Kaun Banega Crorepati (simply KBC; English: Who Will Become a Crorepati) is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise. It is presented by actor Amitabh Bachchan, who has hosted the show for its entire run except for its third season, during which Shah Rukh Khan, another actor, replaced Bachchan.[2] The programme aired on Star Plus for its first three seasons from 2000 to 2007, and was commissioned by the programming team of Sameer Nair.[3][4] In 2010, it started airing on Sony Entertainment Television and was produced by BIG Synergy (under various names over periods of time) from season 1 till season 10. Kaun Banega Crorepati (simply KBC; English: Who Will Become a Crorepati) is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise. It is presented by actor Amitabh Bachchan, who has hosted the show for its entire run except for its third season, during which Shah Rukh Khan, another actor, replaced Bachchan.[2] The programme aired on Star Plus for its first three seasons from 2000 to 2007, and was commissioned by the programming team of Sameer Nair.[3][4] In 2010, it started airing on Sony Entertainment Television and was produced by BIG Synergy (under various names over periods of time) from season 1 till season 10.
KBC premiered on 3 July 2000 and was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, his first appearance on Indian television.[5] KBC initially offered contestants the chance to win Rs. 1 crore. The declining ratings of KBC paved way for reformatting the series immediately as Junior KBC with kids as contestants which started airing from 6 May 2001.[6][7] The season ended on 31 December 2001.[8] The show was well received in its premiere season.[9][10] It is the longest season of the show. On 5 August 2005, the show was restarted after a four-year hiatus, and renamed Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya or KBC 2.[11] During this season, the top prize amount was doubled to Rs. 2 crore. It was abruptly ended by STAR Plus after Amitabh Bachchan fell ill in 2006 after he shot his last episode on 13 January 2006.[12] Bachchan had shot 61 of the 85 scheduled episodes when he fell ill.[13] He announced he would return after he recovered, but when his health prevented him from filming the remaining 24 episodes, Star TV took the decision to stop production. Star Television recruited Shah Rukh Khan to host the third season of the show when Bachchan declined.[15] The grand prize remained Rs. 2 crore. The third season of the show began airing on 22 January 2007 with the first contestant as Prasenjit Sarkar who was the last contestant dropped from season two midway owing to Bachchan's health. [16] The show started well but the show's ratings dropped significantly due to the change of the host.
The show was restarted after a three-year and half hiatus. The fourth season (called KBC 4) was hosted by the returning Amitabh Bachchan and started on 11 October 2010. This season was telecast four days a week, Monday through Thursday evenings. The tagline of the season was "Koi Bhi Sawaal Chota Nahi Hota" (transl. Every question is important; literally: No question is small). The show moved from STAR Plus to Sony TV. The new logo designed for the fourth season incorporated the new Indian Rupee symbol, which was unveiled earlier in the year. The contestant tryout for the fourth season opened on 2 August 2010 at 9 PM IST. [19] The total prize money for this season was ₹1 crore, and a jackpot question for ₹5 crore. The fourth season of the show was highly successful due to the return of former host Amitabh Bachchan.[20] The season ended on 9 December 2010. During this season, much like its international counterparts, there were various rule changes made to the show. The number of questions was reduced from 15 to 13 and, as in the United States version of the show, a timer was added to each question.[21] There was a 30-second time limit for questions 1 and 2, and a 45-second time limit for questions 3 to 7. Questions 8 to 13 were not timed. Any time not used was voided and not banked (unlike the United States version which banked the time for the final question). [22][23] Much like other countries' version of the game, the clock stops whenever a lifeline is used and if the time limit expired, the contestant was forced to walk away with their current winnings. This season introduced the "Double Dip" and "Ask the Expert" lifelines (similar to the United States counterpart from the Millionaire clock format). Also from this season onwards, Fastest Finger First Contestants earlier who used to come for one episode has now been allowed to stay for one week.