Kaun Banega Crorepati

infobox television
show_name = Kaun Banega Crorepati


caption = Shahrukh Khan hosts "Kaun Banega Crorepati"
format = Game show
runtime = approx. 43 minutes/episode
presenter = Amitabh Bachchan (2000-2006)
Shahrukh Khan
(2007-present)
country = IND
network = STAR Plus
picture_format = SDTV
website = http://kbclive.com/
imdb_id = 0250875

"Kaun Banega Crorepati" (Hindustani: _hi. कौन बनेगा करोड़पति _ur. کون بنے گا کروڑ پتی "IAST|Kaun Banegā Karoṛpati"; popularly known as KBC) is an Indian game show based on the UK gameshow "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". This version's title literally translates to "Who will be a ten-millionaire?". The show first aired in 2000 and was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. This episode was the first appearance of Amitabh Bachchan on Indian television. In 2005, the show was restarted after a four-year hiatus, and renamed "Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya" (Kaun Banega Crorepati the Second, or KBC2) in which the final prize amount was doubled to 2 crore rupees. The grand prize amount of 2 crore rupees was still used in KBC3.

It was abruptly ended by STAR Plus after the host Amitabh Bachchan fell ill [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4648470.stm] . Although it was originally announced that Bachchan would return, [http://www.celadorinternational.com/news_article.php?id=200 2waytraffic | Converting viewers into customers ] , after he declined, Shahrukh Khan was selected to replace him. KBC continues to be produced by Siddhartha Basu's Synergy Communications.

The new 2007 series began airing on January 22, 2007. Phone lines opened from December 22, 2006, 8PM. The key sponsors of the new series are AirTel, Unit Trust of India (UTI Mutual Funds) and ITC. They also have a thinking cap for help signed by SRK. The show ended on April 19, 2007 with a special finale.

Rules

Similar to the UK version, the contestants have to go through an initial round of "Fastest Finger First" where the host introduces the 10 contestants of the episode and asks them all the same question that the contestants have to put in a certain order. The contestant that puts the four options in the correct order and in the fastest time gets the chance to go on the "hotseat" to play "Kaun Banega Crorepati" to earn the largest prize achievable.

Being eligible as a contestant, the person has to be over the age of 18 and a citizen of India. The person must have not been at "Kaun Banega Crorepati" previously and must also be a resident of India (as per the definition of "resident" in the Income Tax Act, 1961).

At the hotseat, the contestant is asked a series of general knowledge questions consistently rising in difficulty with every question. Each questions has four options/answers with only one correct answer therefore being multiple choice. The contestant must answer a question correctly to win the amount of money they are playing for.

The sum of each question is more or less doubled from the previous amount won consequently increasing the achievable amount every time until the 15th question when it is the maximum amount attainable (currently 2 crores in KBC2 and 3). The current sequence of prize amounts on KBC are as follows:

KBC1
*Rs. 1,000
*Rs. 2,000
*Rs. 3,000
*Rs. 5,000
*Rs. 10,000
*Rs. 20,000
*Rs. 40,000
*Rs. 80,000
*Rs. 1,60,000
*Rs. 3,20,000
*Rs. 6,40,000
*Rs. 12,50,000
*Rs. 25,00,000
*Rs. 50,00,000
*Rs. 1,00,00,000KBC2 and 3
*Rs. 1,000
*Rs. 3,000
*Rs. 5,000
*Rs. 10,000
*Rs. 20,000
*Rs. 40,000
*Rs. 80,000
*Rs. 1,60,000
*Rs. 3,20,000
*Rs. 6,40,000
*Rs. 12,50,000
*Rs. 25,00,000
*Rs. 50,00,000
*Rs. 1,00,00,000
*Rs. 2,00,00,000

These prizes are not cumulative i.e. for answering the first three question the contestant wins Rs. 5,000 and not Rs. 1000 + Rs. 3000 + Rs. 5000.

Indian Telly Awards 2007

At the 7th Indian Telly Awards held on the November 16, 2007 in Mumbai, Shah Rukh Khan (though absent at the show) was announced the Best Anchor for Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Lifelines

The current lifelines in KBC3 are the same ones that were used in KBC2. The only difference being that the first season of KBC didn't have the "Flip the Question" lifeline. A contestant can use a lifeline when he is undecided about which answer is correct. A lifeline can only be used once.

