Says a source , “It was never meant to be a double-dhamaka with Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, as the blurbs announced. It was Salman’s idea that we rope in Sanjay Dutt to avoid deadlocks in the schedule. After Salman, had to go in for neuro-surgery his schedules were in an anxious state. Flying back for Bigg Boss every weekend seemed impossible.From the very beginning of this season of Bigg Boss Salman was very clear that his appearance on the show would be sporadic. He would make an appearance as and when he could, and that too only for the ‘eviction’ episodes where the contestant leaves the Bigg Boss house.”
Says the source, “Salman feels Sanjay Dutt is doing a fine job on the show, and the TRPs show no substantial decline when Salman is not around. So yes, the possibility of letting Sanjay Dutt take over the anchoring of the next season of Bigg Boss completely is now being considered, though again Sanju’s schedules are water-tight too.”
Interestingly Salman had apparently agreed to be paid this season on a daily basis for his appearances on Bigg Boss. This was done to minimize the channel’s losses in case Salman was unable to anchor the show as often as required.
As for Sanjay Dutt taking over Bigg Boss,the channel left the decision to Salman and Sanjay Dutt.
Says the source, “Sanjay Dutt was brought in to deflect from Salman’s unavailability.Now whether Sanjay Dutt will take over the show completely is a decision that the channel needs to take in the light of both the actors’ workload in 2012.”