Kaun Banega Crorepati

Kaun Banega Crorepati (also simply known as KBC) is an Indian television game show. It is the official Hindi language version of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" franchise. It has been presented by actor Amitabh Bachchan since its inception, except for during the third season, which was presented by actor Shah Rukh Khan. The programme aired on Star Plus for its first three seasons from 2000 to 2007, and was commissioned by the programming team of Sameer Nair. Since 2010, it has been airing on Sony Entertainment Television and is produced by Big Synergy.
The format is similar to other shows in the "Millionaire" franchise: contestants are asked multiple choice questions and must select the correct answer from four possible choices, and are provided with lifelines that may be used if they are uncertain. Since season 7 in 2013, the top prize has been .
Season overview.
Season 1: 2000–01.
KBC premiered on 3 July 2000 and was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, his first appearance on Indian television. "KBC" initially offered contestants the chance to win 1 Crore (ten million) Indian rupees. The declining ratings of KBC paved way for reformatting the series immediately as Junior KBC with kids as contestants which started airing from 6 May 2001. The season ended on 31 December 2001. The show was well received in its premiere season.
Season 2: 2005–06.
On 5 August 2005, the show was restarted after a four-year hiatus, and renamed Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya or KBC 2. During this season, the top prize amount was doubled to 2 Crore (twenty million) Rupees. It was abruptly ended by STAR Plus after Amitabh Bachchan fell ill in 2006 after he shot his last episode on 13 January 2006. Bachchan had shot 61 of the 85 scheduled episodes when he fell ill. He announced he would return after he recovered, but when his health prevented him from filming the remaining 24 episodes, Star TV took the decision to stop production.
Season 3: 2007.
Star Television recruited Shah Rukh Khan to host the third season of the show when Bachchan declined. The grand prize remained 2 Crore (twenty million) Rupees. The third season of the show began airing on 22 January 2007 with the first contestant as Prasenjit Sarkar who was the last contestant dropped from season two midway owing to Bachchan's health. The show started well but the show's ratings dropped significantly due to the change of the host. The season ended on 19 April 2007 with a special finale.
Season 4: 2010.
The fourth season (called "KBC 4") was hosted by the returning Amitabh Bachchan and started on 11 October 2010, on Bachchan's 68th birthday. This season was telecast four days a week, Monday through Thursday evenings. The tagline of the season was "Koi Bhi Sawaal Chota Nahi Hota" (English: "Every question is important". Literally: "No question is small"). The show moved from STAR Plus to Sony TV. The new logo designed for the fourth season incorporated the new Indian Rupee symbol, which was unveiled earlier in the year. The contestant tryout for the fourth season opened on 2 August 2010 at 9 PM IST. The total prize money for this season was 1 Crore (ten million rupees), and a jackpot question for 5 Crore (50 million rupees). The fourth season of the show was highly successful due to the return of former host Amitabh Bachchan. The season ended on 9 December 2010.
During this season, much like its international counterparts, there were various rule changes made to the show. The number of questions was reduced from 15 to 13 and, as in the United States version of the show, a timer was added to each question. There was a 30-second time limit for questions 1 and 2, and a 45-second time limit for questions 3 to 7. Questions 8 to 13 were not timed. Any time not used was voided and not banked (unlike the United States version which banked the time for the final question). Much like other countries' version of the game, the clock stops whenever a lifeline is used and if the time limit expired, the contestant was forced to walk away with their current winnings. This season introduced the "Double Dip" and "Ask the Expert" lifelines (similar to the United States counterpart from the Millionaire clock format).
Season 5: 2011.
Amitabh Bachchan returned to host the fifth season which premiered on 15 August 2011 on Indian Independence Day and ended on 17 November 2011. It was again aired four days a week. Compared to the previous season, there was only one major gameplay change: there was only a single milestone (the Padao) that the contestant chose. The tagline used for the season was "Koi Bhi Insaan Chota Nahi Hota" (English: "No human is small". Literally: "No person is inferior"). This season was generally viewed as the most popular show on Indian television in 2011.
This season introduced a play at home segment called "Ghar Baithe Jeeto Jackpot". This contest allowed home viewers to send an answer to a question via SMS during the show, with 1 Lakh Rupees going to the randomly picked winner, who can double or triple this amount by correctly answering further questions.
Season 6: 2012–13.
