Feb 02, 2002 06:57 PM
6744 Views
(Updated Feb 02, 2002 08:28 PM)
What is it about this pack of new-age foreign-trained executive producers of TV serials/programmes that makes me think that they’ve all worked as stable hands before? The similarities in these two fields are too glaring to miss even for a person using the Braille system to communicate with the world. For one, both professions involve the tedious exercise of identifying the right breed that churns out the perfect mixture of excitement and thrill and secondly, makes them the toast of the fraternity watching them in action to the extent of keeping them riveted to their seats throughout the duration of their holding the centre stage.
I have no idea how successful Mr. Siddharta Basu and his better half were at spotting and grooming good horses but they’ve certainly done a great job by bringing KBC into our homes. Never mind that KBC was an A to Z rip-off of the more illustrious original “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. What does matter is the fact that the definition of watching TV got a complete new revamp post KBC.
Touted as the most popular program to be telecast ever on the Indian idiot boxes, the program worked great wonders for everyone associated with it right from Mr. Bachchan to all those hundreds of contestants for whom the very opportunity of meeting Bachchan saab face-to-face must surely have been worth more than winning the jackpot! Such was its popularity that I daresay it replaced cricket as our national religion and quite rightly so! Mr. Basu’s shrewdness can be gauged from the fact that he wanted none other than Bachchan saab to host the show. He even went on record saying that the show probably would have never even seen the light of the day had not Mr. Bachchan agreed to host it. How true!
Apart from the brilliant hosting, other factors like the grand set design, the standard of competition, the overall format of the program and the huge prize money were other factors that contributed to its success. However, the single-most plausible reason for the program’s success was its ability to strike a chord with all who viewed it...right from a rickshaw-puller on the road to the Prime Minister of the country.
Many critics have dismissed the program wrongfully charging it with playing on the ultimate human sin – Greed. I beg to differ Sirs, but whoever said Greed was a sin? Greed was what made Mr. Basu produce the program, Greed was what made Mr. Bachchan host the show, Greed was what made millions of people all over the country spend thousands of rupees making all those phone calls all night, Greed was what made Harshawardhan Nawate what he is today, Greed for knowledge is what made us watch it from the comfort of our homes evening after evening. Greed can do so many things. Greed is good. Greed is great. After all Greed is money and money is everything! Can so many millions of people across the country commit a sin? Definitely not! See? It’s no longer a sin!
The show will also be long remembered for having successfully brought Mr. Bachchan onto the small screen and gave him a new lease of life by allowing him to re-invent himself. There were initial apprehensions that Mr. Bachchan was stooping too low by having agreed to host a TV quiz show...of all things! However, his stature, the rich baritone voice, the stretched sense of drama backed by an excellent sense of humour and his exuberant and often phenomenal screen presence, all coupled to actually enable Mr. Bachchan to only grow that much taller, both on the TV screen as well as in the eyes of all viewers.
His superb mannerisms and witty repartees are still the hot points of discussion across the country. For us Indians who were tired of listening to sardarjee jokes (sorry, no offence meant) right from our donkey’s years, KBC gave a whole new collection of jokes and further off-shoots to keep us amused and cracking with laughter for years to come.
Its a good thing that the show has gone off air...not because there was something wrong with it but because of the simple reason that “Change” is the only constant thing in life. Here’s hoping that the two Big B’s (Mr. Bachchan and Mr. Basu) make a grand comeback into our homes with a newer and more enthralling version in the future...
