Amitabh: Don't know answers to many KBC questions

The fifth season of the hit reality game show Kaun Banega Crorepati hosted by Amitabh Bachchan begins its 14-week run on August 15, and shows Monday to Thursday at 8.30pm on Sony Entertainment Television.

The reality game show will be innovations this time, like 'Ghar Baithe Jeeto Jackpot', 'Machaha Padav' in the money tree, and special episodes like Jodi Special and School Special.

Contestants vie for the top prize of Rs 5 crore and viewers can attempt a jackpot in every episode. There will be special themes and special episodes.

Much of the huge popularity of the show is due to its superstar host. But Amitabh says, "I got a chance to meet people whom I would never have met."

"The kinds of contestants I got a chance to meet were really good and I learnt that no one should be underestimated. People from small towns, some of them places we didn't even know existed, came out with flying colours on the show. This shows there is so much talent in the interiors," he says.

So, how important has KBC been for him? "Like with other work I do, KBC too is an important aspect of my life. KBC was a wonderful experience and continues to be one," he said.

Since he has seen people win a lot of money and become crorepatis on his show, does he remember when he became a crorepati?

"Actually I don't remember, but I can tell you who can give you the right answer to this question. That is our country's income tax department," he smiles.

Most reality shows fail to pull in the audiences in subsequent seasons, but KBC still rules the charts.

Amitabh does not agree that this is due to his charisma. "It's because of the format of the game. The format itself is strong. It is designed by psychologists, scientists and perhaps even psychiatrists. It's the strength of the game that in 80 countries it is doing extremely well. To say that I am responsible for its success is wrong because I am not the host in those 80 countries."

When he decided to host KBC in 2000, he says, many people told him he was making a bad decision, and a film star shouldn't venture into television. "Everyone, including my family, said that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. But when I watched the show in London, I was convinced the format would work as it provides you information and also allows you to enjoy the game. I was also attracted to the way it was conducted."

He confesses that he doesn't know the answers to many of the questions he poses, and so "my general knowledge increases."

Is it true that he rehearses for KBC at home, and if so, who is the brightest in his family? "Nobody is at home during my rehearsals. I play mock KBC with the Sony (channel) team. To your second question, my daughter Shweta is the intelligent one in my family," he said.

He said that one of the participants in the last KBC season had confronted his entire village in order to participate in the show. This inevitably begged the question: had he ever confronted his elders?

He narrated an episode that occurred when he was going through a period of jobless frustration and serious self-questioning just like some of his friends and one of them happened to say bitterly that their problems arose from the fact that they were brought into this world full of problems by their parents who did not take their consent before doing so.

So Amitabh Bachchan asked his father: "Aap ne mujhe janm dene se pehle mujh se poocha tha?" (Before giving me life did you ask me?)

His poet father didn't respond to the question immediately, but later wrote a poem and left it on Amitabh's bed. The poem was about how a frustrated young man asks his father if his consent was taken before his birth. The father answers that his father did not take his consent, nor did his grandfather take his father's consent before their birth. And now, he will wait and see how he (the son) takes his son's consent before his birth.