The registration (contestant tryout) for the season started on 28 May 2012. This sixth season (labeled as "KBC 6") was also hosted by Amitabh Bachchan and premiered on 7 September 2012. It aired from Friday to Sunday evenings on Sony TV. The season ended on 26 January 2013. The tagline used for the season was "Sirf Gyaan Hi Aapko Aapka Haq Dilata Hai" (English: "It is only knowledge that gives you your right"). This season retained the 13 question format of the previous season.
This season, "KBC" started a new tradition of giving an advantage to socially excluded people, known as "Dusra Mauka". Sonali Mukherjee, a victim of acid throwing, appeared along Lara Dutta in the first such special. On 13 January 2013, another special aired in which Manoj Kumar, a Mahadalit was accompanied by Indian actor Manoj Bajpayee. The winner of season 6 was Sunmeet Kaur.
Season 7: 2013.
The rehearsals for the show began on 26 June 2013. Registration started from 8:30 PM on 27 May 2013.
The seventh season (called "KBC 7") was also hosted by Bachchan entitled "Seekhna Bandh Toh Jeetna Bandh" (English: "If Learning stops, winning stops" or simply: "Learn to Win") was used as the tagline for the season. The total prize money was increased to 7 Crore (70 million rupees), and the number of questions increased from 13 to 15. The season was commenced on 6 September 2013.
The season had a few changes, including a new lifeline called Power Paplu. This lifeline allowed the contestant to reuse a lifeline that was previously used on another question. (It could not be a lifeline that was used on the current question. For example, a contestant could not use "Ask the Audience"/"Audience Poll" twice on the same question.) Double Dip and Ask The Expert were discontinued and in lieu of 50:50 and Flip The Question (also known as "Switch" or "Switch The Question") were revived. The Phone-a-Friend was extended to 45 seconds. The prize for the jackpot question was increased to 7 Crore (70 million rupees). The "Kaun Banega Crorepati 2013" set was a 360-degree multimedia stage. The final four questions were a part of "Sapta Koti Sandook "(English: "The Seven Crore Jackpot)" that let contestants win from 1 Crore (ten million rupees), 3 Crore (thirty million rupees), 5 Crore (50 million rupees) and finally 7 Crore (70 million rupees). The system of Fastest Finger First was also altered. Instead of playing one question, the winner of the leader board formed at the end of three questions sits on the "Hot Seat." (i.e. the player who answered the most questions correctly in the shortest amount of time).
Season 8: 2014.
The highest winning prize of this season was also 7 Crore (70 million rupees). The registrations of "KBC 8" were commenced on 22 July 2014 and the shooting started on 2 August 2014. Shooting of the entire show was held in Surat. This was the first time that "KBC" was shot outside Mumbai. The format underwent minor changes for the season, with the number of questions reduced to 14, the Double Dip replacing the 50:50, as well as the Flip being replaced by the Triguni (Three Wise Men) lifeline. The Phone-a-Friend was shortened down to 30 seconds and the original Fastest Finger First system (as used for seasons 1 to 6) was reinstated.
The grand premiere episode of the series premiered on 17 August 2014 (Sunday) at 8:30 PM IST for 3 hours. The season aired from Monday through Thursday evenings. Initially running for 1.5 hours, the program reduced to an hour. The season ended on 6 November 2014 and aired its two grand finale episodes on 9 November and on 16 November 2014. The tagline for the season was "Yahan Sirf Paise Nahi, Dil Bhi Jeete Jate Hain" (English: "Not only money here, but hearts are also won "). Three special guests appeared in the grand premiere episode: television comedian, Kapil Sharma from Colors TV's television series "Comedy Nights with Kapil", Dayanand Shetty and Aditya Shrivastava from Sony TV's television series "CID", and finally Rajput hero, Maharana Pratap a.k.a. Faisal Khan from Sony TV's television series "Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap" gave a stellar dance performance. Among others the Shillong Chamber Choir led by Neil Nongkynrih performed a medley of evergreen songs of Bollywood followed by a patriotic song at the opening ceremony of "KBC8".
Season 9: 2017.
KBC returned to the air with Bachchan resuming hosting duties as it premiered on 28 August 2017 airing on Sony TV. The tagline of this season was "Jawaab dene ka Waqt aa Gaya Hai" (English: "The time has come to answer"). The show aired from Monday to Friday at 9:00 pm. The season introduced a 16 question format, where the first 10 questions are timed (45 seconds for the first five questions and 60 seconds for the following five questions). The 50:50 lifeline replaced Double Dip and the Three Wise Men lifeline was replaced by the Plus One (from the United States version). Phone-a-Friend (now sponsored by Jio) introduced video calls. In case the contestant reaches the 16th question (Jio Jackpot Question), then the contestant cannot use the remaining lifelines. The last episode of the show was aired in October 2017.
