It took a preparation of almost 70 days ago to make the launch of the eighth season of Bigg Boss Kannada possible this Sunday. With the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic hanging over the show, the showrunners are pulling out all stops to ensure a smooth opening night.

Parameshwar Gundkal, Cluster Business Head of Colors Kannada, explained what went into creating a bio-bubble. “Everyone who wants to enter the Bigg Boss house this time has to get quarantined first. One must complete one week of home quarantine before that person is placed under institutional quarantine. And he should also test negative for COVID,” Parameshwar explained the tedious process.

For the first time this season, the fans can watch the live stream of the show 24 hours from Monday to Friday on the channel’s OTT platform, Voot Select. “We have already done it in Hindi. And the same team is helping us with the Kannada Bigg Boss and we are confident that we will pull this off,” he added.

Parameshwar, who is also the director of Bigg Boss Kannada, feels that the 24-hour live feed will not affect the audience’s interest in the daily episodes. “Even if you show 24/7, you cannot show all the stories that happen inside the house,” he told Indianexpress.com.

The common complaint of the contestants across the various versions of the show is that they are not properly represented on the show. When the contestants feel that public opinion is not in their favour, they suspect maybe they are being shown in a poor light. “I agree that Bigg Boss is a highly-edited show. For example, the news editor picks the stories that go on the front page of a newspaper. It is exactly what I do here,” he explained.

“I am not surprised. And I can understand why the contestants get upset. End of the day, it is a director’s point of view that will go on air. I will stand by that. Anyway, no point of view is still a point of view,” he added. “I try to be as impartial as possible.”

Parameshwar also said that he applies the same rule to his host Sudeep when it comes to showing his reactions to contestants. “Sudeep doesn’t fake anything. If he’s angry, he’s angry. He was angry at a contestant and it went on air as it was. He got angry at me once you know but that was inconsequential to the narrative, so I edited it out. But, there is no such directive to him to take a break if he gets angry,” he added.

He also pointed out the hosts across the different versions of the Bigg Boss format have such vast experience that they can handle anything that’s thrown at them without a lot of fuss. “Kamal Haasan, Sudeep, Salman Khan, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna – they are such iconic personalities, who are mature enough to handle anything. Be it anger, surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, technical glitches, they will be very cool in all situations,” he said.

He said contrary to popular opinion, the show is not the culmination of a clash of egos. “It is just one part of it. It is the study of human behaviour. You are putting so many contestants in a house under an extreme stress situation. And you wait and watch how they are going to react. And you also watch how they will react when there is no stress. It is all about their behaviour,” he said.

Parameshwar also noted that the Kannada audiences are not a fan of controversies. “Bigg Boss Kannada, I keep repeating it, is an emotional show and study of human behaviour. I don’t want controversies. The Karnataka market responds differently. Controversies are never highly rated. Fun, excitement, happiness, tears get a better rating than fights and exchange of abuses,” he remarked.

Bigg Boss Kannada season 8 will be launched in a grand event that will last for about five hours starting at 6 PM on Sunday.