With Shakti Kapoor’s reign as the solo male inmate of Bigg Boss ending through young gun Amar Upadhyay’s entry this week, tables have turned on the show. Entering the House of Scandal with a bang, Amar has had more than his share of friendships and tiffs in the first week itself.

But as things settle down and he adjusts to the confiding walls and naughty scheming, Amar is fast emerging as the Kishan Kanhaiya of Bigg Boss, contrary to the Ram-like good-boy image that the actor had during his Mihir Virani days of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

It all started with Shonali Nagrani eyeing Amar, while Vida Samadzai was keen to get herself massaged from him. Shradha Sharma was seen showering her attention on the dude in the garden area, saying, “Ab aap aa gaye ho, toh khane mein bhi flavour aa jaayega”. Mahek Chahal too improved her bonding with him during the tasks they were given to perform in the House.

Even Juhi Parmar who had a tiff with Amar in a recent episode, was seen buttering him when he’d first entered the House. Last but not the least, Pooja Misrra, who has found solace in Amar’s support, planted a peck on his cheek last morning.

Now it remains to be seen how wild this Wild Card entry of Bigg Boss will go. Will he be able to tackle all this sudden female attention? Or will he resolve for more sober times in the week ahead? Though as of now, Amar seems to be riding the wave, one never knows when things change on Bigg Boss.

As the Housemates of Bigg Boss woke up to a pretty morning, to the sound of the song “Zor ka jhatka haye zoron se laga, haan laga. Shaadi ban gayi umar qaid ki saza, haan saza,” the scandalous Pooja Misrra was seen leaning towards the Wild Card entry Amar Upadhyay’s bed, as if in a gesture of kissing him.

Luckily or unluckily, the camera’s position was behind Pooja and all the audiences could see, was Pooja’s back with Amar’s hand going up in the air.

The discussion gains significance as Amar is a married man, while Pooja is desperately trying to find a foothold and a shoulder of support amongst the Housemates who have been ruthlessly ignoring her. Amar has been siding with the distressed girl, ever since he entered the House. But with this footage, things might just take a new turn.

However, when we contacted Amar Upadhyay’s spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar, he didn’t think this development made any difference. “It’s possible that Pooja might have said something in Amar’s ear to avoid the mikes catching it,” he remarked, trying to evade our question about kissing.

When we stressed, Dale gave in and remarked, “It could also be a peck on the cheek. That’s a normal good morning gesture. No big deal about that either.” Only time will tell if the public relations guy is right, or there is more to Amar and Pooja than what meets the eye.

Earlier, Shonali Nagrani was seen throwing herself on Amar to catch his attention, while Vida Samadzai was keen to get herself massaged from him. Shradha Sharma was seen showering her attention on the dude in the garden area, saying, “Ab aap aa gaye ho, toh khane mein bhi flavour aa jaayega”. Mahek Chahal too has been improving her bonding with him during the tasks they are given to perform in the House.

If this isn’t enough, even Juhi Parmar who had a tiff with him in a recent episode, was seen buttering Amar when he’d first entered the House. Now with Pooja Misrra too vying for Amar’s attention, the Ram-like good-boy image that Amar had during his Mihir Virani days of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, is fast changing into being the ‘Kishan Kanhaiya’ of the Bigg Boss House.

Kicking a dustbin and breaking kitchen stuff, the alienated Pooja Misrra lost her temper on Shonali Nagrani in Bigg Boss this week. When Shonali provoked her further, asking, if she would “hit” her, Pooja hinted, she could get physical, if Shonali didn’t behave herself. “Get off my back,” an irritated Pooja screamed in rage; her blood boiling with anger.

What people saw in a trailer of the reality show, was a visibly furious Pooja, who has been cornered by most contestants on the show right from the beginning. All her attempts to make peace with the Housemates have more or less backfired, with them playing games and politics with the troubled soul.

“Standing at crossroads with growing impatience, Pooja has been trying her best to keep her cool. But the scheming Housemates are not letting her live in harmony, assuming she is hogging mileage and footage,” says public relations expert Dale Bhagwagar, who is a specialist with Bigg Boss hype and hoopla.

