Mumbai: A month, three eliminations (Deepshikha, Natasa Stankovic and Sukirti Kandpal) and one wild card entry (Ali Quli) later, Bigg Boss season 8 seems well on its way. The tagline mouthed by host Salman Khan for this season is “Yeh safar hoga mast, kyunki twists honge zabardast!”
But so far there has been nothing eyeball grabbing or scandalous on the controversial reality show so far. Even the token love story, like the Kushal Tandon-Gauhar Khan or Tanisha-Arman Kohli sagas from previous seasons, is yet to develop.
While viewers may not be the authority on how and when things play out between contestants who are locked away together in house and are made to live a goldfish in a glass bowl kind of existence, former contestants should have a good idea on who look like potential winners, which contestants will fall in love or simply who will be interesting or boring to watch in the long run.
Former contestant and fashion designer Imam Siddique has been following the show and says, “I love this bunch of BB contestants. They are very entertaining.” According to him actor Gautam Gulati and model Diandra Soares are full of drama but he is rooting for actress Minissha Lamba to win. Why? “She is the most grounded lady in the house and is a star.” The fact that he worked with her in the past and enjoyed the experience makes him root for her.
While Minissha is his favourite, Imam is upset about Deepshika getting eliminated. “When I was suffering from claustrophobia in the house, Urvashi Dholakia looked after me like a mother and I was thrilled when she won. Similarly, Deepshikha was so good with fellow contestant Puneet Isar when he was unwell. But he back-stabbed her by nominating her for elimination. I hope she returns as a wild card entry. Even Salman Khan vouched for her.” Moving on, Imam feels Upen Patel has a strong chance of winning if he plays his cards well and he hopes Sonali Raut gets eliminated because he finds her a bit self-obsessed.
Former winner Urvashi Dholakia is more diplomatic with her comments and feel it’s too early to say who could be a potential winner. But her two favourites are Sushant Digvikar and Karishma Tanna. “Sushant is like a little brother to me and Karishma and I go back a long way. We have even worked together,” she says when asked why she is supporting them. Wrestler and former contestant Sangram Singh, unlike Urvashi is no fan of Karishma. He says, “I just don’t understand the lady or her attitude on the show.” On the whole, Sangram is disappointed with this edition of Bigg Boss as he confesses that all the contestants are dull and lack the presence the ones in previous seasons had. For him, it’s only the charisma and star power of host Salman Khan that makes the show interesting. The other nice thing according to him is, “The voice over of Bigg Boss. Every time you listen to it, you feel like something major is going to happen.”
Kashif Qureshi, a former trainer of Salman Khan, who featured in season six of the show also doesn’t have any favourites. “Unlike in the past seasons where there were some really nice people like Gauhar Khan, Delnaaz Irani and Sidhupaji, this year everyone seems to care only about themselves. They are just pretending to be nice to others. I feel nobody is standing out in this season either.” Ask him about potential winners and he says, “It’s too early to tell.” And like Sangram, Kashif feels only Salman Khan is the noteworthy one this season too.
