Entertainment

Why Salman Khan has been the audience's favourite Bigg Boss host for 11 years

Mohammad BilalSeptember 16, 2022 | 15:19 IST

The two promos of Bigg Boss 16 dropped on September 12 &13 and the reality show is once again feature Salman Khan as its host. In the first promo, Salman Khan, who is returning for its 12th season, says that the Bigg Boss will also play this time. In the second promo, the star actor says, "This time, there is only one rule, and that is: there will be no rules."

For Salman Khan, there really has bee no rules in the show as the channel has continued with the him for the past 11 seasons. No matter what price he asks for, the channel is ready to pay him. 

Any why shouldn't they? He has taken the shows to new heights of success due to his popularity among his fans.

Salman Khan in Season 4 as host of the show welcomes Pamela Anderson as a wild card entry. Photo: AFP

Why he has been the crowd's favourite: Salman came to host the show for the first time in 2010 for its fourth season. Before him, Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty and Arshad Warsi had hosted the show for one season each. The show which skyrocketed the popularity chart in its first season only, didn't continue with the hosts. 

But once Salman came in season 4, he has retained the job. Sanjay Dutt came to jointly host the show for the fifth season, but the producers soon realised that it was a job only Salman Khan was best suited for.

Since then, has led the show in his own style. If there is a contestant that is trying to be oversmart, Salman gives him a dressing down session. If there is a conflict between two groups inside the house, Salman becomes the judge and reprimands the side he thinks is wrong. 

For this, he has often been criticised by the people. The classic example of this is Kushal Tandon and Armaan Kohli's case in Bigg Boss 7. The two were locked in a bitter quarrel with Gauhar Khan (show's winner) on Kushal's side and Tanisha Mukherjee, sister of actor Kajol siding with Armaan Kohli. Salman most of the times was seen backing Armaan and company and he was criticised by the people for this.

Not only this, he has also engaged in a bitter feud with some contestants like Sapna Bhavnani (Season 6), Akashdeep Saigal (Season 5), Imam Siddiqui (Season 6) and so on. His lashing out at Imam Siddiqui, who was also a runner up for the show, drew lot of attention.

The most recent example is Salman yelling at contestant Zubair Khan for passing lewd remarks at women of the house. This was, arguably, the harshest ,Salman Khan has been to a contestant. Zubair was removed from the house overnight and he later also filed a case against Salman. Nevertheless, it all died down before any one could realize. 

Salman Khan at last, stands the tallest for being himself and what makes him one of the most popular actors of this generation.

Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan jointly hosted the fifth season of Bigg Boss and welcomed Akshay Kumar and John Abraham as guests at the show. 

What Salman charges for hosting Bigg Boss: With every season, Salman has increased his fees per episode, and the producers of the show, the Colors TV channel, has agreed to his demands.

  • From season four to six, Salman charged Rs 2.5 crore per episode.
  • For season 7, he doubled his fees to Rs 5 crore per episode.
  • For season 9, he charged Rs 7-8 crore per episode.
  • For season 10, the mega star took 8 crore per episode. 
  • For season 11, he charged nearly Rs 11 crore per episode.
  • For season 12, Salman charged Rs 12 crore-14 crore per episode.
  • For season 13, channel paid him a whopping 13 crore per episode.
  • For season 14, he charged Rs 20 crore per episode
  • For season 15, Salman reduced his fees in the backdrop of Covid and charged Rs 15 crore per episode.
  • And for season 16, the actor is said to be paid nearly Rs 1000 crore for the whole season. 

With this, he has also become one of the highest paid actors on television. Raj Nayak, CEO of Colors, in 2017 had called Salman Khan the Colors TV's Bigg Boss and his own big boss.

Salman Khan (L) with CEO of Colors Raj Nayak. Photo: Getty Images

 

Last updated: September 16, 2022 | 15:30
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