Season 10: 2018.
The show started registration on 6 June 2018 and started airing on Sony TV from 3 September 2018. The tagline for the tenth season is "Kab Tak Rokoge" (English: "How long will you stop"). In this particular season, the Phone-a-friend lifeline was replaced with the Ask The Expert lifeline.
Season 11: 2019.
Season 11 of "KBC" premiered on Sony TV on 19 August 2019, with Bachchan resuming hosting duties. The show aired on weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 pm IST, with Karamveer Special episodes airing every Friday until 11 p.m. IST.
 The show's tagline for the season was "Ade Raho" ( "keep standing"). In this season, the Plus One lifeline was replaced by Switch, with optional categories for the switched question. The final episode of the season aired 29 November 2019, which featured Sudha Murthy as the Karamveer Special contestant. The series "Beyhadh 2" took over "KBC"'s timeslot beginning 2 December 2019.
Season 12: 2020-21.
On 2 May 2020, Sony TV released a short video via social media featuring Bachchan, stating that the audition process for season 12 will run from 9 to 23 May.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming and airing was delayed. Filming began on 7 September. Bachchan posted the first look of the updated set on his official Twitter handle.
Season 12 premiere was aired on 28 September, with the tagline "jo bhi ho, har setback ka jawab comeback se do" (जो भी हो, हर सेटबेक का जवाब कमबेक से दो). Aarti Jagtap, a resident of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, was the first contestant of the season.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, filming occurred without a studio audience. Consequently, the Audience Poll lifeline was replaced by the Video a Friend lifeline, which is similar to the Phone a Friend lifeline, except via video call.
Mrinalini Dubey became the first contestant to win 25 lakhs in KBC 12.
For the first time in "KBC" history, a contestant (Runa Saha from Kolkata) came to the hot seat without playing Fastest Finger First, as there were no other contestants left.
During a Karamveer episode, Padma Shri Phoolbasan Bai Yadav and Renuka Shahane became the first contestants of the season to win .
On 11 November, Nazia Nasim became the season's first winner.
The final episode of the season aired on 22 January 2021.
Season 13: 2021.
The registrations for the Season 13 of Kaun Banega Crorepati would start from 10 May 2021. The registration date was announced by Amitabh Bachchan via an advertisement on Sony TV. Similar to last year, this season too, the makers will stick to digital audition. The entire process would be divided into four parts – registration, screening, online audition and personal interview. For about two weeks, everyday starting May 10, Amitabh Bachchan would ask a question on Sony TV at 9 pm. In order to register, one needs to answer the question correctly either through text messages or the SonyLIV app.
Gameplay.
Qualification.
Similar to the original series in the United Kingdom, members of the public completed a qualification quiz which opened at the start of each series at various times in the year (also known as "registration period"). Applicants would send a premium-rate SMS to a designated number, and answer a question by responding. Contestants would complete a series of interviews before being randomly selected from a pool of other hopeful contestants and appearing on the set in Fastest Finger First. In order to be eligible, contestants must be residents and citizens of India and at least 18 years of age.
Fastest Finger First.
The selected contestants are then brought to the studio to play Fastest Finger First where they will be asked to arrange four answers into the designated order in the shortest amount of time. In Season 7, contestants would play three questions and the one who answered the most correctly in the shortest amount of time will get selected to sit in the hot seat.
Main gameplay.
After determining the winner of Fastest Finger First, they would join the host in the "Hot Seat" to start answering a series of multiple-choice questions on their way to win the top cash prize as outlined in the table below. Along the way, the contestant is free to walk away from the game with their winnings but if they got a question wrong, they would walk away with nothing unless they correctly answered a milestone question (highlighted in yellow) that would guarantee some winnings.
To help them along the way, much like its counterparts, the contestant had a set of lifelines available for them to use. Which lifelines were available were dependent on the format being used.
Additionally, starting in season 4, the contestant would have to answer these questions within a certain amount of time. Contestants were allotted 30 seconds to respond up to and including the first threshold question (in 2017, this was increased to 45 seconds). The following question up to and including the next threshold contestants were allotted 60 seconds to give their "final answer". For the final set of questions (the question following the second threshold), questions were un-timed. Using a lifeline paused the timer temporarily until it resolved. If the contestant used Flip The Question, the timer would restart from the base value of the question.
The total number of questions available in the game changed. As the number of questions changed, so did the total prize money available. In 2017, KBC introduced a jackpot question. For the Jackpot Question, the contestants were not allowed to use any of the remaining lifelines.
