We have heard that actor Salman Khan will not be hosting Bigg Boss OTT season three, and is happy to hand over the duties to fellow colleague Anil Kapoor.

The controversial reality show, Bigg Boss, will be back with the third season of the OTT version, but Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will not return as the host of the show. Hindustan Times has heard that the actor has bowed out of the upcoming season owing to his commitment to a film. (Also read: After firing incident, Salman Khan jets off to Dubai for an event, to start shooting for Sikander in June)

Make way for new host

According to a source, Salman is not hosting the third season of Bigg Boss OTT. Instead, actor Anil Kapoor will be stepping into the shoes of the host of the third season.

“At the moment, Salman is focused on the prep work of his upcoming film, Sikandar, directed by AR Murugadoss. That is one the reasons he didn’t take on the hosting duties for the third season of Bigg Boss OTT,” says the source.

The insider adds, “Salman is expected to start shooting for Sikandar in June, and that has made him let go of Bigg Boss OTT. Along with film commitment, Salman also felt that it would also look repetitive to the audience, as he is also known to host the reality show on TV”.

Another source confirms the development, and adds that “Anil Kapoor will be hosting the show this time, and bringing his own quirks and trademark wit” to the set.

Hints dropped

In fact, the makers dropped a hint about the change through a promo. On Wednesday, Jio Cinema released a minute-long announcement promo on their official Instagram account, where they unveiled that Bigg Boss OTT will arrive next month in June. The promo ends with a voiceover saying, “Yeh season hoga khaas ekdum jhakaas”, with the term ‘jhakaas’ which is popularly associated with Anil.

“Anil is excited to take on the hosting studies, and add his own touch to the show. The change of host also comes in sync with the trend of having a new host for every season,” adds the source.