Bigg Boss 16 Review: Shiv Thakare, MC Stan, Sajid Khan, Abdu Rozik's ‘mandali’ shouldered the whole season

Bigg Boss- a concept inspired by the international reality series, Big Brother, turned out to be a blockbuster among the Indian audience. The tremendous success led to 16 seasons; the latest one concluded on Sunday, February 12. Rapper MC Stan was declared the winner of Bigg Boss 16 by Bollywood superstar and the show’s consistent host, Salman Khan. Hate it, love it but you can’t ignore it – exactly the tagline for this reality show. 

Bigg Boss 16 started on a fantabulous note. However, the graph kept wavering in between for the longest time, leading the audience to think if the 16 contestants participated in the show to have a happy feast and laze around in the garden area. Abdu Rozik, Priyanka Choudhary, Shiv Thakare, MC Stan, Shalin Bhanot, Archana Gautam, Sajid Khan, Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia, Sumbul Touqeer Khan, Soundarya Sharma, Tina Datta, are the contestants that managed to create an instant recall value.

Former bikini model and politician Archana Gautam’s unique and outspoken personality traits helped her pave the way till the grand finale episode of Bigg Boss 16. Shiv Thakare, Sajid Khan, Abdu Rozik, and winner MC Stan’s friendship formed their group ‘mandali’ that several other contestants lured to be a part of. Mandali’s unity provoked the non-mandali to act upon and create their identity. 

Audition set

Winner or no winner, Bigg Boss 16 elevated the lives of the contestants and opened vast opportunities for them. Filmmaker Ekta Kapoor offered her film, Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 to Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia and a series titled Beqaboo to Shalin Bhanot. Interestingly, Abdu Rozik charmed everyone with his affable personality and bagged the show, Big Brother UK. His line ‘you’re very chaalaak bro’ has gone viral.

Personal lives were brought to the forefront

Shalin Bhanot and Tina Datta’s ‘fake’ love story was busted by host Salman Khan. The superstar revealed that this strategy was planned by them before entering the Bigg Boss 16 house. Sumbul Touqeer Khan’s father Touqeer Khan was given several chances to appear on the show and guide his daughter from not losing the plot. The fights continued among the parents, which led to a Bigg Boss scenario in the real world. 

Things that did not work

The morning wake-up song was the life of the Bigg Boss, which was replaced by an anthem. That was a major turn-off because it deprived the audience of seeing their favourite contestants’ dance moves.

Bigg Boss 16’s extension seemed extremely forceful. The audience could have happily done with three months of seeing the contestants' faces.

Things that worked

Shekhar Suman’s roasting session surely spruced up the subdued season. Krushna Abhishek’s Bigg Buzz - an extension of Bigg Boss 16- also helped the audience get to know their contestants better.

‘Mela’ for celebrities

Bigg Boss 16 became the first season with the maximum number of celebrities visiting the show every weekend to promote their projects. 

Unexpected Conclusion

While the internet declared Priyanka Chahar Choudhary to be the winner of Bigg Boss 16, everyone was left shocked when she turned out to be the second runner-up. Masses’ favourite MC Stan, sweeping away the trophy and leaving behind Shiv Thakare, made many question the voting system.

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