South Asian Business news and information

Another major milestone in Amitabh Bachchan’s career is Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), a game show which was adapted from the UK based game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Because of Amitabh Bachchan’s charismatic anchoring, the game show enjoyed immense popularity.  Running from Monday to Thursday, for 60 minutes, it was one of the most popular shows ever produced by STAR Plus. All the shops and offices around the country were shut down and people glued themselves to the television watching Amitabh Bachchan in KBC. Even the film theatres could not get viewers for this show.

A brief overview:

The concept came from Sameer Nair, program chief, STAR TV. Sameer is a big fan of Amitabh Bachchan. The first episode of the show was aired in 2000 and ran successfully for 18 months till 2001. The second instalment of the show, KBC2, started in 2005 again. In the first season, the prize money of the show was Rs. 1crore or 10 million. During the second season, the prize money was Rs. 20 million. The sad thing was Amitabh Bachchan fell ill and the show was stopped. STAR Plus was planning to bring Amitabh Bachchan back but later, the officials selected Shah Rukh Khan. On January 22^nd 2007, the third season of Kaun Banega Crorepati started with Shah Rukh Khan as its anchor.   

Why KBC is so significant for Amitabh Bachchan? Because, from this show onward, Amitabh Bachchan again regained his position in Bollywood. During the late 90s, the film critics labeled Amitabh as yester years Bollywood film star. His movies were not doing well in box office, his health was in a critical condition. Also, his movie production and distribution company, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited, went bankrupt and he was in large debt. All these problems darkened Amitabh Bachchan’s future. The new millennium brought great hope and good fortune for the super star and the major success came through KBC. Followed by KBC, he again gave some good hits like Mohabbatein, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. This time he started doing roles suitable to his age. The once angry young man actor rediscovered himself in another level of success and popularity. 
 

Challenges of KBC:

• Althrough his life, Amitabh Bachchan acted in films. He did not do any TV serial or TV show. KBC was his first. Yet, he handled the whole thing like a truely professional anchor.
• He did not let his actor image intervene. His lively communication with the contestants, style of delivering dialogues, jokes, gesture, posture and deep voice kept the audience mesmerized. The hot seat contestants had a great time with him.
• Another major challenge was the technicality of the show. In cinema the actor depends of script prepared earlier. In this case, there was not much script. Amitabh Bachchan had to depend on his own sense creativity. The show was recorded in more than one cameras; video and movie cameras which is known as Multiple Camera Recording System. As an anchor, Amitabh had to pay attention to the minor details; at the same time, he had to present himself very lively. This whole thing was a totally different ball game for actor Amitabh Bachchan. Yet, he came out with great success. No doubt, only a man with great talent can perform such feat.

KBC phraseology:

Many of the phrases used in KBC later became very popular and used in many flims and  comedy shows.

Lock kiya jaye?"

Freeze it

Confident

Aapke paas teen life lines hai

Useful links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-camera_setup

http://www.wafian.com/Multiple-Cameras.htm

http://www.geocities.com/thisisamitabh/a5.html

http://www.popstarsplus.com/actors_amitabhbachchan.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaun_Banega_Crorepati

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4648470.stm