The most talked-about reality show is back with yet another season, and this time, the drama begins even before the contestants enter the house. While the Bigg Boss house has always been an integral part of the show, this season, the space itself has been designed to keep contestants — and viewers, guessing. Ahead of the premiere of Bigg Boss 20, HT City got an exclusive sneak peek inside the house that will become home to 20 contestants this year.
From a quirky, dreamlike setting and unexpected twists to unusual furniture, eye-catching installations, suspenseful doors and surprises tucked into every corner, the BB 20 house has plenty to catch the eye. And with nearly 104 cameras keeping a watch on the contestants, there will be little that goes unnoticed.
Inspired by Alice in Wonderland
One of the most striking elements is a giant pink teapot, with its spout flowing into a couch to create an unusual seating space. The Weekend Ka Vaar area gets its own dramatic installation, with a giant octopus holding chess pieces in its tentacles. A hot-air balloon has been transformed into a seating area, while a tap with flowers emerging from it adds another quirky detail.
In the lawn area, a tree with a snake wrapped around it doubles up as a seating option. At the entrance, a ringmaster statue welcomes contestants, with them walking through its legs before entering the living area.
The house follows a surreal baroque aesthetic, with each space using a different colour palette. Art director Varsha Jain says the idea was to create something “extraordinary” while retaining the duality associated with the show. “Basically, our theme of the house was something extraordinary, something of the show in duality. So we sort of tried and used that to create walls and corners and furniture and display. Everything is revolving around that,” she tells HT City.
{{/usCountry}}The house follows a surreal baroque aesthetic, with each space using a different colour palette. Art director Varsha Jain says the idea was to create something “extraordinary” while retaining the duality associated with the show. “Basically, our theme of the house was something extraordinary, something of the show in duality. So we sort of tried and used that to create walls and corners and furniture and display. Everything is revolving around that,” she tells HT City.
{{/usCountry}}“It is a very colourful house, you see. Each wall has a different accent from bedroom to living to the exterior, all of them have a different colour tone. But the idea is about creating illusions,” she adds.
The Alice in Wonderland influence is also hard to miss. Asked if the design was inspired by Johnny Depp's Alice in Wonderland, Jain admits, “Parts of it, yeah. You know, I mean, it is difficult to miss that. For instance, that larger teapot.” At the heart of the house is a Mad Hatter figure, which was the first element Jain imagined for the space. “My first design element was this man in the centre, that’s where everything sort of started from. It’s a Mad Hatter, who’s sort of inviting you to the house. What is he inviting you to see is what is inside,” she shares.
104 cameras to capture all the action and drama
Another thing that you can't miss is the shark-themed pool which adds a playful touch to the lawn, and a quirky tap with flowers cascading from it brings a whimsical twist to the space.
The season also marks a change behind the scenes. After designing the Bigg Boss house for 19 years, Omung Kumar has handed over the baton to Jain, who has previously designed houses for Bigg Boss in South India.
For Jain, breaking away from what audiences have seen over the years was important, but she also wanted the house to retain the identity of Bigg Boss. “It was important that I break away from what has been done, you know. But also the show has its own credentials. So something that sort of suits the calibre of the show, you know. Not to move away from it completely,” she says. The process itself was a race against time. Jain says the team spent around a month and a half working on paper, followed by 48 days on the floor. The house has nearly 104 cameras to cover all the action and drama inside the BB house.
“We're saying that we're doing a Mad Hatter, we're doing a surreal baroque theme. That's where we started. And we started doing the elements. So we got them and right, it's like, okay, let's start making the man constructing physically while we design the interiors,” Jain recalls.
“The first 10-12 days overlapped of construction and designing. So we had basically like 25-26 days to do the inside,” she adds. While taking over from a designer synonymous with the Bigg Boss house could have been intimidating, Jain says the pressure was one she actively wanted. “It wasn’t scary pressure, you know, it was the pressure that I wanted. I sort of wanted this challenge to be able to do this.”
Room 20 and Room 2X: The mystery behind the doors
This season brings back the confession room and features two different sets of doors, while the jail is notably absent at the beginning. Jain reveals that her personal favourite is the confession room, although it remains out of bounds during the house tour.
The biggest mystery, however, surrounds Room 20 and the 2X room, whose purpose has been kept under wraps. Jain refuses to reveal what lies behind the doors, but hints that their significance will become clear once the show begins. “It’s very interesting. The 2X room, the room 20, you know, when you see the show, you'll know what it is for,” she says.
While there is no jail at the beginning of the season, Jain confirms that one could be introduced midway through the show. “There is no jail, but they would be bringing it in in the middle of the season,” she says.
The team has also had to ensure that the elaborate installations can withstand the chaos that comes with putting 20 contestants inside the house. Jain says they have been checking the strength of the structures — including after some unexpected visitors.
“There are monkeys outside,” she says, revealing that one was spotted doing “a trampoline on the snake's head”. The team has since ensured that the installations are “monkey proof”.
Celebrities rumoured to be entering Bigg Boss 20
While the official contestant lineup is yet to be confirmed, several names have been doing the rounds as possible participants. These include Kushal Tanwar (Gullu), Qazi Touqeer, Arishfa Khan, Yung DSA (Yeda Yung), Uditi Singh, Showik Chakraborty, Khushi Dubey, Kanika Mann, Faisal Khan, Mahhi Vij, Aman Gandhi, Geeta Basra, Amrapali Dubey, Rohed Khan, Mary Kom, Rhiya Ahir, Love Gill, Rhiti Tiwari and Nitish Rajput.
Bigg Boss Hindi Season 20 premieres on September 6 on JioHotstar at 9 pm and COLORS at 10.30 pm.