Kaun Banega Crorepati

Kaun Banega Crorepati (also simply known as KBC) is an Indian television game show based on the British programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[2] It originally aired on Star Plus for the first 3 seasons from 2000 to 2007 and was commissioned by the programming team of Sameer Nair.[3][4] Since 2010, it has been airing on Sony TV and produced by Big Synergy.

Kaun Banega Crorepati
Directed byRahul Verma
Arun Sheshkumar[1]
Presented byAmitabh Bachchan (1–2, 4–12)
Shah Rukh Khan (3)
Composer(s)Keith Strachan (1–11)
Matthew Strachan (1–11)
Ramon Covalo (4–11)
Sawan Dutta (5–11)
Ajay−Atul (11)
Country of originIndia
Original language(s)Hindi
No. of seasons11
No. of episodes852
Production
Running time90 minutes
Production company(s)Big Synergy Productions Studio Next
DistributorSony Pictures Television (Global)
Release
Original networkStar Plus (1–3)
Sony Entertainment Television (4-present)
Picture format480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Original release3 July 2000 (2000-07-03) –
present
External links
[Official website }} Website]

Season overview

Season 1: 2000–01

KBC premiered on 3 July 2000 and was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, his first appearance on Indian television.[5] 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.[6][7] The season ended on 31 December 2001.[8] The show was well received in its premiere season.[9][10]

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.[11] 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.[12] Bachchan had shot 61 of the 85 scheduled episodes when he fell ill.[13] 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.[14]

Season 3: 2007

Star Television recruited Shah Rukh Khan to host the third season of the show when Bachchan declined.[15] 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 mid way owing to Bachchan's health.[16] The show started well but the show's ratings dropped significantly due to the change of the host.[17] The season ended on 19 April 2007 with a special finale.[18]

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.[19] 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.[20] 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 were reduced from 15 to 13 and, as in the United States version of the show, a timer was added to each question.[21] 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).[22][23] 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 at KBC-5 Press Meet

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 the generally viewed as the most popular show on Indian television in 2011.[24] 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 from 28 May 2012. This sixth season (labeled as KBC 6) was also hosted by Bachchan and premiered on 7 September 2012. It aired from Friday to Sunday evenings on Sony TV. The season ended on 26 January 2013.[25] 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.

[26] [27]

Season 7: 2013

The rehearsals for the show began on 26 June 2013.[28] 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 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 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.[29] Shooting of the entire show was held in Surat. This was the first time that KBC was shot outside Mumbai.[30] 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 on 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, 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.[31] 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.[32]

Season 9: 2017

KBC returned to 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 on 7 November 2017. Reportedly, with 19.8 million registrations, the show stood at the top of TRP ratings for the Indian television industry.

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).[33] In this particular season, the Phone-a-friend lifeline was replaced with the Ask The Expert lifeline.

Season 11: 2019

KBC returned to air with Bachchan resuming hosting duties as it premiered on 19 August 2019 airing on Sony TV.[34][35] In this season the show's tagline was Ade Raho (English- Keep Standing). The show aired from Monday to Friday from 9 to 10:30 pm IST (Special episodes named 'Karamveer Special' aired every Friday till 11 pm IST).[36][37] The show entered its "Finale Week" on 25 November 2019 and ended on 29 November 2019. The show witnessed Sudha Murthy on their last episode of 'Karamveer Special' on 29 November 2019. The show was replaced by Beyhadh 2 from 2 December 2019.

Season 12: 2020

On Saturday 2 May 2020, the Sony TV releases a short video on its official social media sites handles and features Bachchan stating that the audition process for 12th edition will start from 9 May 2020 and will conclude on 23 May 2020.[38][39][40]

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.[41] 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.[41]

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.

