Bachchan’s back

The actor will be back on screen with his famous one-liner: “Confident, lock kar diya jaye?” this year.

A decade ago, the streets in India and Pakistan bore a deserted look on weekdays, as everyone gathered in front of the television screen to watch “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (KBC). The Indian spin-off of the quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, an actor who had immense cachet amongst audiences in India and Pakistan, but who had disappeared from public consciousness after a string of flops.

Bachchan hosted the show until 2006 but had to pull out because of his illness.

IANS reported Sony TV officials as saying that there would be changes to the format of the show, which is scheduled to go on air this year. However, according to Said Ajit Thakur, the business head for the channel, “The three pillars of ‘KBC’ are intact. The money - Rs10,000,000 - is still a life changing amount for many people, the knowledge on the show is still useful and of course, Amitabh Bachchan and his presence will always draw audiences. That’s why people will still see ‘KBC’”.

Bachchan wrote on his blog (bigb.bigadda.com)

But the quiz show marked a reversal of fortunes for Bachchan, whose popularity as the host helped him garner a slew of high-profile films. The actor wrote on his blog this week, “KBC was and has been an extraordinary experience for me for many reasons.”

The catchphrases he used on the show are still a part of popular culture, and spawned numerous spoofs, jokes and advertisements. He plans to capitalise on those for the show’s next run. At a press conference, the actor said, “The language and the typical words that I used in the second season will be the same. There will be no changes in that regard.”

Even though the show went off air a few years ago, its popularity was depicted in Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire¸ which told its story through the questions asked of its protagonist on the show. Anil Kapoor, who played the game show host in Slumdog Millionaire, struck a very different note from Bachchan but did use some of his mannerisms. Reports in the Indian media said that both Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan (who replaced Bachchan as host in 2006) had been offered the role by Boyle, but they had passed and it went to Anil Kapoor instead).

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2010.