SIDDHARTHA BASU

unplugged
He’s the original quiz master, known for his unmatched quizzing abilities and suave manners. Now Siddhartha Basu has added another feather to his cap, gaining recognition for his skills behind the camera. He won the Screen-Videocon Award recently as producer for Kaun Banega Crorepati which was adjudged the Best General Entertainment Show. On the same day, his book was released by BBC and Penguin books. Obviously, he is on a high and pinning him down for an interview, especially when he’s in Delhi, is no easy task. We finally did the interview long distance with Basu e-mailing in his replies to our questions.

Excerpts:
Winning this much-coveted award must have given you a high?
It sure did. I wish I had been there in person to accept the award. I would have also liked to have picked up the other awards the show won on behalf of the team of STAR and Synergy and our anchor par excellence, Amitabh Bachchan. I am honoured that the Screen thought KBC worthy of such an honour.

How true are the rumours that KBC will go on a six-months break soon?
It’s just a rumour triggered off by a misunderstanding. A STAR official in the course of an interview when questioned about the possibility of the show going on a break merely acknowledged it as a "theoretical possibility". The scheduling of a show is decided by the programming department of the channel and they also take all decisions pertaining to frequency, breaks and the like, all the decisions subject to review from time to time. One doesn’t know what can happen in the future but as of now, no break has been scheduled.

Would it be a good idea to change the anchor after a while. May be replace the Bachchan with a younger star like Shah Rukh Khan?
AB and KBC are synonymous. When he has committed to the programme for the next few years, the question of another host doesn’t arise.

But the general feeling is that though Amitabh is a brilliant anchor the show is becoming a little monotonous and losing its grip. How do you plan to revive interest in the show?
I feel, as many people do, that our host is getting better all the time. Of course, just as in one-day cricket, the interest may vary from game to game, depending on how the contest goes and how well or badly the contestants play. But even our contestants are getting better. And we’re constantly innovating to keep the show fresh, resurgent and alive.

One of your recent gimmicks was having personell from the army on the episode telecast on Republic Day. Such specials are introduced to add variety to the show, right?
Yeah, the occasional specials for which the lines are opened to a certain category of aspirants, are introduced not just to add variety but also increase the reach of KBC.

But sometimes the move backfires. Your special episodes with Sonali Bendre, Rani Mukherjee, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan came in for some flak with many convinced that the episodes were rigged and the prize amounts won by the stars decided well before the show?
Believe me nothing was pre-planned. The only concession we made was that since time was limited the celebrity guests started on the fifth question and won Rs 10,000 with their first answer and the first lot of questions were pretty easy. But besides that the format was the same and like any other guest on the hot seat they had a chance to win a crore before the hooter went off. We are very happy that in both episodes as much as Rs 75 lakhs was won. That’s an enormous amount and it all went to charity.

A lot of people thought that Harshavardhan Nawathe’s episode was also rigged.
That’s a completely baseless allegation. You need both knowledge and courage to win on KBC and Harshvardhan had enough of both in the right combination to win the big one. He held his nerve and risked an informed guess at the critical juncture. That’s what helped him win. The bigger the stakes, the more nerve you need. He happened to have the nerves, and hopefully there will be more like him.

But isn’t it time we had another crorepati?
We’re looking for one every time someone climbs on to the hot seat. We’ve had many big winners on KBC. They were just a question or two away from the big one. In many cases their choices were right but they either chose to withdraw or crashed. Despite this so far around Rs 11 crores have been won. That’s more money than has ever been won on an Indian television show.

Do you assess your participants before formatting the questions?
The computer has the ability to take into account features such as gender, place and education and select interests while building the stacks of question. However, the stacks aren’t really tailored to individuals in the complete sense.

What kind of problems have you encountered after KBC became a household name?
The production is thankfully a well-oiled operation, achieved very early, thanks to a great team, a host who prepares like a true pro, and terrific support from the channel. The one outstanding problem has been with access to the telephone lines, since the response from viewers has been just so overwhelming. Now there’s an international line which is easy to reach, albeit more expensive, and schemes like Britannia’s.

How do you feel when mistakes are pointed out to you by agitated viewers?
Most often the so-called errors are not based on fact but prompted by not having heard what’s said carefully enough. But when a genuine error does slip through, despite all our checks, on account of an error at source or in the transcription or just a plain human error, it is mortifying. And we put out a clarification as soon enough. Thankfully, this is a rare exception and each time it happens, we tighten our systems and vigilance, and do whatever’s possible to achieve zero error.

KBC was recently launched in the UK. Do you expect the response to be as overwheming there as it was in India?
The show was not launched in UK. We only shot a special of KBC in India for UK viewers.

What about Junior KBC? Will that be launched soon?
The prospect of a Junior KBC is being explored. If and when it’s ready, Amitabh Bachchan will host it. He’s quite keen on the idea. The main difference will be that this contest will be open to contestants only between the ages of 10 to 18.

Koteeswaran, a show similar to KBC telecast on Sun TV is more popular than KBC down South. Does that rankle?
KBC is least affected by that show, as traditionally, Hindi programmes have relatively low viewership in the Tamil segment.

What about Sony’s just-launched Jeeto Chappar Phad Ke? The show is being aggressively promoted by the channel. Do you feel threatened?
KBC will hold its own for quite a while yet. It’s the format which works, which has proved a success across languages, cultures, countries and continents. KBCis number one virtually everywhere. But surely there’s room at the top of the Indian mindspace for more such shows. The staying power of JCPD will depend not only on the appeal of Govinda’s naach gana and masti mazaak, in which his ability is prodigious, but on the effectiveness of the format. If it works as a genuine original, Sony will have earned a major feather in its cap, and Indian viewers will have something else to look forward to. Best of luck to the show.

What’s your reaction to the failure of Zee’s Sawaal Dus Crore Ka?
It was an unfortunate waste of resources and effort which was unsound in principle and underprepared in practice.

Isn’t it sad that the winners of your other q-and-a show, Mastermind, who’re far more intelligent and better informed get rewards that are paltry in comparison to KBC?
Mastermind is exclusive, KBC is inclusive. In the former, exceptionally well-informed people play only for prestige, in the latter just about anybody tries to scale the peaks for mind-boggling sums. To me they are not contradictory. Each format has its own fascination, and I’m delighted when someone does well in either.

How do you feel when an actor steps into your turf and races past you?
I’m thrilled that Amitabh Bachchan has been so successful in this role. I’ve never regarded quizzes to be my exclusive terrain. As a matter of fact, I’ve never fancied myself in front of the camera. I enjoy the act of conducting a show, but the fame that goes with sheer visibility has never been a particular turn-on for me. Genuine appreciation for a job well done is another matter altogether. That’s the oxygen I live on, and KBC has earned me and the team enough of that already.


Chaya Unnikrishnan
chayau@hotmail.com

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