  • Audience Poll (Ask The Audience): The studio audience would dial into a keypad what they believed was the correct answer to the question. The results of the poll are shown to the contestant.
  • 50:50: The computer would remove two wrong answers from the game leaving the contestant one right and one wrong answer.
  • Phone-A-Friend: The contestant could call a pre-selected friend or family member of their choosing to aid them in answering the question. Once connected, the aiding party and the contestant had 30 seconds (45 in Season 7) to talk it out among themselves. In 2017, this became a video call instead of a voice call. For season 10, this lifeline was removed in favor of reinstating Ask the Expert [42] The lifeline is called a phone a friend have next after 9 years.
  • Flip The Question (Switch The Question/Switch): The current question would be thrown-out and replaced with a new question. Any lifelines expended on the original question remained expended. It was introduced in the 2nd season, removed after the 3rd season and reinstated for the 7th & 11th season. During seasons 2 and 3 it could only be used after the 5th question, while it was available from the beginning in season 7. In season 11, new question would be of contestant's pre-selected category from given choice of 11 categories.
  • Double Dip: As featured on the US "Super Millionaire", this granted the contestant two chances to answer the question. However, invoking this lifeline removed the ability to walk away from the question. The contestant must answer twice with no further usage of lifelines. (They may use other lifelines before invoking Double Dip but not during the resolution of the lifeline.) In the event of a clocked game, the timer would stop for the first guess only. After that, if the first guess was wrong, the timer resumed counting down. If the contestant did not make their second guess before the time limit or if it was wrong, the contestant would walk away from the game with the lower threshold amount, if any.
  • Expert Advice (Ask the Expert): In season 4, the "Expert Advice" lifeline was added to the pool of lifelines available. The producers would invite certain general knowledge expert to come to the studio to aid the contestant. This lifeline was restored for season 10 in 2018,The Last 2 Years.[43]
  • Power Paplu: Introduced in the 7th season, 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.
  • Triguni (त्रिगुणी, Three Wise Men): Similar to its US counterpart, the producers would invite certain general knowledge experts or celebrities to come to the studio to aid the contestant. When invoked, the "Three Wise Men" were granted 30 seconds to discuss the question and the possible choices among themselves to come up with a consensus answer to relay back to the contestant who was often in earshot of the conversation. Once the time expired, the "Three Wise Men" were instructed to stop discussing the question and play resumed as normal.
  • Jodidaar (जोडीदार, lit. Partner): Introduced in 2017, similar to the United States' Plus One lifeline, in addition to having 3 Phone-a-Friends, the contestant can also bring a designated family member or friend in to aid them in answering the question. (This person is designated by the contestant prior to the show.)[44]

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).[45] 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 the fifth and sixth season, 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.

Question number Payout Structure
Season 1
(2000–01)		 Seasons 2 & 3
(2005–2006; 2007)		 Season 4
(2010)		 Seasons 5 & 6
(2011; 2012–2013)		 Season 7
(2013)		 Season 8
(2014)		 Seasons 9, 10 & 11
(2017; 2018; 2019)
16 – – – – – – ₹7 Crore
15 ₹1 Crore ₹2 Crore – – ₹7 Crore – ₹1 Crore
14 ₹5,000,000 ₹1 Crore – – ₹5 Crore ₹7 Crore ₹5,000,000
13 ₹2,500,000 ₹5,000,000 ₹5 Crore ₹5 Crore ₹3 Crore ₹3 Crore ₹2,500,000
12 ₹1,250,000 ₹2,500,000 ₹1 Crore ₹1 Crore ₹1 Crore ₹1 Crore ₹1,250,000
11 ₹640,000 ₹1,250,000 ₹5,000,000 ₹5,000,000 ₹5,000,000 ₹5,000,000 ₹640,000
10 ₹320,000 ₹640,000 ₹2,500,000 ₹2,500,000 ₹2,500,000 ₹2,500,000 ₹320,000
9 ₹160,000 ₹320,000 ₹1,250,000 ₹1,250,000 ₹1,250,000 ₹1,250,000 ₹160,000
8 ₹80,000 ₹160,000 ₹640,000 ₹640,000 ₹640,000 ₹640,000 ₹80,000
7 ₹40,000 ₹80,000 ₹320,000 ₹320,000 ₹320,000 ₹320,000 ₹40,000
6 ₹20,000 ₹40,000 ₹160,000 ₹160,000 ₹160,000 ₹160,000 ₹20,000
5 ₹10,000 ₹20,000 ₹80,000 ₹80,000 ₹80,000 ₹80,000 ₹10,000
4 ₹5,000 ₹10,000 ₹40,000 ₹40,000 ₹40,000 ₹40,000 ₹5,000
3 ₹3,000 ₹5,000 ₹20,000 ₹20,000 ₹20,000 ₹20,000 ₹3,000
2 ₹2,000 ₹3,000 ₹10,000 ₹10,000 ₹10,000 ₹10,000 ₹2,000
1 ₹1,000 ₹1,000 ₹5,000 ₹5,000 ₹5,000 ₹5,000 ₹1,000

