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The hype surrounding the launch of the new KBC took up much more time on the small screen than the show itself. Now, Zee TV is believed to have engaged Big B to be the anchor of a new game show for its new entertainment channel “Zee Next” to upstage KBC.

He is ready to give contestant a hug, a “massage” and is charming in his own way. However, the controversies and comparisons that the media has been obsessed with have given him little credit for his effort. Here let’s look at certain facts regarding the new KBC.

Abhishek was considered for KBC
Not many would know this fact but Abhishek Bachchan was to host KBC post Bachchan’s illness. Siddharth Basu, the man behind this show confesses and confirms this story. “Abhishek was considered but that was during Mr.Bachchan’s illness and recovery period. Since we were running out of our ’bank’, we thought of bringing in Abhishek for a few weeks before Mr. Bachchan could return to complete the remaining episodes before the show went in for a break. But it didn’t work out because he was overcommitted to films. Abhishek is busier than his father. And if it didn’t work out then I am sure it couldn’t have worked now.”

Amitabh to host new game show for ZEE to counter attack SRK
ZEE television group is believed to have engaged superstar Amitabh Bachchan to be the anchor of a new game show to be mounted on its new entertainment channel “Zee Next” to upstage KBC. A media report said Zee group has now roped in the Big B to upstage and beat Star TV. Though Zee is closely guarding its deal with Amitabh, sources said the TV network has got not one but three proposals from the superstar’s AB Corps, the new avatar of ABCL. He was bound by Star TV with a contract not to be part of any game show similar to KBC for any other network but the time period of the contract is over and Amitabh is now free to undertake new assignments.
In an interview, Bachchan, for the first time, acknowledged rivalry between him and Bollywood current heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan. “Yes, there is competition between the two of us….it is healthy to have competition,” he said.

Bad Packaging?
If Shah Rukh Khan’s romance on television or his un-masterly gestures of giving body massages to contestants left you puzzled as to what he was up to, King Khan has a clear answer to this. “I am trying to make it more light-hearted,” he would tell you. King Khan knows too well that, given his chatty image and his propensity (or should we call it penchant) for glib, he can ill-afford the pregnant pauses of Big B, which had brought in an aura of awe and academic gravity to the show.

Quoting aMap data, Economic Times reported that KBC with King Khan started off on a steady note, but has since shown signs of slipping staedily. In fact, aMap data showed KBC III has witnessed a steady decline from episode on episode. While the show initially got off to a good start with a 5.3 television rating (TVR), almost doubling its channel share in the 9 – 10 pm slot, the second episode saw the show plummet to 4.8 TVR. The third day saw a still steeper decline in ratings, with the show garnering only 3.5 TVR.
Star has rubbished these figures though. “We do not subscribe to aMap ratings, and will wait for the TAM ratings to judge the performance of the show,” a Star spokesperson said.

Yet Big Hit!
SRK’S biggest weapon, no doubt, is his sense of humour, a delightfully self-deprecatory one at that. “He can make fun of himself,” says advertising man Prahlad Kakkar. He’s smart, can think on his feet and has a terrific gift of the gab. Like when he says in the first episode that he’d wear any kind of “coat” for the show, even a petticoat. Or when one contestant talked about oversleeping, SRK was quick to ask: “Alone?” In one forthcoming episode he has a contestant declaring that she doesn’t like him, that she doesn’t want to be hugged by him. “It’s a forum in which my audience can speak their mind, can say anything, even about me,” says SRK. Essentially, he’s trying to address the young, the “boys and girls”, his core constituency. No wonder then that he did the hip-hop music video (directed by Ganesh Hegde) and chose it as the entry vehicle for the show. Serious quiz buffs though are still skeptical.

Even as news channels and critics are going overboard assessing SRK’s performance on the KBC show vis-à -vis the Bachchan charisma, Vivek Vaswani, producer of Shah Rukh’s forthcoming film, Dulha Mil Gaya, avers that SRK has already managed to capture the hearts of millions of viewers, with his energy, drive and verve.

However, for us…let’s enjoy while the fun lasts!