The Big Boss show, hosted by Salman Khan, is based on the international reality TV format Big Brother, which was started in the late 1990s by Dutch director John de Mol. But do you know that the American show was inspired by a novel written by George Orwell?
Yes! This idea came from a novel by novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic George Orwell, named '1984'. The name Big Boss and the theme of the show, which involves monitoring the contestants inside the house through cameras, are taken from George Orwell's 1949 novel, which is titled '1984'.
What is the theme of the 1984 novel?
In Orwell's novel, 'Big Brother' is a symbol of a regime that monitors and controls the lives of its citizens. The reality show uses this concept to create a show where the housemates are under constant surveillance of cameras and microphones. Its tagline is- 'Big Brother is watching you.'
Bigg Boss is the Indian version of Big Brother
Interestingly, the format of the original show was Big Brother and it started in the Netherlands, where the contestants were forced to live together in the same house for the first hundred days. CBS had bought the rights to that show from Dutch broadcasters before airing it in the US. This led to a copyright and trademark infringement suit against them; the matter was settled out of court.
Bigg Boss was created in India, inspired by Big Brother. This has influenced the trend of television and the concept of celebrity. The show is known for its drama, emotional moments and intense conversations between the housemates. Many celebrities and public figures have participated in the show, which has further increased its popularity.
As of July 2025, several seasons of Bigg Boss have aired in several Indian languages , including Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam.
The 19th season of Bigg Boss is currently underway and has seen Big Digital creators and people from the film industry participating as contestants. This time, 16 contestants, including Awez Darbar, Ashnoor Kaur, Nagma Mirjankar, Neelam Giri, Mridul Tiwari, Amal Malik, Tanya Mittal, Natalia Janoszek, Gaurav Khanna, Baseer Ali, Pranit More, Abhishek Bajaj, Nehal Chudasama, Kunickaa Sadanand, Farhana Bhatt and Zeeshan Qadri.
Also Read: Bigg Boss 19 Nominations: Who all are in the danger zone in first week?