Celebrity guests

Season 1
Guest(s) Year Amount won (₹) Notes
Sonali Bendre 2000 2,500,000 Played In The Diwali Special
Aamir Khan 2000 5,000,000 First Celebrity Guest To play the game, played during the Diwali special
Rani Mukerji December 2000 2,500,000 Played in the New Year special.
Shah Rukh Khan December 2000 5,000,000 Played in the New Year special.
Sanjay Dutt 2001 5,000,000
Anil Kapoor 2001 5,000,000 Played KBC host in Slumdog Millionaire
Sachin Tendulkar, Madhuri Dixit 10 February 25 June 2001 5,000,000 Won ₹5,000,000 each in a special episode to raise funds for victims of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
Amar Upadhyay, Smriti Irani 2001 5,000,000 To celebrate the first anniversary of the show
Sakshi Tanwar 2001 320,000

Season 2
Guest(s) Year Amount won (₹) Notes
Kajol, Ajay Devgn 18 September 2005 10,000,000 Biggest celebrity winners on KBC with Bachchan
John Abraham, Bipasha Basu 9 October 2005 2,500,000
Sania Mirza, Lara Dutta 13 November 2005 5,000,000 Appeared on Children's day.
Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta 2005 5,000,000 To promote their film "Salaam Namaste"
Smriti Irani, Saakshi Tanwar 2005 640,000 Second Time On The Show

Season 3
Guest(s) Date Amount won (₹) Episode Notes
Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan 14 February 2007 1,250,000 Valentine's Day
Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar 14 February 2007 2,500,000 Valentine's Day
Karan Johar, Farah Khan 14 February 2007 2,500,000 Valentine's Day Johar's Second Appearance on the Show

First time he appeared in the audience with Bachchan in 2000 to support Shahrukh Khan

Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji 27 February 2007 5,000,000 Holi Special Both Zinta and Mukerji's second time on the show
Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani 29 March 2007 5,000,000 Dutt's second time on the show
Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor 19 April 2007 5,000,000 Series Finale
Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif 19 April 2007 5,000,000 Series Finale

Season 4
Guest(s) Date Amount won (₹) Notes
Akshay Kumar, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Vipul Shah, Neha Dhupia, Rannvijay Singh, Shefali Shah 1 November 2010 5,000,000 For the promotion of Action Replayy
Leander Paes, S. Sreesanth, Manoj Kumar, Niket Kulshreshtha, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa 2 November 2010 2,500,000 Diwali Special
Disha Vakani, Ragini Khanna, Pooja Gor, Aashka Goradia, Bharti Singh, Aishwarya Sakhuja 3 November 2010 1,250,000 Diwali Special
Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Rohit Shetty, Tusshar Kapoor, Kunal Khemu 4 November 2010 2,500,000 For the promotion of Golmaal 3. Devgan's second time on the show.
Madhuri Dixit, Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Dharmendra 6,7,8,9 December 2010 Appeared in the Grand Finale

Dutt's third time on show and Dixit's Second time in the Show.

Season 5
Guest(s) Date Amount won (₹) Notes
Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan 18 August 2011 – For the promotion of Aarakshan

Both Padukone And Khan's Second Time On Show.

Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor 1 September 2011 1,250,000 For the promotion of Mausam

Both Sonam & Shahid's First Appearance on the Show.

Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif 8 September 2011 1,250,000 For the promotion of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

Kaif's Second Time On The Show KBC

Ranbir Kapoor 15 September 2011 1,250,000 For the promotion of Rockstar
John Abraham October 2011 – For the promotion of Desi Boyz

John's Third Time On The Show.

Shahrukh Khan 20 October 2011 5,000,000 For the promotion of Ra.One

Shahrukh's Second Time On The Show As a Participant.

Ram Kapoor, Sakshi Tanwar[46] 27 October 2011 2,500,000 In Diwali Special Episode.

