Arshad Warsi makes it big with Big Boss 2!
Posted On Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at at 7:43 AM by PatHe may not be in league with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar as yet, but Arshad Warsi's stock is rising, at least on the small screen. A source tells us that Warsi has been offered Rs 5 crore to host the second season of Big Boss scheduled to begin in August.
While that may look like peanuts when compared to the Rs 24 crore that Salman Khan is being paid for 30 episodes of 10 Ka Dum, or the over Rs 36 crore that Shah Rukh made from Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain, it is a four fold increase over the Rs 75 Lakh that Arshad was paid for the first season of Big Boss in 2006-07 by Sony Entertainment Television.
When we talked to him, Arshad would only confirm that he was in talks with Sony for Big Boss.
"There are talks happening. But it is too soon to divulge anything. Nothing much has been confirmed about the final deal yet," he said.
During season one, Arshad's job as the show host was to interview guests voted out of the house every Friday, something that he did in his inimitable comic style with aplomb; and give his insights about the guests and their behavior in the Big Boss's house.
Having roped in Arshad, the challenge before Sony now shifts to signing up celebrity house guests. The last season saw B list celebrities like Rakhi Sawant, Ravi Kissen, Rahul Roy, Anupama Verma, Aryan Vaid, Deepak Parasher, Bobby Darling, Baba Sehgal, Deepak Tijori, Kashmira Shah and model Carol Gracious.
Our source tells us that the two names almost confirmed for season two are actress and singer Sherlyn Chopra and Bhojpuri superstar Manoj Tiwari. Actor Manoj Bajpai was approached to be a house guest but declined to do so. The quality of the house guests selected is critical to the fate of the show.
Another challenge before Sony will be location. They were keen to reuse the spacious house set at N.D. Studios in Karjat that they had used earlier, but were denied permission by Anil Ambani's Reliance Entertainment group, which has now bought the studio.
Big Boss is based on the popular reality series, Big Brother, which has been a primetime hit in over 70 countries.
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