You Can’t Sell Tickets On the Name Of Bigg Boss

Bigg Boss is one of the country’s most popular entertainment reality shows. The show is available in multiple markets, and the Telugu version garnered widespread acclaim. With NTR, Nani, and Nagarjuna as the hosts, the TV show completed seven seasons on Television and one season on OTT. However, the reality show winners in Telugu cannot make it big in the industry. Even those who gained fame during the show’s telecast cannot break through the barriers of success.

Now, Syed Sohel is facing a similar fate. Sohel took part in the fourth season of the Telugu reality show and remained a finalist. He opted for money at the last moment and took the exit door from the final race. After coming out of the house, he was received by many audiences and enjoyed a significant following on social media. But he seems to have taken this for granted.

Yesterday, Sohel’s new film Bootcut Balraju was released in theatres. Sohel produced the film himself and promoted it well. During the promotions, he made emotional speeches to pull the crowds to theatres. But in fact, the film witnessed no occupancies in many centers. It triggered Sohel in such a way that he questioned the viewers, “What happened to you? When I was in Bigg Boss, you (audiences) posted thousands of comments about me but you are not turning up at theatres to watch my film.”

Sohel could not digest the fact that whatever he witnessed could not translate into footfalls for his film. He is also not able to come to terms with the aspect that it is not easy to bring people to theatres. This is not just the case with Sohel but also other contestants and finalists and even winners of Bigg Boss Telugu over the years.

Siva Balaji was the winner of the first season but by that time, he was already popular. However, he could not make use of the victory in a big manner. The case is similar with other contestants. Even someone like Hariteja managed to grow in career but after a point, she slowed down.

When it comes to the second season, Kaushal Manda single-handedly captivated the audiences’ attention. Even today, he is still struggling to put that Bigg Boss popularity to use. In the third season, Rahul Sipligunj emerged as the winner. The show is beneficial only for singers as they could showcase their face to the public and if they have talent, they will never run out of offers. However, other contestants of the season failed to make a mark.

In the fourth season, contestants like Ariyana Glory and Avinash upped their game to some extent. The winner Abhijeeth also failed to put the popularity to use but whatever limited projects he has taken up, it makes his presence felt and he is not passing any unnecessary statements. The other contestants like Akhil Sarthak, Syed Sohel and others are still struggling.

When it comes to fifth season, except Maanas Nagulapalli, no other contestant from the season made it big. Including Shanmukh Jeshwanth, Srirama Chandra, Siri Hanmanth and the winner Sunny, none of them got a big break.

The sixth season is a debacle and winner Revanth continues to survive with his singing talent. Even Bindu Madhavi who emerged as the winner of the OTT season could not get big offers on silver screen. The irony is that some of the contestants who earlier took part in TV version got a second chance for the OTT version and all of them failed to up their game.

On the other hand, the situation is different in the case of some contestants that appeared on Tamil Bigg Boss. For instance, contestants like Kavin and Rio Raj put their Bigg Boss popularity to perfect use.

After coming out of the house, they did not take the audience and the following for granted but made clever moves. Even though they took time, they made the right films. While Kavin acted in Dada, which has become a big hit in Tamil, both at theatres and OTT, it earned almost 23 Cr rupees at the ticket windows. It is one of the small films that emerged as big hits and settled the career of Kavin for once and all.

Now, Rio’s Joe is trending all over the social media. The Tamil film has become a big hit at theatres and now it is getting a huge recognition on the OTT as well.

Unfortunately, Sohel, who is currently in the news, acted in four movies after his Bigg Boss stint. None of the films managed to scale his market but only reduced the interest of audiences towards him. It’s time he and his peers focus on delivering feel-good films or exploring diverse subjects.