Amitabh Bachchan almost didn’t host Kaun Banega Crorepati! So how did the show’s makers convince Big B?

On a cosy July evening in the year 2000, beloved movie star Amitabh Bachchan waltzed into all of our living rooms through television screens — and simply never left. With the show’s 16th season going in full swing, we can't imagine the phenomenon that is Kaun Banega Crorepati without the living legend.

But, did you know the megastar of the century Amitabh Bachchan almost turned down the offer to host the show?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? — Desi version

In the late 90s, Star India was looking to make a significant impact on Indian television and was inspired by the success of the British show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’. Sameer Nair, who had recently become the head of programming at Star, believed that this format could work well in India. He approached Siddhartha Basu, a respected television producer known for quiz shows, to bring this idea to life in the Indian context.

While Basu was game, something he didn’t particularly anticipate was that Nair would want one of the biggest movie stars in the country to host it. And as much as Mr Bachchan enjoys his banter with participants on the show today, he wasn’t particularly jumping with joy at the prospect of hosting the show when the opportunity was first presented to him.

Rock-bottom

When Sameer Nair, Siddhartha Basu and Big B’s agent Sunil Doshi decided to get Amitabh Bachchan on the show, the senior actor’s career was in a slump. His recent films had not been successful, and his company ABCL’s efforts in hosting the Miss World 1996 in Bengaluru had reportedly driven him to near bankruptcy.

However, hosting a television show was seen as a significant departure for a Bollywood superstar, potentially signalling that his film career was over. In the late 1990s, the general perception in India was that television was a step down from films, especially for someone of Bachchan’s stature.

According to Sunil Doshi, Bachchan’s agent, his family was also against the idea of him doing television. They likely shared the concern that moving to television might harm his image and further diminish his standing in the film industry. While intrigued by the concept, Senior Bachchan himself was unsure about how the show would translate to the Indian audience.

A life-altering proposition

Mr Bachchan’s resistance did not deter Basu, Nair or Doshi. To convince him, the team arranged for Bachchan to visit the UK to see the original show in action.

After observing the scale and drama of the production, Bachchan reportedly had one condition: that the makers would replicate it exactly in India. Satisfied with their assurance, he agreed to take on the role, a decision that would not only revive his career but also transform Indian television.

The move was risky for all involved, especially considering they had to increase the prize money from lakhs to an enormous ₹1 crore — something that was unprecedented on Indian television at the time. Further, Amitabh Bachchan's payment for hosting KBC Season 1 was a significant topic of discussion at the time, especially given that it was his first venture into television.

While the exact amount he requested is not widely disclosed, it is reported that he charged around ₹25 lakh per episode. This amount was a huge deal for Indian television at the time and reflected Bachchan's star power and the risk involved in bringing such a big-name Bollywood actor to the small screen.

Just like that, Bachchan’s stardom was reborn

The gamble paid off, and KBC became a cultural phenomenon, throwing Bachchan back into the spotlight and setting new standards for Indian game shows.

Imagine the year 2000 — India had barely 32 million landlines and just a few million mobile users, a stark contrast to the over a billion today. The production of KBC was no small feat. The team from Synergy, led by Siddhartha Basu, had to navigate a labyrinth of meetings with government officials and telecom companies to ensure they could build a robust backend for the show. The entire Synergy crew uprooted from Delhi to Mumbai, assembling a dedicated team of around 250 to 300 people.

The show’s setup was meticulously crafted. Renowned set designer Nitin Desai brought his expertise to create an extraordinary set that included floor lighting, a custom-designed chair, and a computer system — all modelled after the original British version’s “bible” provided by Celador. The level of quality was something the Indian audience, and even the production crew, had never witnessed before.

When the phone lines opened for contestants to try their luck, the response was overwhelming. The system was designed to handle a certain number of calls, but they received 150% more than anticipated — about 1.2 million calls — before they even began shooting in June 2000 at a specially constructed set in Mumbai’s Film City. The scale and excitement were truly astonishing, marking the beginning of a television revolution in India.

Well, the rest is history. Today, when KBC comes on, every person’s eyes are glued to the television. When Mr Bachchan quips, we laugh; when he tenses up, so do we; and when he asks “Lock kar diya jaye?”, we can’t help but allow the little smile of familiarity that creeps in.