“Unluckily, for all Housemates, the public has realized that Pooja is a helpless victim of ‘created’ circumstances inside the House. Though the Housemates have been trying their best to ignore her, she has emerged an uncanny favourite with the cameras and the audiences alike,” he adds.

Meanwhile, there are reports about Nihita Biswas landing up at Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai, with a medical complication she hadn’t disclosed to the Bigg Boss team. The 22-year old wife of jailed ‘bikini killer’ Charles Sobhraj, was the first contestant to be evicted from Bigg Boss, when she lost with a huge margin of votes against Pooja Misrra.

Shakti Kapoor might be a villain in movies, but what the Bigg Boss Housemates are doing with Pooja Misrra, is making her seem ‘the villain of the House of Scandal’.

PM, as Pooja is often referred to, is under tremendous pressure as Bigg Boss hasn’t delivered one of her two bags containing her daily essentials, including most of her clothes, pictures of her deity, medicines and beauty utilities. Moreover, her leg has been injured since she entered the House.

Above all, she has been facing regular onslaughts from most of the contestants, especially Pooja Bedi, who has been repeatedly branding her “uncooperative” and “arrogant”. Bedi feels PM does a lot of “naatak” (drama), has “nakhre” (attitude) and a “mental problem”. According to her, Misrra “lacks positive attitude” and has “some imbalance” in her head.

So much has Bedi crusaded against PM by now, that even other contestants including Shakti Kapoor, Shonali Nagrani, Vida Samadzai, Mahek Chahal, Sonika Kaliraman Malik, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (though the last two have made a turnaround off late) and others have become prejudiced, while Misrra finds herself alienated and cornered.

“It is natural for Pooja Misrra to throw a fit and get upset in such circumstances,” analyses celebrity publicist Dale Bhagwagar, who is a specialist with Bigg Boss and its ways, having handled the publicity for maximum reality show celebrities including Shilpa Shetty, Rakhi Sawant, Kashmera Shah, Sherlyn Chopra and Ashmit Patel.

“The pressure of living under one roof with 14 almost unknown people, with uneasy circumstances, unregulated timings, tiresome tasks and deliberately created difficult conditions is tremendous. Even the sanest of persons can shake up in such claustrophobic settings. But then, whether we like it or not, that’s what goes into the making of voyeuristic entertainment and higher TRPs and its what this reality show is all about” he adds.

Meanwhile, as the first ‘eviction’ of Bigg Boss approaches its deadline, Pooja Misrra and Charles’s Sobhraj’s 22-year old wife Nihita Biswas, both, seem to be feeling the jitters. Only time (and votes) will decide who will survive this deviously notorious game.

While ‘size-zero’ might be the talk of the town, the latest season of Bigg Boss seems to be going against the trend. One thing that most of the 12 female contestants have in common is big butts.

“Come to think of it, the average Indian male has long been fascinated by broad hips and curvy posteriors,” remarks celebrity publicist Dale Bhagwagar. “Who can forget how much yesteryears actress Asha Parekh was idolized for her well-endowed assets. So much so that there were rumours of her padding her hips to look beautiful on screen,” he adds. True! Even most South Indian actresses have been famous for their voluptuous figures too.

Bollywood firebrand Neetu Chandra, who was offered Bigg Boss last year, says, “The original Indian body-type with those curves and curls has always been appreciated and adored for centuries now. Size-zero is an influence of Western countries, but nowadays even the West is welcoming curvy bodies. How else can you explain the popularity of stars like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian.”

Social media expert Sampath Iyengar agrees. “Most Indian men like full-endowed women. It’s only the West, which is fascinated with the anemic size-zero figures,” he points out.

Ex-Bigg Boss participant Zulfi Syed quips, “Big butts have always been in fashion while size-zero girls look as if they are famished and unwell.”

Another Bigg Boss participant Kashmera Shah isn’t amused. “Fascination for different body sizes keeps changing. Honestly, in this season of the show, I noticed Shaktiji s (Shakti Kapoor’s) paunch more than the gals’ butts,” she winks, adding, “But then, I’m like this only!”

