Indian television’s longest running knowledge-based game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati will soon be back on the small screen. The show, hosted by superstar Amitabh Bachchan and helmed by Arun Sheshkumar, is produced by Studio NEXT. It will premiere on August 7 on Sony TV. The Free Press Journal was present at the show’s launch where Big B answered a volley of questions by the media. Excerpts:
How do you see your 22 years as a host of KBC?
I feel I have got another job.
How do you look at India being represented through season 14 as it is also celebrating 75 years of independence?
Whatever we have done so far like the poetry that has been written, the words, the sentences show how India is progressing. Seventy five years is very important for a country. At times I feel like asking this question, how many more countries can show in the last 75 years what India has proved and done in these years? You will find your answer. If you compare other countries with the economic progress or the improvement that our country has done, in the last 75 years after independence you will realise what conditions they are in.
What has changed in the show or remained the same?
It follows a certain format that technically or legally cannot be changed. The anchors have changed and that’s fine. I haven’t been the anchor all along. There have been other anchors as well in other languages and they are all doing well.
Can you highlight any challenges with every season in order to attract the new generation of viewers?
The way our questions are highlighted depends on that. I don’t know where they come from but they are researched from various states and are then forwarded to the master computer. While some are difficult, some are easy. We think how we can attract the audience with such questions. So that the audiences keep it in mind and reply to it. I feel that we should find questions for the new generation so that they feel that they too can come here and participate. I only talk about general knowledge and tell them that the question is difficult.
All contestants come from different walks of life. Have you ever felt that you could relate to them?
I can relate to each one of them. Because the moment they start describing their lives and where they come from, in every contestant there is an element that you have been through in your life as well. I would like to say that we all come from very humble beginnings. When a contestant talks about his humble beginnings and what he/she has gone through to be able to reach this important chair, it can change their life. You actually begin to believe that if it can happen to anybody and it can happen to you as well. The only difference is that within the course of an hour this gentleman or this lady is going to get up from there and their life is changed and that is the greatest satisfaction. All the people involved in this wonderful show are able to appreciate every time a contestant gets up and does well during the break or at the end of the show, the entire crew comes around. They are all standing here right now and talk and say look how well he or she did. This is all very fulfilling. It’s wonderful to hear this. They really are the real heroes and heroines of the leading forces that go on with the show. It’s wonderful to have them around on the show.
