Kaun Banega Crorepati

Did You Know?

• KBC premiered on 3 July 2000, marking Amitabh Bachchan's first appearance on Indian television.
• The top prize was increased to ₹7.5 crore in Season 14 (2022) to celebrate 75 years of India's Independence.
• Season 8 was the first time KBC was shot outside Mumbai, with episodes filmed in Raipur and at the Surat International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Season overview

KBC premiered on 3 July 2000 with Amitabh Bachchan hosting, marking his first appearance on Indian television. The initial top prize was ₹1 crore. Declining ratings led to a reformat as Junior KBC with child contestants, airing from 6 May 2001 to 31 December 2001; this first season is the show's longest. After a four-year hiatus, the show returned on 5 August 2005 as Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya (KBC 2) with a doubled top prize of ₹2 crore. Production ended abruptly in 2006 when Bachchan fell ill after filming 61 of 85 scheduled episodes; Star Plus stopped the season. For the third season, starting 22 January 2007, Shah Rukh Khan hosted after Bachchan declined; the grand prize remained ₹2 crore. Ratings dropped significantly due to the host change, and the season ended on 19 April 2007. Following a three-and-a-half-year break, the fourth season (KBC 4) began on 11 October 2010 with Bachchan returning as host. It moved from Star Plus to Sony TV, aired Monday through Thursday, and introduced a new logo incorporating the Indian rupee symbol. The prize money was ₹1 crore with a jackpot question for ₹5 crore; the season ended on 9 December 2010.

Production

After becoming programming head of StarPlus in February 1999, Sameer Nair saw a clip of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in July 1999 via Steve Askew and secured rights from ECM. Siddhartha Basu, who had worked on A Question of Answers, was brought in to produce the show with his company Synergy Communications. The show was initially titled Kaun Banega Lakhpati with a top prize of ₹1 lakh. In January 2000, Nair chose Amitabh Bachchan to host. The following month, Rupert Murdoch ordered the top prize increased to ₹1 crore, retitling the series Kaun Banega Crorepati. Bachchan, initially skeptical, agreed. Sets were built in Mumbai's Film City in June 2000, and the series launched in July 2000 during StarPlus's revamp into a full Hindi-language channel.

Reception

The series, which aired on StarPlus for three seasons, was the first show to elevate the channel's viewership significantly, becoming one of the top-rated Hindi GEC shows of its time. On 27 April 2007, the Delhi High Court, suspicious of high winnings by actors and VVIPs compared to ordinary contestants, ordered the MRTPC to investigate. Star denied the allegations, stating KBC-2 was a game of skill. The Supreme Court later stayed the case. In 2008, Star Plus and sponsor Airtel were penalized ₹1 crore by the National Consumer Commission for charging ₹2.5 per SMS instead of ₹1, violating the Consumer Protection Act. After the third season, the show moved from Star Plus to Sony Entertainment Television, which held the format, as Star Plus did not renew its contract. The first season averaged 14.1 TVR, the second 11.1 TVR, and the third 6.8 TVR. The first season debuted with 8.96 TVR and 22% viewership, rising to 54% by late July 2000, making it the most-watched program and pushing StarPlus to number one. Its highest rating was 27.13 TVR in October 2000. The second season opened with 19.75 TVR on launch day, with its highest regional viewership in Madhya Pradesh at 38 TVR.