The world of reality TV is buzzing with Shah Rukh Khan’s return to quiz master duties with Star’s Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tej Hain (KAPPSTH). Content providers Bulldog Media and Entertainment have exhaustively studied Amitabh Bachchan raging seasons of Kaun Banega Crorepati in attempt to recreate its success.

Owned by Fox Studios in USA, the format of this quiz show comes from the popular US series by the name of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. Bulldog Media, brings to India this successful franchise, which ran 11 successful seasons in America, in a localized avatar. Akash Sharma, Managing Director, Bulldog media and entertainment points out that KAPPSTH follows the success of other popular reality TV formats like Indian Idol and KBC. “India has proved to be a good market for established reality TV concepts as seen by the recreation of Indian Idol from American Idol by Fremantle and KBC from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? licensed by Teledor” revealed Sharma.

Sure, shows based on popular American shows might be doing well, but it does not happen without much needed changes. As Sharma explained, shows adapted from other popular shows from around the world are put under the scanner and channeled through a rigorous process of localizing their content and feel. “Like any other successful adaptation, KAPPSTH was simplified, made adaptable and more relevant for Indian audiences and culture” said Sharma.

According to Sharma, the process of localizing KAPPSTH started almost a year ago, when Bulldog Media acquired its license from Fox and began negotiations with their broadcast partner Airtel drawing from the telecom company’s previous experience with KBC. “Finalizing a deal with Airtel was one of our first steps since the broadcast partner needs to have a clear understanding of the show’s format to guarantee smooth transition to the final process of making the show necessarily interactive. Reality TV is driven by the SMS business and sorting out things on that front is always a priority” explained Sharma.

Bulldog Media had firm beliefs about the success of the show since its original format had already worked well in more than 50 countries. But even so they took their process of initial research and development very seriously. Its most successful predecessor KBC had laid the benchmark for future quiz shows and the team at Bulldog media focused a lot of what made KBC click. “We spoke to a lot of people who were responsible in developing KBC to gain insight into what made the show appeal to India audiences” revealed Sharma.

Having SRK as the host of the show was almost a pre-determined decision for Bulldog Media. As Sharma revealed, the show’s initial vision kicked off with Shah Rukh Khan in mind. “SRK is the brand ambassador of Airtel, plus he is such a big icon for the youth of India. Him as the face of our show guaranteed a perfect appeal to our audience” opined Sharma.

Backed by the growing number of general entertainment channels and reality TV popularity, Bulldog is hoping KAPPSTH will emulate the success of KBC. And while they wait and watch if SRK can do what Mr. Bachchan did with KBC the think tanks have already started working on other possible shows.