Boss or Bhai? Salman Khan can handle both

Mumbai: Launching the latest season of his reality show, the superstar talks about picking favourites among contestants, stoking controversies, who he’d like to see on the show this season (both Sanjay Dutt and Shah Rukh Khan, apparently) — and whether he’ll ever settle down.

If you wanted to know the names of the contestants who’ll be locked up in the Bigg Boss house this season, host Salman Khan is not the right person to ask. Apparently after he inadvertently “leaked” the names of contestants last season, by revealing them to his sister Alvira (who then, as Salman says, “told our mom, who then told her friends and so on…”). This season, Alvira instructed the BB team to not let her bade bhaiyya know any of the contestants’ names, so he wouldn’t be tempted to tell her!

“Sometimes the team does change contestants when the names are leaked out,” Salman adds. “Last time they gave me some weird names; I kept waiting but those people didn’t turn up on the show.”

Whether or not he knows who is entering the house beforehand, it is the contestants who have brought him back to anchor the show again this season, Salman says. “We had some problems (the previous season),” he admits, referring to the reports that he had threatened to quit Bigg Boss. “But those are sorted out now. I’ve always had a great rapport with the contestants, and I feel it’s my responsibility to take care of them in the house.”

Salman may refer to it as “taking care” of the contestants — some others see it differently. It has been said that he plays favourites, and promotes the contestants he likes.

But Salman says that isn’t true. “The favourite contestant is not who I like, but who the audience likes. There was Sana, Elli, before them there was Veena Malik. In all the contestants, I try to find something to like. I found it difficult to connect with Pratyusha, but I had to find something. With Sangram, dhoondte dhoondte I found out about his love for singing…” he says.

And what about when he plays the “boss” with contestants — he certainly isn’t being the most neutral of hosts then? “Look, if there is one contestant I’m fond of, I get irritated if he/she behaves badly in the house,” Salman replies. “People say Gauhar and I fought, but she reached that level. She was putting her point across, I was putting mine. Armaan Kohli was the smartest. He used to do things and then say, ‘Sorry bhai’. I’d think, ‘So sweet, he’s saying sorry’.

Then I realised, ‘Shaana hai’. Most people who put up an act on the show have fizzled out because their character does emerge. As a host, it’s my responsibility to tell them not to put up an act, bahar nahi niklega toh frustrate ho jaayega. If I feel something in my heart, I will say it, but if you notice, I always speak for both sides, even when a person is in the wrong. The interesting part is that when people come out of the house, most of them become friends. Kushal and Armaan get along like a house on fire. As soon as they got out of the house, they were drinking together at my farmhouse.”

And while Salman is clearing up all those pesky Bigg Boss allegations, what about the biggest one of all — that the reality show is in fact entirely scripted? “Bigg Boss is not scripted, how can anyone write those dialogues?” he shoots back. “The tasks are so well designed that uske andar jhagda hona hi hona hai. There is no food, no coffee, you’re bound to get irritable.”

So who are the contestants he’d like to see on the show this year? “The one person I want to see in the house is Sanjay Dutt, unko wahaan (jail) se nikaal ke yahan (Bigg Boss house) dalo,” Salman says, before adding with a laugh, “But I guarantee you he will say, ‘Mujhe wapas wahaan bhej do’! The Bigg Boss is a very difficult place to be in.”

And on that note, what about his friend-turned-foe Shah Rukh Khan? Wuld Salman be comfortable having him promote Happy New Year onBigg Boss? “We will definitely promote Happy New Year on Bigg Boss, why not?” Salman replies.

We’ve heard enough about his show, now how about a little about his love life? “I want to be the ‘Bigg Boss’ for my kids,” says Salman. “I don’t know if I will be a husband but bachchon ka main guarantee de sakta hoon!”