Reality television sells itself on unscripted drama, but Tanishaa Mukerji says a lot of what viewers saw on Bigg Boss 7 was engineered. In a podcast conversation with Unfolding Humans, she called the show “a game of manipulation” and said the bond she formed with Armaan Kohli was shaped by situations the makers created. Tanishaa, sister of Kajol, entered the show as a film-family name with little idea of what the format would do.
What she says happened in the house
Tanishaa entered Bigg Boss in 2013 without fully understanding the format, she said. She described herself as naive and unprepared, and added that anyone considering the show should go in with far more awareness.
Her central claim is that the Bigg Boss team places contestants in shared situations — team tasks, jail stints and difficult moments — to push two people into feeling loyal and close. The trouble, she said, is that the emotions produced by those experiences are not genuinely the contestant’s own.
- Shared tasks and teams: Makers kept placing her and Kohli in the same team, creating constant interaction.
- Stress situations: Jail and rough moments made them sympathise with each other’s misery.
- Trauma bonding: She says the experience built “trauma bonding”, not a natural connection.
- Aftermath: Once out, she saw a psychiatrist and says it took six months to come out of what she called Bigg Boss brainwashing.
Why she trusted Kohli quickly
Tanishaa said she felt an immediate sense of familiarity with Kohli because he, too, came from a film-industry family. With nobody else in the house sharing that world, she found it easy to be around him — which she now reads as one more thread the situation pulled.
The relationship began during Bigg Boss 7 in 2013 and continued after the show ended, with Kohli describing her as an important part of his life. It ended in 2014, after about a year, and Tanishaa later said they were very different people with different ideologies.
Why it matters for fans of the format
For Hindi film and TV audiences, Bigg Boss has long been appointment viewing precisely because of these bonds, fights and meltdowns. Tanishaa’s account is a reminder that the pressure-cooker format is built to heighten emotion. Her advice is to approach it with clear eyes, especially for younger contestants. She says today’s participants are often more sorted than she was, because she had been living in a protected, live-and-let-live bubble until she entered the house.
The takeaway for anyone tempted to enter
Her larger warning is simple: reality shows can create feelings that feel personal but are partly situational. For fans, that does not make the drama less real to watch, but it does change how to read on-screen romances. For anyone who gets a call to enter the house, her rule is preparation — understand the format before you step in, and do not mistake shared pressure for a genuine bond.
Source: Hindustan Times