Since its Saturday launch on Colors TV, the immensely famous Indian version of Big Brother, Bigg Boss, has been embroiled in a nasty argument.
Film director Sajid Khan’s inclusion as a housemate in the Salman Khan-hosted show’s 16th season has drawn criticism.
Eight female coworkers and a journalist accused Khan of sexual misconduct four years ago.
Since he had refuted the allegations, there was no need to file a police report.
But hundreds of individuals, many of them women, have taken to social media to voice their “disgust” and “rage” over his selection ever since the show released the names of the housemates.
ColorsTV and the show’s official Twitter account have sent hundreds of promotional tweets since Saturday, but they have not yet responded to the criticism.
The protest is also a result of Bigg Boss’s popularity; with tens of billions of viewing hours, it is thought to be India’s most watched reality program. Since 2020, when it became available on Voot, an Indian digital streaming service, its popularity has increased significantly.
As a result, there have been increasing requests to have Khan removed from the program; a petition to get him kicked out of the Bigg Boss house already has more than 5,000 signatures.
After the MeToo movement gained traction in the US, many women in India took to Twitter to denounce comedians, journalists, authors, actors, and filmmakers. These accusations against Khan surfaced in 2018.
Khan, a successful filmmaker who had collaborated with some of Bollywood’s top stars, was one of those individuals mentioned by a female journalist and the majority of aspiring actresses.
He rejected the charges, but the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association suspended him for a year.
