Nobody knows how to win hearts better than him. Amitabh Bachchan proved it yet again at the grand launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati season 8 in Surat. Neeti Nigam reports
After teasers of the popular TV game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), touched people’s hearts with stories of community bonding, the Big B himself decided to make a heartfelt gesture, reaching out to the common man at a grand roadshow in Surat.
“Kem cho, maja maIJ” he asked repeatedly while waving his hands to a 7,000-strong crowd, chanting his name. Amitabh Bachchan was not just the host of KBC season 8 here, but an icon hypnotising a cult of hero worshippers. Surat also showed that Big B was as conscious about being the brand ambassador of Gujarat as he was about ratings by going to the people. He was impeccable but not touchable as he converted the auditorium to a gigantic KBC shoot set.
The launch of the eighth season of KBC in Surat was iconic in many ways. It was the first season which Bachchan shot in the presence of thousands of people and it was perhaps the most grand episode ever to be shot at such a large scale. The highlight of the evening was the performance by the members of Shillong Chamber choir. They rightly conveyed the theme of the show by singing Vande Mataram.
Kapil Sharma gave a brilliant opening to the evening. He welcomed Big B, who came with dancers grooving on his hit numbers like Pyar Humein Kis Mod Pe le Aayaa, Sara Zamana and Main Hoon Don playing and interspersed with his famous dialogues, on stage. “Nobody will go empty handed from the show. We will win hearts,” said Amitabh, who sported blue jeans, a cream jacket and a shirt.
Kapil as an anchor was very much in his element and probably he worked on his humour to match it to the much subtle wit of Big B. Sample this. Bachchan asked Kapil’s mother, who was present at the venue, when is he getting married. Kapil replied that he is waiting for Deepika Padukone to say yes and if Bachchan will request her on screen, she might say it soon. Bachchan said, “Start sending her flowers like I do.” There were performances by singer Neeti Mohan and the cast of shows like Maharana Pratap and CID. It was speculated that Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif will be part of the evening, too, to promote Bang Bang, but they did not turn up.
Reportedly Surat has maximum viewership for the game show. Probably this was the reason that it was chosen as the venue for the event. Big B was rehearsing much in advance for this and was regularly posting his pictures on social networking site Twitter, which worked to build the excitement for the show. Hours before the event, Big B tweeted, “Finished rehearsal at Surat KBC event..massive! The butterflies have turned into monsters.. (sic)”
The game show comes with the prize money of `7 crore, and Big B tagged it as “Kaun Banega Mahacrorepati.” The number of questions has gone down from 15 to 14. The minimum prize money one can win is `5,000. A new lifeline has been introduced, it’s called triguni. The contestant will have an option to take help from the panel of three people. Surat girl Deepa Jagtiani got to play KBC live. She helps her brother in his business. While playing the game she used three lifelines — audience poll, phone a friend and triguni and quit the game after winning `6,40,000.
The event ended with the core message of this season’s campaign, Yahan Sirf Paise Nahi, Dil Bhi Jeete Jate Hain (We don’t win money only, we win hearts too). Big B indeed proved that live.