SRK in KBC

MUMBAI: ‘Let’s freeze it’ that comparisons are inevitable. But one has to give it to Bollywood’s King Khan who manages to rise above all comparisons and has carved a niche for himself in his fans’ hearts.

Star Plus’ flagship show Kaun Banega Crorepati re-launched today (22 January) in a new avatar with Shah Rukh Khan as the host. SRK in his inimitable hip ’n humourous style not only gave KBC the much needed ‘lifeline’ but also managed to shed contestants’ inhibitions.

In the opening sequence of the show was an energetic and funny music video featuring SRK titled – ‘Kar Le Kar Le Tu Ek Sawaal’. While this set the mood right for comeback of KBC; a friendly, suave and jovial Khan was a complete delight to watch.

He massaged one contestant’s shoulders, gave him a nickname and also gave Compaq (the brand he endorses), a cool mind space among viewers. The computer was christened ‘Compaq Da’, if across him sat a Bengali contestant and ‘Compaq Garu’ if the contestant was Telugu. Mostly it was ‘Mr Computer’ which gave way to Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Computer ji’.

KBC Dviteya’s Prasenjit Sarkar

Just like Bachchan gave in to requests made by contestants (it’s difficult not to compare), Khan obliged his contestants by singing a song and that too in Bengali from one of his film. One contestant got stuck with a question on what is the red carrommen called in the game of Carrom? The options given were: (a) King, (b) Queen, (c) Knight and (d) Bishop. When the contestant got muffled with the question and was of the opinion that the correct answer might be option (a) – King; Khan quipped unabashedly, “It can’t be King, because I am the only King!”

And if you didn’t get enough of Shah Rukh on the show, you had the commercial breaks to look forward to where Khan was omnipresent. Brands he endorses like Videocon and Hyundai Santro took up bulk air time.

While Khan has replaced Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador of ICICI Bank, the brand remained conspicuous by its absence on the show. In the previous seasons of KBC, (when Bachchan still endorsed the brand), ICICI cheques were presented to contestants who won on the show. This time round however, ICICI Bank cheques gave way to Union Bank of India cheques. The roll over contestant from KBC Dviteya Prasenjit Sarkar walked away with a booty of Rs 1,250,000.

King Khan joked and he laughed… along with him smiled viewers across India and but naturally Star officials. The strategy of roping in King Khan as a replacement to Big B seems to have paid off.