Now with almost every girl in Bigg Boss flaunting their slightly weighty figures, don’t be surprised if size-zero goes out of vogue. All we hope is that such a thing doesn’t cause yet another controversy for the ever-scandalous Bigg Boss.

As Bigg Boss takes its uncanny twists and turns, amidst slight vibrations in its cinematography this year, television’s spicy-gossip anchor Mandeep Bevli, who seemed to be the ‘underdog Housemate’ until now, is slowly coming into prominence with her regular “potty” talk.

Yes! Mandeep who has been known mostly for her trademark bewildered owlish look from the last two days, has been constantly cribbing about her health in comical Hindi and hilarious Hinglish.

Claiming to be ‘constipated’ because of being ‘sleep deprived’ in the House, she’s been complaining, “Mereko kuch idea nahin hai – main jaa raha hoon, aa raha hoon. Mera shit band hai, four days se, jis din se main aaya hoon. Kyunki mera jab tak sleep nahin hoga, mera shit aayega nahin.”

Speaking to a camera, she quipped, “khada hua nahin jaata hai, khana nahin kha rahe hai, potty nahin aa raha hai,” while wishing for a voluntary exit from the reality show. Terming her constipation problem as “serious serious trouble”, she broke down in tears, adding, she doesn’t like to cry, but is helpless.

“Not many are aware that every contestant of Bigg Boss has to undergo a physical fitness medical test just before entering the House,” remarked Dale Bhagwagar, a Bigg Boss analyst, who has handled publicity for maximum reality show celebrities. “Which means, Mandeep might have acquired her health problem in the last three-four days,” he added.

Earlier, Mandeep slid under the dining table, after spotting a Bulbul (bird) sitting inside the Bigg Boss House. While she described her ‘bird scare’ a “phobia”, Mahek Chahal came to her rescue and escorted Mandeep out to the garden.

Later, she was given a task of judging a contest between Housemates, but put in the House Jail for not asserting Bigg Boss rules. It goes without saying that Mandeep broke down again in the Jail and blamed Bigg Boss for causing her the pain and risking her life with many mosquitoes around.

When released by night, Mandeep mentioned, she had a “vested interest” to perform an exercise task given to Housemates. She continued her obsession with ‘constipation’ saying, “Agar exercise hoga, toh paani peeyenge na, toh potty aayega!”

The house of scandal, Bigg Boss, has already started buzzing with controversies and secrets falling out of its bag. So much so that the very first day inside the House saw a flurry of activity including tears from ‘Bikini Killer’ Charles Shobraj’s Nepalese wife Nihita Biswas.

The 22-year-old Nihita had to answer some tough questions from other Housemates about her recent marriage with the 67-year-old convicted criminal Shobraj, who is currently lodged in a Nepal prison.

Catching her off guard, the Housemates even asked her if she had “sex” with Shobraj. In the end, Nihita broke down, saying, “These are happy tears. I can die in his (Sobhraj’s) arms. I could die standing on the other side of the bars of his prison. We are just demanding a fair trial. It is a basic thing that we are asking for. He has been illegally convicted and been kept as a hostage. We would challenge the verdict in another court”

“Like a season’s first showers, the shedding of tears on Day 1 inside the Bigg Boss House have proved ‘lucky’ for the reality show,” remarks Bollywood publicist and Bigg Boss specialist Dale Bhagwagar. “Even last year, Ashmit Patel broke down on the very first day, which kick-started the debates, followed by one controversy after another, taking the show to dizzying heights amidst national and international glare. Let’s see how much ‘luck’ this year’s ‘tears’ bring to Bigg Boss.”

For the record, Nihita’s husband Sobhraj, who is of Indian and Vietnamese origin, has been nicknamed ‘the serpent’ and ‘the bikini killer’ for his skills at deception and evasion. Believed to be a charming personality and cunning psychopath, he has allegedly committed at least 12 murders throughout Southeast Asia during the 70s, targeting mostly Western tourists.

