There was a brief moment on last night’s finale episode of Bigg Boss 18, when Salman Khan announced Karan Veer Mehra as the winner — the confetti was in the air, Chum Darang and Shilpa Shirodkar were shrieking in happiness, Karan’s friends Vicky Jain and Abhishek Kumar were cheering from the audience and the remaining contestants of the season were shocked.
How could an underdog win? How could a man who was never considered a threat, who had an Instagram following of only 150K at the start, who was called names, who was aggressively bashed on all Weekend Ka Vaar episodes (barring one) and who was made fun of by his own friend ‘of 12 years’ annihilate all narratives set against him?
The silence was loud… Salman Khan’s ‘well done’ louder and Chum’s cheers the loudest. Karan Veer Mehra had won… the trophy, the prize money and the girl.
Karan’s win is for the history books, to say the least. The TV industry had slept on the man for way too long – over 20 years. He never got the recognition he deserved – despite being a fabulous actor. He has been through two divorces, alcoholism, a life-threatening accident, bankruptcy and an unstable career. But he fought – against circumstances, against narratives, against the world and emerged as the winner of the biggest reality show on Indian television.
For him, it’s a milestone that nobody can possibly reach. He has now won two of the biggest reality shows on Indian TV in the span of only six months.
For the show, it’s a revival of sorts. The audience has been so deprived of deserving winners after the 13th season that the show lost its OG viewers – people who liked Bigg Boss for what it was, a personality show where you judge contestants on the basis of what they bring to the table. Or possibly become the table…
Bigg Boss for the past few seasons had brought social media influencers to the mix. These influencers boasted of humongous fan following, ensuring their victory despite not being good on the show. BB18 also had people with an existing fan base. Karan wasn’t one of them.
He won over the neutral audience with his strategic game play, his charming personality and his sense of humour. This neutral audience is not present on social media. This is the one that judges and votes righteously.
Ahead of the finale, Karan Veer Mehra fans were anxious if their ‘hero’ would be able to do the unthinkable — defeat the religion card, the community card, the cult fan following and the social media narratives. It was ‘one vs all’ inside and outside the house… But the neutral audience won and how!
Karan managed to beat Vivian Dsena, Rajat Dalal and Avinash Mishra — a well deserved victory for not only him but for the show that Bigg Boss is. The audience voted for who they think deserved to win, for who they think contributed the most to the show, for who they think lived the show, and for who made it THE KARAN VEER MEHRA SHOW.
Karan’s victory has ensured that the audience sticks to the concept of Bigg Boss and watches it, and not follow frivolous narratives on social media. It has ensured that people with a genuine and grand personality can win despite no social media following whatsoever.
It’s funny though how despite this narrative of ‘no social media following’, I can see netizens saying this victory feels personal. Maybe because an underdog has won, after a long struggle he has achieved the limelight he had dreamt of — and all this by just being himself, and not playing any ‘card’.
The entire TV industry is also rallying behind Karan. Their faith in the show is restored, they say. They now believe that they can win by just being themselves and by playing a good game. They can win!
The credit should definitely go to the makers, for not succumbing to this social media pressure. They played fair and made the deserving person the winner. They revived their show and brought the OG glory back.
A simple victory, a simple celebration of personality over popularity has done the magic!
All hail The Karan Veer Mehra Show… All hail Karan Veer Mehra!
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