Sourav Ganguly-hosted Bigg Boss Bangla Season 3 premiered on Sunday night, with 15 contestants entering the house. Popular names including Monami Ghosh, Sayak, Srijla Guha, Sean Banerjee, Dipendu Biswas and Niranjan Mondal are part of this season. Given that the show has returned after a decade, expectations were high for the house to be top-notch. However, it fails to live up to the expectations.

As I walked into the garden area, its colourful retro vibe and pop-art elements immediately raised my expectations. The thoughtful cultural touches further complemented the theme, with references to the iconic tram, Bengal’s love for fish, the Great Bengal Tiger, royalty, music, the Ambassador taxi and much more.

While the house seemed mesmerising at first, by the time I reached the bathroom area, the admiration fell flat. Several sections of the house lacked finishing, especially with its wallpapers and carpets being loosely stuck. Even the storeroom is not very spacious. A standout corner in the house is the sit-out area placed on the first floor.

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This year, the Bigg Boss Bangla set has been designed by Shyam Bhatia, who has designed the house for other seasons too. The house is spread across 7000 sq.ft and has over 55 cameras.

Talking about the set, Bigg Boss Bangla’s Head of Project Abhishek Mukherjee said, “Shyam has been with us for a very long time; he has designed the sets for various other languages. When it came to Bangla, we wanted the Kolkata elements to be balanced. It shouldn’t look typical but aspirational. Shyam has done a great job. His turnaround time is incredible. He prepared the house in 2.5 months, which is great.”

In the past, several former Bigg Boss contestants have claimed that the makers alter the house’s Vaastu to create an atmosphere conducive to conflict among the housemates. Bigg Boss 13 also reportedly featured some unusual placements of religious motifs at various points in the house. Addressing these allegations, Abhishek said, “The houses are very much Vaastu compliant. The show is all about personalities, so if we reverse the vaastu leading to them to fight, it’s not that easy. We don’t tweak the vaastu for content or as per our convenience. I don’t know what Paras Chhabra saw, but there are no religious motifs hidden in the house either.”

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On the latest season and bringing Sourav Ganguly as the host

Abhishek Mukherjee has been associated with Bigg Boss for 29 seasons. As the Bangla version returns with Sourav hosting the show, he says, “Bigg Boss Bangla is coming back after 10 years. We have worked very hard, so let’s see how it shapes up. This is the first time that a sports person and an iconic international figure who made Indian cricket what it is today has joined the show. We are very happy to have him. It was a challenge to convince him, but JioHostar went out of their way to make him agree to do the show. Sourav Da’s sports discipline will come in handy, and he is better prepared than all of us. He has done his homework and knows what the show is all about. He has done his research, seen multiple language episodes, and done enough workshops with all of us, so I would just say that he is in a very good position right now.”

Sharing his views on the contestants this season, Abhishek added, “The overall graph and consumption have changed a lot, so we kept that in mind. We cast people who are from the new age and more evolved. They have to be relevant in the market, so we have gone ahead and taken people who are not only famous, but also full of content. We consciously made an effort to have people from all walks of life; there is a sports person, TV and film actors, and some are from the journalism fraternity; we have covered most of it.”

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আগামিকাল থেকে প্রতিদিন 9:30 PM । Bigg Boss বাংলা#JioHotstar এ দেখতে ক্লিক করুন – https://t.co/RFx4gMdsUO | Unlimited entertainment, Free on JioHotstar. Live 24×7| **শর্তাবলী প্রযোজ্য

— Star Jalsha (@StarJalsha_) August 30, 2026

‘1300 people run the Bigg Boss Bangla set’

Despite being smaller in scale than its Hindi counterpart, Bigg Boss Bangla is a massive production, with a workforce of around 1,200 to 1,300 people. “We are close to around 1200-1300 people in the workforce. Even the voice of Bigg Boss is different. I am still not tired of making this format. I have a brilliant team: Gopal Singh is our head of production. I also have Abhiroop and Joyita. We are all passionate people and have done 10-15 seasons. Making this show is an addiction, and I often tell people that everyone should do this show once in their life. It really rewards you and teaches you, so I am not tired of this show yet,” Abhishek Mukherjee concluded.

Bigg Boss Bangla airs on Star Jalsha every Monday to Sunday at 9:30 pm. It will also stream on JioHotstar.