In seasons 5 and 6, the contestants had to select a threshold or "Padao" themselves. They were allowed to choose any one question on the tree and designate that as a threshold amount. Meaning that if they cross the threshold, they were guaranteed that amount of cash winnings. Getting a question wrong before the Padao is reached would result in zero winnings.
Top prize winners.
Harshvardhan Navathe (19 October 2000).
Harshvardhan Navathe was the first top prize winner of the Indian version. He appeared in Season 1 and answered all 15 questions correctly to win ₹1 Crore.
Vijay Raul and Arundhati (2 May 2001).
Vijay Raul and Arundhati were contestants who appeared in "KBC" and won ₹1 Crore on 2 May 2001.
Ravi Saini (14 May 2001).
Ravi Mohan Saini was a contestant who appeared on "Kaun Banega Crorepati Junior" and won ₹1 Crore on 14 May 2001.
Sushil Kumar (2 November 2011).
Sushil Kumar (Motihari, East Champaran, Bihar), who appeared in Season 5, was the first contestant in "Kaun Banega Crorepati" to win ₹5 Crores. He was a computer instructor in MNREGA earning a meager ₹6000 (roughly $121) per month before his entry to" Kaun Banega Crorepati".
He has been dubbed as the real Slumdog Millionaire.
Sanmeet Kaur Sawhney (12 January 2013).
Sanmeet Kaur Sawhney was a contestant in Season 6 and won ₹5 Crores. She was the second ₹5 Crore winner.
Achin and Sarthak Narula (9 October 2014).
Achin and Sarthak Narula appeared as contestants in Season 8 and won ₹7 Crores, making them the first and, as of now, only ₹7 Crore winners. They are the largest Asian winners in the WWTBAM franchise.
In fiction.
Danny Boyle's 2008 film "Slumdog Millionaire" was loosely based on the show. The movie's host, based loosely on the actual host Amitabh Bachchan, was portrayed by Anil Kapoor. Kapoor himself has appeared on a celebrity version of the show.
Other Indian versions.
From October 2000 to June 2001, it was adapted in Tamil and Malayalam, aired on Sun TV / Surya TV as "Koteeshwaran" hosted by Sarathkumar / Mukesh and produced under Radaan Mediaworks.
In 2011, the show was remade in Bhojpuri as "Ke Bane Crorepati". It was broadcast on Mahuaa TV. The series was hosted by actor Bollywood actor, Shatrughan Sinha.
In 2011, the show was remade in Bengali as "Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti". The series was hosted by Indian cricketer, Sourav Ganguly and aired on Mahuaa Bangla channel.
In 2012, the show was remade in Kannada as "Kannadada Kotyadhipati" and aired on Star Suvarna and later on Colors Kannada for four seasons. The series was hosted by Sandalwood actor Puneeth Rajkumar in seasons 1,2 and 4 and Ramesh Aravind in season 3.
In 2012, the show was remade and aired for three seasons on Star Vijay in Tamil as "Neengalum Vellalaam Oru Kodi". The first season was hosted by Tamil actor Suriya. The next two seasons were hosted by Prakash Raj and Arvind Swami. The third season ended in November 2016.
In 2012, the show was remade in Marathi on ETV Marathi. It was hosted by Sachin Khedekar until the third season hosted by Swwapnil Joshi.
In 2012, the show was remade in Malayalam as "Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran". The series was hosted by actor Suresh Gopi and aired on Asianet for five seasons.
In 2014, the show was remade in Telugu as "Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu". The series was hosted by actor Akkineni Nagarjuna up until the fourth season hosted by Chiranjeevi and aired on Star Maa.
In 2018 the show was remade in Bengali as "Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti". The series is hosted by actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and aired on Colors Bangla.
In 2019 the show was remade in Kashmiri as "Kus Bani Koshur Karorpaet". The series is hosted by Kashmiri actor Rayees Mohiuddin and was made by Sony's Production House "Studio Next". It was aired on DD Kashir.
In 2019, Sony Marathi relaunched "Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati" with fresh episodes as "Kon Honar Crorepati". The series is hosted by director and anchor presenter Nagraj Manjule.
In late 2019, the show re-emerged in Tamil as "Kodeeswari". The series is hosted by an actress Radhika Sarathkumar. All the contestants in this series are women and it is aired by Colors Tamil.
In 2021, the show re-emerged in Telugu as "Evaru Meelo Koteeswarulu". The series is hosted by actor Jr NTR and it is aired by Gemini TV. The show is likely to launch from May 2021 onwards.
Production.
Development.