As the anxiety and excitement for impending high-octane drama from the ‘captivated 14’ builds up in the Bigg Boss House, one has already begun witnessing the various shades of caring, back-biting bitchiness and groupism, all together, at supersonic speed.

Day 1 began with House Captain Shakti Kapoor (the only male member of the House) making good friends with Vida Samadzai and Shradha Sharma, while nominating Rajasthani dancer Gulabo Sapera, Bollywood actress Pooja Misrra, eunuch Laxmi Narayan and Charles Shobraj’s Nepalese wife Nihita Biswas, for the first eviction to be announced this weekend.

As the ground was set for more arguments and debates over likes and dislikes amongst the Housemates, it was Pooja Misrra who saw her sidelined with the highest number (eight) of final nominations from other contestants. Her competing housemate, up for evection this week, is Nihita. As is the norm, their fate will now be decided by SMS votes by the audience.

“Joh (Shakti Kapoor) fluke se captain ban gaya, uske nomination ko serious kya lena,” quipped a visibly bugged Pooja Misrra. But when she realized, she was actually in dangerous waters, Pooja termed Shakti “double faced” and geared up for a fight to survive.

Shakti too, was seen giving advice to another contestant, saying, “Be prepared for the worst to come… which is round the corner.” True! “Bigg Boss is like a Twenty20 Cricket Match. You never know how, when, where and against whom, it will suddenly turn the tide,” says celebrity publicist Dale Bhagwagar; a specialist with Bigg Boss hype.

It’s now five days to go for the first evection, and the game is indeed getting hotter, about which side the tide will turn. It’s a good wait-and-watch, with our fingers crossed!

As Bigg Boss entered Season 5 in its new improved ‘double vaat’ avatar, the Endemol programme on Colors proved once again that India’s most controversial reality show just gets bigger and better with each coming.

With Munnabhai Sanjay Dutt and Dabangg Salman Khan at the helm of hosting affairs, the show witnesses a few alterations this time. For one, the famous multi-colour designer House accommodating the 14 housemates (and around 55 cameras) seems slightly smaller than the earlier more spacious Houses. “This means, the space will be cramped and we can expect more high-voltage drama,” analyses Bigg Boss specialist Dale Bhagwagar, who has been the publicist to maximum reality show celebrities like Shilpa Shetty, Ashmit Patel, and Rakhi Sawant.

This year, the “fasaad ki jadd” (as the hosts described the ‘kitchen’), is more centrally located, but with the wash-basins strangely placed outside the House! Another change being, apart from the House Captain’s exclusive room, there are two bedrooms with an odd combination of single and double beds. There’s a new transparent ‘bubble gum’ section in the garden area built specially for private discussions with the House Captain. Plus, a House Jail (yes, you read it right). Above everything else, this year’s Bigg Boss House has just ONE MALE and THIRTEEN FEMALE HOUSEMATES.

As for the contestants, Shakti Kapoor made a rockstar entry, performing to “Bachna ae haseeno lo main aa gaya”. Indeed! “Saat sau filmein kar ke, billi haj ko chali,” he quipped as he entered the scandalous House. Aaoo! He was followed by actress and anchor Pooja Bedi, beauty queen Shonali Nagrani, Charles Shobraj’s Nepali wife Nihita Biswas, TV actress and Raja Chaudhary’s girlfriend Shradha Sharma, a super-blunt television gossip girl Mandeep Bevli, the cute and vivacious Raageshwai, beauty pageant winner Vida Samadzai from Afghanistan, Norway-born actress Mahek Chahal, a 6-month pregnant wrestler Sonika Kaliraman Malik, Bollywood hottie Pooja Misrra, Rajasthani Kalbelia dancer Gulabo Sapera, eunuch Laxmi Narayan and television actress Juhi Parmar.

“With so many queens and drama queens in the making, the Bigg Boss house should be on fire in less than a day or two,” says the Bigg Boss expert Dale Bhagwagar. “It will be a sexy hi-glam fish-market,” he adds. So get set for the ‘double vaat’.