MUMBAI: The famous game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati completed 21 years of telecast on Saturday. The series was first premiered on July 3, 2000, marking megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s small-screen debut. The quiz show continues to have major popularity even now and is all set to return with its 13th season this year.

Siddhartha Basu has opened up about creating the show. He shared, “Star Plus was becoming a Hindi channel from July 3, 2000, and they needed a big show to drive viewership day after day. At that time, they were a distant third in the ratings, behind Zee and Sony. WWTBAM was making waves internationally, and that’s why they picked it.”

Basu also mentioned that Mr Bachchan initially expressed hesitation to come on board for the show. But he later got to see the taping of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in London and then agreed to be a part of the show.

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Siddhartha then spoke about the criticism that comes KBC’s way for 'selling sob stories' and quoted, “KBC has never been just another quiz show. The human story has always mattered, and that’s what created the sensation of the first season in India, based on which Vikas wrote his book Q&A. It’s never been only sob stories though on KBC.”

He further added, “If people get emotional, that’s not engineered. That’s natural on a life-changing show before a massive audience and a larger-than-life host. There is a huge range of people from across the length of India on KBC telling engaging and relatable stories about ordinary Indians. It’s a show that touches lives with the heart as well as the mind.”

He spells out, like last year, the entire audition process is happening online for KBC 13 due to the COVID 19 situation. The makers have already commenced the digital selection and screening process. Sony Entertainment Television revealed the first KBC 13 promo featuring superstar host Amitabh Bachchan, who announced that the online registration has begun.

Credits- Filmi Beat

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