How Amitabh Bachchan changed the face of Indian television

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who is also known as Big B, is not only an inspiration for every Bollywood actor, he has also changed the face of television.

It's only after he appeared on the small screen in 2000 in Kaun Banega Crorepati that things changed. Television was no longer looked upon a as a medium which was way below cinema. Slowly things changed to such an extent that top Bollywood stars started making regular appearances. Some hosted shows, some acted in fiction shows and others made it a point to come on the small screen to promote their movies. The credit for this goes to one man and that is Big B, who celebrates his 80th birthday today. On this occasion, we take a look at the shows that he has done on television...

Since the year 2000, the actor has been hosting the show Kaun Banega Crorepati. He has received a lot of love over the years and people love sitting on the hotseat opposite him. One can't imagine anybody else hosting this show. The stature, the power and the enigma of Amitabh Bachchan makes him one of the most popular hosts on television.

Bigg Boss may be associated with Salman Khan as the host today, but Amitabh Bachchan was also seen hosting season three of the reality show. He was always open to television and never looked at it as a step down. That has contributed hugely in the growth of television as an industry because other stars were encouraged to follow suit.

He made his fiction debut on TV with Yudh. That was in 2014, when he decided to give acting on TV a shot. He played the role of a businessman battling both, his personal and professional life.

This was a show hosted by Big B in 2015. This talk show revolved around common people who had achieved something great in life. In every episode, the host used to invite a celebrities like Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Shilpa Shetty, Parineeti Chopra, Alia Bhatt as a guest. The show went on for a year and then wrapped up in 2016. It was an Indian version of the British TV series 'Tonight's the Night'.

There would be hardly anything that Mr Bachchan wouldn't have tried in his career. From hosting a TV show to doing a fiction show on the small screen, he also created an animated superhero on the show Astra Force. The show was a 52-episode series which went on air in 2016.

A few years ago in an interview, when asked about KBC's success, Big B had said, "It’s been a delight to be part of this wonderful team and this immensely popular show. Quite honestly, the credit should go to the people of this country for giving us the kind of patronage they did." Even today, he continues to give all credit to the viewers for making his television journey beautiful.

In an interview a few years ago, we had asked him about TRP being the keyword in tellyland and how much it mattered to him. He had replied, "I am afraid I have not been able to understand the whole TRP business and have no idea how it functions. I am told it is a gauge on the success factor of a particular programme and that the commerce depends on its viability. For me though, the most valued gauge has been the acknowledgement from that unknown face on the street as I travel by."