Industry upbeat about KBC’s return, calls it a league of its own

Popular game show, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC), is gearing up to make a grand comeback after missing from television screens for over two years. Though no launch date for show has been announced, ‘KBC Season 9’ is expected to go on air in three months’ time on Sony Entertainment Television, with Amitabh Bachchan once again donning the role of host and quiz master. The show will be aired from Monday to Friday and Season 9 will have 30 episodes. 

A lot of developments have happened in the Hindi GEC space in this two-year hiatus period; several new fiction shows and fresh format reality shows have captured the audience’s attention. However, any doubts regarding the popularity and relevance of ‘KBC Season 9’ dissipated when the show received 19.8 million entries once the registrations kickstarted on June 17, 2017. 

Bullish about the show, Ashish Golwalkar, Senior Creative Director, Sony Entertainment Television, asserted, “‘KBC’ has always done well. It is the one show that has resonated completely with the people as it is knowledge-based and gives people a platform to exhibit their knowledge. Fundamentally, we are a country that believes in education and knowledge. I don’t think there is anything which deters from its popularity. ‘KBC’ is as relevant today as it was earlier and will continue to be so in the future. Though we have given a gap of almost three years, we are very confident that ‘KBC’ will do well in Season 9 as well.” 

Along similar lines, Sukesh Motwani, Co-founder & Producer, Bodhi Tree Multimedia, said, “‘KBC’ will be able to hold its own because it is the only format that taps into the participant’s smartness at quizzing. Moreover, General Knowledge has always been a hugely aspirational trait for the Indian middle class. Most importantly, the show changes lives and fulfills dreams of the average middle class Indian via merit of knowledge and not via destiny/ luck/ chance. And the person driving the process is the most credible Amitabh Bachchan.” 

Giving her thumbs up to the show, Divya Radhakrishnan, Managing Director, Helios Media, noted, “‘KBC’ is in a league of its own. It is more participative in nature than other reality shows that are talent based.” 

Apart from the Bachchan factor, ‘KBC’ also has amazing back stories of participants and winners, which bring in the human interest angle that other game shows like ‘Dus Ka Dum’ and ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ lacked. “A game show must always have a plus factor. Advertisers will also chase eyeballs. Thus, if a show delivers on numbers, advertisers will follow and vice versa,” Radhakrishnan added. 

While sharing his thoughts on why other game show formats didn’t last long, Sukesh Motwani said that it was because the “victory and the impending financial gain” in those formats was mostly because of chance/ luck, which the hardworking middle class Indian can’t stomach as a long term television viewing choice. 

But will Amitabh Bachchan’s presence and the show’s format be enough to retain the fan-base? To this Radhakrishnan replied that even today every fourth ad has Bachchan in it. “Be it jewellery, tourism or oil – he is constantly promoting some brand or the other, so he is still relevant,” she maintained. 

According to Motwani, the only worry for ‘KBC’ is that it needs more innovation, more celebrity quotient and more surprises in store in terms of format and crazy weekend specials akin to what ‘Bigg Boss’ has been able to do over the years to sustain its appeal. 

However, differing with this, Radhakishnan felt that the show should keep true to the original format since it has worked well in the past to retain audience and advertiser engagement. 

On adding newer elements in the current format of the show, Motwani suggested, “Maybe it needs to also look at special episodes to do with younger contestants. Bachchan Saab might need to have more direct engagement with his studio audiences. He could bring in enhanced personal sharing or more personal insights and personal anecdotes to do with his life and experience to make this season special.”  

Meanwhile, Sony Entertainment Television is in the process of sprucing up its programming mix with a diverse line-up of shows. The first off the bat will be fiction show ‘Pehredar Piya Ki’, a Shashi Sumeet Production, which will go on air from July 17. Also in the pipeline are historical drama ‘Porus’ by Swastik Productions, weekend dance reality show ‘Super Dancer’, mythological series ‘Ganesha’ and ‘Mere Sai’, among others.