Tamasha host Adnan Siddiqui has said he would love to have Indian reality TV personality Rakhi Sawant join the Pakistani show, responding to comments Sawant made recently expressing her own interest in appearing on the programme if it were filmed somewhere like Dubai.

Sawant had said in a video shared on social media that she wished Tamasha was shot outside Pakistan specifically so she could take part, adding that her presence would make, in her words, the whole world go mad. Asked about the comments during Sunday’s episode of journalist Maliha Rehman’s podcast Gloss Etc, Siddiqui, who hosts Tamasha under the on-air title Badshah Salamat, said it would currently be very difficult for an Indian celebrity to join a Pakistani show, but that having Sawant on set would be, in his words, a dream, adding that her presence would undoubtedly be entertaining for viewers.

The exchange highlighted a detail Siddiqui seemed particularly pleased to discuss, the show’s growing following across the border despite the political sensitivities that typically limit cultural exchange between the two countries. He said Tamasha had been picking up viewers in India since its very first season, and that Sawant’s public appreciation of the show was not an isolated instance of Indian interest. He recounted receiving a phone call from veteran Indian comedian Johnny Lever, who told him he was doing a great job with the show, a moment Siddiqui described warmly during the podcast conversation.

Siddiqui went further, describing how five seasons into the franchise, Tamasha had reached a point where Pakistani producers were now receiving genuine critical feedback from Indian audiences rather than just casual mentions. He read out one comment he said had stuck with him, in which an Indian viewer noted that the show’s name suited it well, since the contestants inside the house really were putting on a spectacle, and that the comment had prompted them to commit to watching the earlier seasons as well. Siddiqui said comments of that kind were the ones that genuinely moved him.

Tamasha is Pakistan’s adaptation of the reality format popularised internationally by the Dutch show Big Brother, a franchise that has been localised in dozens of countries. The Indian version of the same format, hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan, is called Bigg Boss, making Khan something of an industry counterpart to Siddiqui, a comparison that came up earlier in the same podcast conversation. Rehman noted that Siddiqui has faced criticism from viewers accusing him of imitating Khan’s hosting style, particularly when he scolds contestants on air. Siddiqui pushed back on the comparison being treated as an insult, saying that if he was indeed channelling Khan’s approach, there was nothing wrong with that, given how respected an actor Khan is.

Siddiqui also used the conversation to defend the show’s production values against international comparisons, acknowledging that Tamasha operates with a considerably smaller budget and team than equivalent shows abroad, including the Indian version. He said that when measured against shows with larger budgets, bigger production infrastructure and more established systems behind them, Tamasha inevitably falls short in scale, but argued that the gap in quality was not as wide as the disparity in resources might suggest, offering as an example that if a more established international version of the format rated a 20, he would rate Tamasha’s execution an 18.

The interview comes as Tamasha Season 5 continues its current run, following a launch that saw the show announce its full contestant lineup shortly before shooting began. The programme has built a reputation, across its five seasons, for generating exactly the kind of interpersonal drama and unscripted confrontation that reality formats built on the Big Brother model depend on, a dynamic that appears to be resonating with audiences well beyond Pakistan’s own borders if Siddiqui’s account of the show’s Indian following is accurate.

Whether Sawant’s interest in appearing on a future season translates into anything concrete remains, by Siddiqui’s own admission, unlikely given the current state of cross-border entertainment exchange between Pakistan and India. For now, the exchange stands as one more data point in a show that Siddiqui, whatever the constraints on its budget or its cast list, appears genuinely proud to have built into a five-season franchise with an audience that extends well past the country it was made for.

Compiled by the Weekly PK Entertainment Desk.