Akanksha Puri and Jad Hadid’s Bigg Boss OTT kiss row: Former contestants slam the show for turning vulgar and obscene

In last week’s episode of reality show Bigg Boss OTT 2, actors Akanksha Puri and Jad Hadid locked lips as a dare given to them by the other team. And that has turned out to be a kiss of shame with the act of intimacy not going down well with viewers and host Salman Khan. Now, several former Bigg Boss contestants have come out and called out the makers for not editing out that particular task from the final cut.

Singer Neha Bhasin, a contestant on Bigg Boss 15 and its OTT version, points out that makers can very well control the live feed instead of showing such things. “The live feed is always deferred, so the makers had the choice to not show something they were later going to shame the contestants for. On the contrary, they packaged it… I saw many screenshots on the internet stating, ‘watch liplock’. The show has a rule book in the house. They should have added tasks and dares to not be given to each other. To first promote it and then condemn is a great strategy (to grab eyeballs and attention),” she explains.

Actor Pavitra Punia, who found love in actor Eijaz Khan during her stay in the house in Bigg Boss 14, also puts the blame on the makers for minting mileage from the kiss drama.

“I’m not following the show, but saw the clips on social media. And it was too much. This is a reality show, but meant for family audiences. There are kids who watch the show… and no parents want their children to be exposed to such content,” she continues, “There have been many couples on the shows in the past, but we didn’t see anything like this before. They never crossed any line which would be labelled by the society as vulgar. This kissing task was really awkward and going below the belt for the sake of intimacy.”

Punia further adds that more than the contestants in engaging such an act, it’s for makers to act responsibly and edit out such content. “They show one hour from a total footage of 24 hours. Why did they add it in the final edit? Why did they highlight this kiss? They had the power to edit it out. I won’t put blame on the contestants but I’d ask the makers as well on why they chose to show it?.”

As the buzz around the kiss grew and clip went viral, garnering negative response on social media, Salman apologised to the audience, and slammed the contestants. He even threatened to quit if it happens again.

For actor Nishant Singh Malkani, who was seen in Bigg Boss 14, this gimmick reflected desperation to garner attention.

“People are getting too desperate to get their 15 minutes of fame and that’s making them cross the moral lines. The makers could air the kiss in the final cut just because it is being streamed on OTT, otherwise TV pe toh dikha bhi nahi paate. After watching the clip, more than shock, I was in disbelief that they stooped to this level,” he laments.

In agreement is actor Zeeshan Khan, who was seen in first season of Bigg Boss OTT stating, “Nowadays, the concept of entertainment for people is a little twisted. Rebel banne ke chakkar mein, they go against values. Earlier, it was entertainment for everyone, but now, it’s becoming unfit for family viewing.”

Yet another former contestant Arshi Khan, who has appeared on multiple seasons of the reality show, says with the show taking the OTT route, such a “vulgar thing” was expected. “It’s high time when makers need to set some rules regarding such acts. I remember when I teased Hiten Tejwani in a very decent way, which was loved by the audience. Later Rakhi Sawant did the same with Abhinav Shukla and went over the board. Everything should be in a limit,” she says.