Bigg Boss 5 set to dazzle audiences

Mumbai: As the fifth season of the much-hyped reality show Bigg Boss kickstarts from today, suspense isgrowing over the new inmates even as Nihita Biswas, wife of convicted murderer Charles Sobhraj, reality TV star Pooja Bedi and actor Shakti Kapoor are said to be sure shot participants.

Nihita is the Nepalese wife of Sobhraj, who is in prisonsince his arrest in Kathmandu in 2003 and is notoriouslycalled the 'bikini killer'.

Pooja, who hogged limelight with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, will be one of the contestants of the Bigg Boss 5. She was earlier seen in reality shows like Nach Baliye, Khatron ke Khiladi and the most recent being Maa Exchange.

Known for often courting controversies, actor Shakti Kapoor is another contestant, while other names include actress Mahek Chahal, who was seen in Salman Khan-starrer Wanted and performed an item song in recently released film Yamla Pagla Deewana.

Mahek hopes to stay in the house for the entire period and emerge as the winner. This will be her second reality show. She was earlier part of a Norwegian reality show where she was the only Asian participant, sources closed to the actress said.

Shonali Nagrani, a model-turned-actress, has made appearances in films like Dil Bole Hadippa and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and has hosted a couple of TV shows as well.

Actress Shraddha Sharma, who had grabbed eyeballs for her alleged relationship with Raja Chaudhary, estranged husband of television actress Shweta Tiwari, is also participating in the show.

Shradha, who was last seen in Emotional Atyachaar and Love Lockup on Bindaas channel, has been maintaining a low-profile for quite sometime.

Celebrity transgender and social activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi has also made it to the list in keeping with the tradition. Earlier, the likes of actor Bobby Darling and designer Rohit Verma had represented sexual minorities in Bigg Boss.

Laxmi was also seen in other reality shows like Sach Ka Saamna and Raaz Picchle Janam Ka.

Among other participants are TV actress Juhi Parmar, best known for her role as the title character Kumkum, Raageshwari Loomba, a singer-actor-VJ, who acted in hit films,including David Dhawan's Aankhen and Main Khiladi TuAnari amd Pooja Mishra, a model-VJ and a socialite who hadearlier been part of The Big Switch on Bindass channel.

International personalities like former worldheavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, Colombian singerShakira and former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes, arelikely to enter the house at a later date.

The 14 handpicked strangers will be locked in the housefor about three months with over 55 cameras following theirevery move 24x7.

The contestants will have to do all household choresright from cleaning the washrooms to cooking to waking up inthe wee hours to obey the Bigg Boss house rules.