Apart from acting in over two hundred films across multiple Indian languages, Amitabh Bachchan has had a successful television career too. The veteran actor has hosted all the seasons of the quizzing-based game show Kaun Banega Crorepati in the last 23 years, except for the third season which was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan in 2007.
In early 2000, Big B was approached to host the Indian adaption of the British television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The celebrated actor wasn't sure to pivot to the small screen when his films weren't succeeding at the box office. In order to take a final call, Bachchan decided to watch the live recording of the original show at the Elstree Studios in London.
After seeing the game show hosted by Chris Tarrant, Amitabh made up his mind and put one condition in front of the makers before finally agreeing to be a part of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Siddhartha Basu, who has produced multiple seasons of KBC, revealed the actor's stipulation in an interview in 2021.
Talking to indianexpress.com, Basu said, "No megastar had hosted a TV show in India, or anywhere else for that matter. The intention was to make the biggest bang possible. Amitabh Bachchan took some time to make up his mind about doing TV and was generally being counselled not to do so. However, he decided to see the recording of the original show (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) in London before making up his mind. Once he saw it, he decided to do KBC with one rider that we replicate the conditions and discipline of that show. There was no looking back."
Amitabh Bachchan is all set to host Kaun Banega Crorepati 15 later this year. Apart from KBC, the 80-year-old ator also hosted the controversial reality show Bigg Boss in its third season in 2009 after its first two seasons were hosted by Arshad Warsi and Shilpa Shetty respectively. Since its fourth season up to the latest Bigg Boss 16, the show has been hosted by Salman Khan.
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