Sakshi Tanwar 3rd Time On The Show KBC

Vidya Balan 10 November 2011 1,250,000 For the promotion of The Dirty Picture

Balan's First time on the Show.

Harbhajan Singh 15 November 2011 – For The promotion of Pepsi Ad
Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma 16 November 2011 – For the promotion of Ladies vs Ricky Bahl.

Season 6
Guest(s) Date Amount won (₹) Notes
Sridevi, Gauri Shinde 7 October 2012 640,000 For the promotion of English Vinglish

Both Sridevi And Shinde's First Appearance on the Show.

Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra 14 October 2012 640,000 For the promotion of Student of the Year

Johar's Third Appearance On the Show While, Bhatt,Dhawan & Malhotra's First Appearance on the Show.

Falguni Pathak 20 October 2012 – For Giving Special Performance during Navratri
Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif 4 November 2012 2,500,000 For the promotion of Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Shahrukh's Third while Kaif's Third Time on the Show.

Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha 18 November 2012 320,000 For the promotion of Son of Sardaar

Devgn's Third while Sinha's First Time on the Show.

Ram Kapoor, Sakshi Tanwar, Amruta Mukherjee 16 December 2012 1,250,000 For the Christmas Special Episode

Sakshi's Fourth while Kapoor's Second Time on the Show.

Sharad Kelkar, Kritika Kamra 16 December 2012 640,000 For the Christmas Special Episode

Both Kelkar and Kamra's first Appearance on the Show.

Anil Kapoor 20 January 2013 For the promotion of Race 2

Season 8

Top prize winners

Harshvardhan Navathe (19 October 2000)
₹1 Crore (15 of 15) – no time limit
Who among these does the Indian Constitution permit to take part in the proceedings of Parliament?
⬥ A: Solicitor General ⬥ B: Attorney General
⬥ C: Cabinet Secretary ⬥ D: Chief Justice
Navathe's ₹1 Crore Question

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 ($0.21 million).[50]

Vijay Raul and Arundhati (2 May 2001)

Vijay Raul and Arundhati were contestants who appeared in KBC and won ₹1 Crore ($0.21 million) on 2 May 2001.

Ravi Saini (14 May 2001)
₹1 Crore (15 of 15) – no time limit
In 1992, who became the first sportsperson to be honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award?
⬥ A: Vishwanathan Anand ⬥ B: Sachin Tendulkar
⬥ C: Geet Sethi ⬥ D: Leander Paes
Saini's ₹1 Crore Question

Ravi Mohan Saini was a contestant who appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati Junior and won ₹1 Crore ($0.21 million) on 14 May 2001.[51]

Sushil Kumar (2 November 2011)
₹5 Crore (13 of 13) – no time limit
Which colonial power ended its involvement in India by selling the rights of the Nicobar Islands to the British on 18 October 1868?
⬥ A: Belgium ⬥ B: Italy
⬥ C: Denmark ⬥ D: France
Kumar's ₹5 Crore Question

Sushil Kumar (Motihari, East Champaran, Bihar), who appeared in Season 5, was the first contestant in Kaun Banega Crorepati to win ₹5 Crores ($1.01 million). 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.[52]

Sanmeet Kaur Sawhney (12 January 2013)
₹5 Crore (13 of 13) – no time limit
Who is the first woman to successfully climb K2, the world's second highest mountain peak?
⬥ A: Junko Tabei ⬥ B: Wanda Rutkiewicz
⬥ C: Tamae Watanabe ⬥ D: Chantal Mauduit
Sawhney's ₹5 Crore Question

Sanmeet Kaur Sawhney was a contestant in Season 6 and won ₹5 Crores ($0.91 million).[53] She was the second ₹5 Crore winner.

