‘Kahan se Amit-ji ko laye hain?’ How KBC became TV’s biggest hit despite early scepticism

“Who puts a quiz show on prime time?” That was the question doing the rounds in the television industry when Kaun Banega Crorepati was being prepared for launch in 2000. The scepticism went further: “Kahan se Amit-ji ko laye hain? Indians don’t even like this!”

Yet on July 3, 2000, KBC went on air with Amitabh Bachchan at the helm—and quickly turned a seemingly risky television experiment into a cultural phenomenon. Twenty-six years later, the quiz show is still going strong, with its 18th season currently airing on Sony Entertainment Television.

What made the gamble work was not just the blockbuster format adapted from Britain’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, but the decision to build the Indian version around Bachchan, whose stature, Hindi-English fluency and mass appeal helped transform a quiz show into appointment television.

Sameer Nair, who headed programming at Star Plus at the time, recently revealed that KBC was “at least ten times more expensive than any show on Indian television” during that period. “It was a dazzling production, staying completely true to the original, the exact same layout,” Nair told The Hollywood Reporter India, referring to the British format Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

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Industry insiders were openly sceptical. “Who puts a quiz show on prime time? Kahan se Amit-ji ko laye hain? (Where have you brought Amit ji from?) Indians don’t even like this!” Nair recalled being told.

Why Bachchan was the only choice

Unlike the UK version, which did not feature a film celebrity host, the Indian adaptation banked on Bachchan’s unique bilingual fluency and mass appeal. “Bachchan was the only actor with that kind of proficiency in both Hindi and English,” Nair said. “But more importantly, this was going to homes where the remote is controlled by the mother. For that mother, it was Bachchan who was the beloved hero, not Shah Rukh Khan – who was catering to a younger generation.”

After watching a live taping of the British show, Bachchan agreed to host the Indian version. The show was heavily Indianised: Bachchan addressed the computer as “computer-ji”, switched effortlessly between Hindi and English, and questions drew from Indian mythology and history.

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From slump to superstardom

The gamble transformed not just television but also Bachchan’s career. Then facing a professional and financial slump, the megastar made a massive comeback with KBC, followed by Yash Raj Films’ Mohabbatein later that year.

Today, KBC continues under Bachchan’s stewardship. Season 18, themed “Sochna Padega”, premiered on August 10, 2026, on Sony TV and Sony LIV, reinforcing the show’s 26-year legacy as a prime-time staple.