A well-placed industry source says that Star Plus hasn’t renewed the contract for the show and it’s now with the company that actually holds the format, Sony.
“It’s natural for them to give it to Sony. The talks have already been initiated on the money and who the host will be. We’ll have to wait and watch,” adds the source.
Work under progress
Ajit Thakur, executive vice president of the channel, without denying or confirming the buzz, says that discussions about the show have recently begun at multiple levels. “Till everything gets sorted, it’s difficult to issue a statement.”
According to the show’s actual quizmaster, Siddharth Basu: “Star relinquished the KBC license some time back. And yes, the show is with Sony now. All the questions regarding the show and the host will have to be addressed to them since they are the broadcasters now. Of course, my company, Big Synergy, looks forward to producing it for them.”
Kaun Banega Crorepati first went on air in 2000, with Amitabh Bachchan as the host on Star Plus. It worked wonders for the channel as it garnered extremely high ratings throughout its first edition run. Season Two, once again, had Bachchan Sr asking the questions, placing the options and asking ‘Computerjee’ to lock the answers too. This time, the show was also extended into a kiddie format, since the contestants, however bright they were, had to be 18 years and above to participate.
Season Three saw Shah Rukh Khan stepping into Bachchan’s shoes as the host. The season ended in 2006-07 and since then, there has only been speculation over when the show would return and who the next host would be.
Back in 2008, Siddharth Basu had confirmed that KBC 4 would arrive before the year ended. He had even said that Shah Rukh had been signed on by Star for at least two more seasons of KBC, with an option to renew the contract.
Basu was also open to rope in a third new face to host the show if he didn’t manage to get the aforementioned actors for Season Four.
Siddharth Basu comments…
On the next Kaun Banega Crorepati's host, Aamir Khan’s name was just speculation. There was no truth to it. It’s rumoured that even Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan were approached to fill in the host’s shoes, occupied once by Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. To be honest, Ranbir and Abhishek, though are huge youth icons, were never approached for the show.
Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan? The better quizmaster is…Each brought a distinct individuality to the table. Each made for an outstanding host. There were constant comparisons and a TRP and revenue war of sorts that was being reported about KBC 1 and 2 and 3. But even today, I urge people to please check the actual figures. The truth is that each time, the number of viewers and revenues only grew exponentially.
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