwards a newly built house was constructed atAnnapurna Studios,Hyderabad is being used for the show. All the Seasons so far have had₹50 lakh (US$59,000) as the prize money.

Bigg Boss Non-Stop, a spin-off Indian Telugu-language reality digital series of the showBigg Boss that aired exclusively onDisney Star's streaming service platformDisney+ Hotstar. The digital edition hosted byNagarjuna and the show premiered its first season on 26 February 2022.

Bigg Boss Marathi is the Marathi version of the show and the first season is being aired on Viacom 18'sColors Marathi.^[74] TheLonavala house is being used^[75] for this version andMahesh Manjrekar is playing the host.^[76][77] From the 2nd season onwards house is made inGoregaon film city,Mumbai. This is the first and only adaptation ofBigg Boss so far to have its language affiliation in the show's official name. The prize money is announced to be₹50 lakh (US$59,000).

Bigg Boss Malayalam is the Malayalam adaptation ofBigg Boss, produced byStar India and broadcast onAsianet.^[78] Veteran actorMohanlal has been roped to host the show and theLonavala house was used for the first season. The prize money for the first season was announced to be ₹ 1 crore (US$140,000). All episodes of the show are available on the ottDisney+ Hotstar digital platform.^[79] For second, third and sixth seasons, house shifted to EVP Film City inChennai, Tamil Nadu. The fourth and fifth seasons, the house being inFilm City, Mumbai. The seventh season introduced a new house built exclusively for the Malayalam version, thereby establishing a permanent location inChennai.^[80][81]

• Salman Khan, the host ofBigg Boss Hindi, is the longest-serving host ofBigg Boss.^[82]
• Bigg Boss Malayalam had the most of contestants in single season, with 25 participants each in itssixth andseventh seasons.^[83]
• Jacquline Lydia, contestant ofeighth season ofBigg Boss Tamil made history as the most nominated contestant in the IndianBigg Boss franchise, being consecutively nominated and saved every week of her 15-week stay in the house.^[84]
• 2025 marked the first time that five language versions ofBigg Boss — Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada — were telecast simultaneously.^[85]

• Bigg Boss
• Indian reality television series
• Endemol Shine Group franchises
• Indian television series based on non-Indian television series

• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 Tamil-language sources (ta)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2018
• Use Indian English from July 2021
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English