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Reality Shows to Watch With Your favourite Hosts As the news came of Anil 'Jhakas' Kapoor is all set to host his first ever Bigg Boss OTT show on June 21, which is very much a part of our pop culture now, here we look at four Indian shows and some of the celebrated Bollywood personalities who played the host in them…

By Arundhuti Banerjee

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Anil Kapoor

Though most of the popular reality shows of our Indian television are an Indian adaptation of international shows, what makes Bigg Boss, Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi and Kaun Banega Crorepati exciting for the viewers and participants is- its host. It's the larger than life personality of Amitabh Bachchan, Rohit Shetty, Salman Khan that motivates the participants to take part, be it common people or celebrity guests. In our country, a Bollywood personality has always been treated like a demigod. Keeping the same ethos in mind, show makers are also carefully crafting the show and its host.

Here we look at such four shows and Bollywood personalities who are creating waves with their presence as the host of the show…

Big Boss OTT: The spin-off of the Hindi Big Boss show, Big Boss OTT is as exciting as its TV series majorly hosted by Salman Khan. The Big Boss OTT started in 2021 and the first edition was hosted by the host of all hosts, Karan Johar. It streamed on Voot and was one of the most enjoyable edition as Karan, as host added his spunk! The second season was hosted by Salman Khan who is otherwise also the host of the TV series of the show Big Boss. However, the twist came on Thursday when the makers of the show revealed that Anil Kapoor will be hosting the upcoming season of the show. The show will start streaming from June 21 on JioCinema.

Even though there is no clear statement from the makers end, it is fair to assume that after the firing incident took place outside Salman's house on April 14, due to security reason, the last minute change happened.

Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi: The show Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi is the Indian version of the American stunt based show titled Fear Factor. The first season of the show was aired on Sony TV in 2008 and it was hosted by Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar.

Being an actor who started his career as a stuntman followed by delivering some of the most commercially successful action films like - Khiladi, Yeh Dillagi, Dil To Pagal Hai, Ajnabee, Khakee, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Garam Masala, Namastey London till 2008 when he made his debut on TV with the show, his presence added a credibility to the vibe of the show.

Priyanka Chopra is one of the first Bollywood heroines to establish herself as an action heroine with films like Krrish, Don, Don 2, Aitraaz and more. It was not a surprise then that the actress was one of the best choices for the show makers to bring her on board for hosting the show when Akshay left due to his commitment in films. So, her presence in the show added a new dimension and motivation for the participants, especially the female participants.

However, after Arjun Kapoor hosted its seventh season, finally Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi got its ideal host who has been hosting since 2017.

The show has also been hosted by the filmmaker, almost synonym with khatra for his savage attitude in public and especially with film critics – Rohit Shetty. While his action-packed commercial potboilers are loved by the mass audience, being a filmmaker with deep understanding of technical aspect of stunt, performing action sequence on-camera, added a value to the show overall. Rohit hosted the show till its season 13. The announcement of the new season is in awaited.

Kaun Banega Crorepati: It was not in the imagination of any Indian back in the days to watch their favorite Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan on TV every week in the evening interacting with common people of the nation. So, Big-B hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati , the Hindi adaptation of the 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' was a real deal for everyone. The show first aired on Star Plus in 2000 and it was so wildly appreciated by the audience across the nation that, it set a record breaking viewership of that time.

After first two season of the show, Bachchan fell ill and took a break from the show. Therefore the megastar was replaced by the Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan for hosting the third season of the show. Even though Khan added his own charm and wit, and being a self-made superstar inspired many, the viewership of the show dropped as a large section of the audience was only interested to watch Bachchan as the host of the show.

Perhaps that shows the immense popularity and emotional connection Mr Bachchan still has currently.

Koffee with Karan: Perhaps Karan Johar is the only Indian filmmaker who is known more for his hosting gigs than the blockbuster films he made so far. 20 years ago when the chat was launched on November 19, 2004 on Star World, no one, including Karan himself perhaps did not know that the show will become a part of the pop culture. With the changing time the cinema, the image building business and media relation with celebs changed, so as the nature of the conversation of the show. While the show made Karan as one of the most popular chat show hosts of the country, attending the show became a parameter of becoming an A-lister celebrity of Indian entertainment business. So, on one hand while the presence of Bollywood's who's who Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor made the show as elite's club, youngsters like Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh to a social media sensation like Orry kept the vibe of the show alive and relevant at the same time.

With the success of the show Karan went on to have a side hustle as a MC in many occasions and other TV shows even today!

Arundhuti Banerjee

Former Content Editor

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