Achin and Sarthak Narula (9 October 2014)
₹7 Crore (14 of 14) – no time limit
Who commanded the 'Hector', the first British trading ship to land at Surat?
⬥ A: Paul Canning ⬥ B: William Hawkins
⬥ C: Thomas Roe ⬥ D: James Lancaster
Narula Brothers' ₹7 Crore Question

Achin and Sarthak Narula appeared as contestants in Season 8 and won ₹7 Crores ($1.14 million), making them the first and only ₹7 Crore winner till now. 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.[54] The movie's host, based loosely on the actual host Amitabh Bachchan, was portrayed by Anil Kapoor.[54] Kapoor himself has appeared on a celebrity version of the show.[55]

Other Indian versions

From October 2000 to June 2001, it was adapted in Tamil, aired on Sun TV as Koteeshwaran hosted by Sarathkumar and produced under Radaan Mediaworks.[56][57][58]

In 2011, the show was remade in Bhojpuri as Ke Bane Crorepati. It was broadcast on Mahuaa TV.[59] The series was hosted by actor Bollywood actor, Shatrughan Sinha.[60]

In 2011, the show was remade in Bengali as Key Hobe Banglar Kotipoti. The series was hosted by Indian cricketer, Sourav Ganguly and aired on Mahuaa Bangla channel.[59]

In 2012, the show was remade (its first time in a Southern India tongue) in Kannada as Kannadada Kotyadhipati and aired on Asianet Suvarna and later on Colors Kannada for four seasons.[61] The series was hosted by Sandalwood actor Puneeth Rajkumar in seasons 1,2 and 4 and Ramesh Aravind in season 3.[62]

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.[63] The next two seasons were hosted by Prakash Raj and Aravind Swami.[64] The third season ended on November 2016.[65]

In 2012, the show was remade in Marathi on Colors Marathi. It was hosted by Sachin Khedekar until the 3rd season hosted by Swapnil Joshi.[66]

In 2012, the show was remade in Malayalam as Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran.[67] The series was hosted by actor Suresh Gopi and aired on Asianet for five seasons.[68]

In 2014, the show was remade in Telugu language as Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu. The series was hosted by actor Nagarjuna up until the fourth season hosted by Chiranjeevi and aired on MAA TV.[69]

In 2018 the show was remade in Bengali as Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti.[70] The series is hosted by actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and aired on Colors Bangla.[71][72]

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.[73]

In 2019, Sony Marathi relaunched Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorpati with fresh episodes as Kon Honar Karodpati. The series is hosted by director and anchor presenter Nagraj Manjule.[74]

In late 2019, the show re-emerged in Tamil as Kodeeswari. The series is hosted by actress Radhika Sarathkumar. All the contestants in this series are women and it is aired by Colors Tamil.[75]

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.[76] 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.[76] 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.[77] Bachchan who was initially sceptical 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.[76][77]

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 top viewed Hindi GEC show in that time.[78]

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.[79]

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.[80]

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.[81]

Ratings

The overall average rating of first season was 14.1 TVR while the second and third got 11.1 and 6.8 TVRs.[82]

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.[83][84] The following seven days it gradually increased and got 9.57, 11, 12.6, 12.4, 12.9, 13.2 and 14.7 TVRs.[85] 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.[86] The highest rating ever achieved by the series in that time was 27.13 TVR during October 2000.[87]

The second season opened with 19.75 TVR in the launch day occupying the top position.[88] In analysis of its viewership in specific regions of India, it had the highest viewership from Madhya Pradesh with 38 TVR during the premiere.[89]

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.[90] On 25 January, it increased to 9.24 TVR however not being able to match like previous seasons of Star Plus.[90] The following week after premiere it improved and got 8.8, 9, 8.4 and 10 TVR from Monday to Thursday.[91]

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.[92][93]

The fifth season opened with 5.2 TVR and averaged 4.52 TVR in the week.[94][95] 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.[96][97] The overall average rating of the series was about 4 TVR.[98]

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.[99][100]

The launch episode of season eight had 8.96 million viewers and that week it averaged 5.2 million viewers.[101]

The ninenth season opened with 6.2 million impressions being second most watched Hindi GEC in urban.[102] Overall, the season was the most watched Hindi GEC occupying first position for months.[103]

gollark: The contract might have something in there about "we will cut you off if any abuse is suspected", who knows.
gollark: Of course. Why would they be able to provide logs without spending days reviewing logs?
gollark: Because money, I only have a desktop, running Linux.
gollark: I prefer to run linuxen.
gollark: Yes, but it has other features now, you see.

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Preceded by
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Malaysian version. 5 June 2000)		 Asian versions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Succeeded by
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Indonesian version. 5 August 2000)
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