*Audience Poll - If the contestant uses this lifeline, it will result in the host repeating the question to the audience hence there is an audience poll of the audience currently in the studio. The studio audience get approximately 10 seconds to answer the question using the "keypads" provided. It can also be noticeable that the time given to the audience is slightly more than in the US version. After the audience have chosen their choices, the results are shown on the monitors screens of the host, contestant as well as the TV viewers.
*Phone a Friend - If the contestant uses this lifeline, the contestant is allowed to call one of the few pre-arranged friends. The host usually starts off by talking to the contestant's friend and introduces him/her to the viewers. After the introduction, the host hands the phone call over to the contestant who then immediately has 30 seconds to ask and hope for a reply from their friend.
*Fifty-Fifty (50/50) - If the contestant uses this lifeline, the host will ask the computer to randomly remove and eliminate two of the "wrong" answers. This will leave one right answer and one wrong answer subsequently resulting in an ironic situation of both eliminating 50% of the choices as well as having a 50% chance of getting the answer right if the contestant is in a situation of making a guess.At the start of KBC2, Amitabh Bachchan introduced a new lifeline called "Flip the Question". This lifeline is also used in KBC3:
*Flip the Question - Just like the lifeline available in the US version, the contestant can completely change the question if they have not come to a final answer. A notable difference is that this lifeline is only available at the $25,000 mark in the US while in KBC, the "Flip the Question" lifeline is available to the contestant at the Rs. 20,000 mark.

Notable Celebrity Guests

Apart from Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan being renowned stars who have hosted the show, these are the following celebrities that have played Kaun Banega Crorepati with Amitabh Bachchan:
*Aamir Khan - 2000 - won Rs. 1,00,00,000
*Ajay Devgan & Kajol - 2005- won Rs. 1,00,00,000
*Aman Verma
*Anil Kapoor - 2001
*John Abraham & Bipasha Basu - 2005
*Karan Johar - 2000
*Lara Dutta & Sania Mirza- November 14th 2005 - won Rs. 50,00,000
*Preity Zinta - 2000
*Rani Mukerji - 2000
*Sachin Tendulkar & Madhuri Dixit- 2001- separately won Rs.50,00,000 each.
*Saif Ali Khan - 2000
*Shahrukh Khan - 2000
*Shweta Kwatra & Saakshi Tanwar
*Sonali Bendre

With "Shahrukh Khan":
*Arbaaz Khan & Malaika Arora Khan - February 14, 2007
*Farhan Akhtar & Zoya Akhtar - February 14, 2007
*Karan Johar & Farah Khan - February 14, 2007
*Kareena Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra - April 19, 2007 - won Rs. 50,00,000
*Preity Zinta & Rani Mukerji - February 27, 2007 - won Rs. 50,00,000
*Salman Khan & Katrina Kaif - April 19, 2007 - won Rs. 50,00,000
*Sanjay Dutt & Boman Irani - March 29, 2007 - won Rs. 50,00,000

"Crore"pati Winners

So far, there have been 8 notable winners of KBC that have left with an amount of, or fairly close to, Rs. 1,00,00,000 or 1 Crore:

*Aamir Khan - Winner of Rs. 1,00,00,000 in 2000
*Ajay Devgan and Kajol - Winner of Rs. 1,00,00,000 in 2005
*Ajit from Kerala - Winner of Rs. 50,00,000 when the top prize money was Rs. 2,00,00,000.
*Brajesh Dubey - Winner of KBC2 leaving with Rs. 1,00,00,000 when the top prize was Rs. 2,00,00,000
*Harshvardhan Navathe - 1^st winner of KBC
*Piyush Swain - winner of 50,00,000 in October 2005. Praised by Amitabh Bachchan as "The Best Contestant he has ever played with" and "You can go all the way to Rs 2 Crores".
*Ravi Saini - Winner of the equally popular series - KBC Junior that featured children under the age of 18 as contestants.
*Sangita Patel from Pune - Winner of 50,00,000

KBC Phraseology

Since it's launch in the year 2000, KBC has inspired thousands with Amitabh's catchy phrases like "Lock kiya jaye?" which has been used in the media a countless number of times, an example being in the 2001 film starring Anil Kapoor and Rani Mukerji. With the new series that is hosted by Shahrukh Khan, wordage such as "Lock kiya jaye?" have been changed to "Freeze it!". Additional expressions have been introduced in KBC3 like "Kuch sawaal aapki zindagi badal sakte hain!" which is the official motto of the current show and "Kachcha Kachcha? Pakka Pakka?" that figuratively means "Are you sure or are you not sure?" and literally means "Is you answer unripe? Or is your answer ripe?".

KBC in Popular Culture

*A show named "Kaun Banega Champu" aired on Filmy spoofs KBC and is hosted by comedian Sunil Grover under the name of "Ruk Ruk Khan".
*KBC not only helped Amitabh Bachchan relaunch his bollywood career but also made Star Plus, India's #1 network.
*The show's former host, Amitabh Bachchan, has been parodied by Jaaved Jaffrey.

References

External links

* [http://kbclive.com Kaun Banega Crorepati (2007 series) Official Website] (Note: The KBC2 Official Website has been merged into this website and redirects to it when clicked)