After Sameer Nair became the programming head of StarPlus in February 1999, he came across a clip from "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" in July 1999 through Steve Askew, the Australian programming head of the region and got the rights to produce here from ECM who had the Asian version rights. Then, Siddhartha Basu who earlier worked in the show "A question of answers" was roped to produce the show with his company Synergy communications. The show was then titled "Kaun Banega Lakhpati" with the maximum price amount decided to be ₹ 1 Lakhs. In January 2000, Nair had a choice for Amitabh Bachchan to host the show. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Star TV's parent firm News Corporation, in the next month, ordered to change the maximum amount to ₹1 Crore and the series was accordingly retitled "Kaun Banega Crorepati". Bachchan who was initially skeptical later agreed to host it. The sets were constructed in Mumbai's Film City in June 2000 and the series was launched in July 2000 during the time when the channel was in a revamp along with conversion into a full Hindi language channel from Bilingual English and Hindi language channel.
Reception.
Impact.
The series which aired on StarPlus for three seasons is the first show that took the channel's viewership to a greater height, being one of the tops viewed Hindi GEC show in that time.
On 27 April 2007, Delhi High Court on becoming suspicious in the amount won by the actors and VVIPs (Very very important persons) being high unlike ordinary KBC contestants and ordered Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) to investigate into it. However, Star denied it and stated, "KBC-2 is purely a game of skill and not a game of chance; each and every question posed by KBC-2 requires certain ‘thinking’ and ‘exercise of intellect’ to win any sum of money." The case was soon stayed by the Supreme Court.
During the third season, in 2008, Star Plus and the show sponsor Airtel were penalized with Rs. 1 Crore by the National Consumer Commission on violating the Consumer Protection Act when they charged R.2.5 per SMS rather than R.1, earning a huge profit.
In 2010, after the third season, the show was shifted from Star Plus to Sony Entertainment Television who held the format, as the former did not renew their contract.
An FIR was filed against the host Amitabh Bachchan and the channel Sony Entertainment Television for a question asked in the quiz, stating it hurting Hindu religion sentiments, in an episode of season 12 aired on 30 October 2020.
Ratings.
The overall average rating of the first season was 14.1 TVR while the second and third got 11.1 and 6.8 TVRs.
The first season started with 22% of viewership garnering 8.96 TVR in the debut week and soon increased to 54% in the last week of July 2000 making it most watched television program and pushing the position of StarPlus to number one for the first time then and also reinvented Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan's career. The following seven days it gradually increased and got 9.57, 11, 12.6, 12.4, 12.9, 13.2 and 14.7 TVRs. Maintaining the viewership with around more than 10 TVR until November 2000, it dipped to 8–9 TVR in December 2000 and further to 6–7 TVR in January 2001 while in week ending 3 February 2001 it garnered 7.2 TVR, despite continued to hold its number one position throughout. The highest rating ever achieved by the series in that time was 27.13 TVR during October 2000.
The second season opened with 19.75 TVR in the launch day occupying the top position. In analysis of its viewership in specific regions of India, it had the highest viewership from Madhya Pradesh with 38 TVR during the premiere.
The third season hosted by Shah Rukh Khan received ratings lesser than the previous seasons which were hosted by Amitabh Bachchan and declined through its progress. The season opened with 12.33 TVR on 22 January 2007 with a reach of 23 million while the following days it declined to 10.44 and 7.36 TVRs. On 25 January, it increased to 9.24 TVR however not being able to match like previous seasons of Star Plus. The following week after premiere it improved and got 8.8, 9, 8.4 and 10 TVR from Monday to Thursday.
The fourth season which began airing on Sony Entertainment Television opened with 6.24 TVR while it averaged 5.2 TVR in the debut week and ended with an average rating of about 4 TVR.
The fifth season opened with 5.2 TVR and averaged 4.52 TVR in the week. In week 35, it was at the second position with 5.2 TVR. The highest rating of the season was 7.2 and 8 TVR for the two episodes aired on 1 and 2 November 2011, where contestant Sushil Kumar won ₹5 crores, being the highest rating achieved in last two years by any Hindi GEC. The overall average rating of the series was about 4 TVR.
The first episode of sixth season became the most watched Hindi GEC garnering 6.1 TVR making it the best television launch of the year and garnered 5.3 TVR the following day.
The launch episode of season eight had 8.96 million viewers and that week it averaged 5.2 million viewers.
The ninth season opened with 6.2 million impressions being second most-watched Hindi GEC in urban. Overall, the season was the most-watched Hindi GEC occupying first position for months.