LAKH Cost of a 10-second ad slot for a weekend episode of Bigg Boss season 13

77-year-old actor has taken to social media to document his experience of shooting the 12th season of the popular game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati. “There is a loss of camaraderie. No one speaks unless it is work-related. It’s like a laboratory where some rather deep scientific experiments abound,” wrote Bachchan on his blog. Nevertheless, the show, as they say, must go on. After nearly four months of losses during lockdown, television channels are banking on their flagship properties to cut their losses. For instance, Disney Star is reported to have sold 90 per cent of its TV ad inventory for the ongoing Indian Premier League. In the case of KBC, the game show’s last season had earned Sony revenues worth around Rs 150 crore. This season, it has two key sponsors in addition to seven associate ones.

The new season, which will air on Sony from September 28, is being shot without an audience. Contestants have to undergo two Covid tests—one before leaving their hometown and another in Mumbai—and quarantine before they are allowed on the KBC set in Film City. And even then, there will be no shaking of hands, hugging or clicking selfies with Bachchan, which, for many contestants, in the old order, was the rich icing on the cake. The actor has devised an elbow bump to greet the person who makes it to the ‘hot seat’. Director Arun Sheshkumar says that the lack of physical contact won’t come at the cost of the quiz show’s emotional appeal. Apart from these measures, access to Bachchan’s vanity van is restricted. Briefings take place in a room with glass partitions or via messages relayed on earpieces. “We are all aware that it can come back and are not being negligent,” says Sheshkumar. “But, for Mr Bachchan, age is just a number. He keeps joking he is the golden boy who beat the virus. [For] the energy he carries, hats off to him.”

These safety measures are not restricted to just the sets of KBC. Sanitisation tunnels at all entry points, pedal sanitisers, temperature and oxygen level checks are now routine practice on (almost) all Sony shoots.

Sometimes, though, no amount of protocol is enough. The set of Director’s Kut Productions Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, one of the longest-running dramas on TV, is sanitised thrice a day and actors, who have their own make-up rooms and designated chairs, are served kaadha and warm lemon juice once a day. And yet around eight people working on the show, including senior actor Swati Chitnis, 61, who plays Daadi, a key character, tested positive on August 23, nearly two months after shoot resumed on June 28. “I was asymptomatic and self-isolated at home, but the doctor said to be careful because with Covid one can take a turn for the worse suddenly,” says Chitnis. Since resuming shoot on September 7, Chitnis says she is exhausted after 10-hour shifts and doing her own housework and cooking. “I have to be careful and am taking all the care I can. I do my own make-up, carry my own tiffin and don’t remove my mask even during rehearsal,” she says. “I remind actors to not take Covid lightly.”

Apart from Ashalata and Chitnis, many TV actors have tested positive since TV shoots resumed in late June and early July. Himani Shivpuri (Happu Ki Ultan Paltan on &TV), Rajeshwari Sachdev (Shaadi Mubarak on Star Plus) and Sanjay Gagnani (Kundali Bhagya on Zee TV) are some of the others to have contracted the virus after resuming work. In an interview to a leading daily, Shivpuri, 60, said, “In this profession, as you grow older, the work lessens. We don’t even get pension. So we need to work.” The crew of India’s Best Dancer, too, had a scare after Malaika Arora, a judge on the show, tested positive a day after her boyfriendactor Arjun Kapoor did as well. These incidents led some shows to halt their shoots for a few days as a precautionary measure.

Even as the daily shows work with the knowledge that the virus is omnipresent, Colors is going ahead with season 14 of its popular reality show Bigg Boss, which will see 14 contestants locked in a house for four months starting October 3. The Salman Khan-hosted Hindi edition follows the ongoing Telugu one, now in its fourth season, hosted by star Nagarjuna, and the most-watched show on Telugu TV currently. Produced by Endemol Shine India, the finale of Hindi Bigg Boss’ season 13 was the most watched episode, garnering 10.5 million impressions, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council BARC. Colors has five sponsors for the new season of Bigg Boss, which not only generates high ratings but also social media chatter. Consider this: a 10-second ad slot for a weekend episode last season, hosted by Khan, went for an estimated Rs 3.5-4 lakh. Viacom18, which owns Colors, expects to match last year’s ad sales revenue. The show has already sold 90 per cent of its ad inventory this year at last year’s price. They intend to sell the remaining at a premium towards the end of the season. The show earned revenues worth Rs 150 crore last year and the makers are confident of matching that figure this year too. The makers of the Hindi Bigg Boss have already quarantined the contestants in a hotel, where they will stay for 15 days before they enter the house constructed in Film City. Already insulated from the world outside, the housemates will be tested regularly during their stay. Some of the 300 crew members of Bigg Boss have already started living close to the set to avoid commuting and will be working in shifts to limit exposure. Clearly, this year, Bigg Boss will not only have to monitor housemates for their behaviour but also for any Covid symptoms. ■