Kaun Banega Crorepati 17: The Amitabh Bachchan-hosted show has given away ‘a couple of hundred crores’ in prize money?

Kaun Banega Crorepati, popularly known as KBC, is one of the longest-running and most loved shows on Indian television. The show returned with a new season last month, bringing back Amitabh Bachchan as India’s favourite quiz host. Over the years, KBC has not only entertained viewers but also changed lives with its jackpot prize. While the current season offers a massive ₹7 crore as the top prize, it all began at just ₹1 crore when the show was launched at the turn of the century.For many people, KBC is often connected with the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Directed by Danny Boyle and based on Vikas Swarup’s book Q & A, the film depicted a darker and more cynical side of the game show industry. In a recent conversation, Siddhartha Basu, one of the producers of KBC, sat down with author Vikas Swarup to discuss the cultural impact of the show and the inspiration behind the book and movie.Vikas shared that KBC was the main source of his idea. He explained that when Amitabh Bachchan appeared on TV at 9 pm, households across India would stop everything to watch him. People wouldn’t even answer their doors during the show. Seeing this craze gave him the idea to create a story around a quiz show, but with an unusual contestant at the center. “For me, the biggest point of the novel was to show that the greatest teacher in life is experience itself,” Vikas said.He also pointed out that the quiz show in his book, unlike KBC, did not have good intentions. The fictional version promised Rs 100 crore as prize money but was designed so that nobody could actually win. It was meant to tempt and deceive. Basu agreed that this was the biggest difference between Swarup’s story and KBC. He reminded people that the Indian show has genuinely given away hundreds of crores over the years. “I’ve been associated with KBC for over 21 years, and I know they’ve paid out huge sums in prize money. That’s why many of us were uncomfortable with the way the game show was shown in the film,” he said.Basu further revealed that KBC even played a behind-the-scenes role in Slumdog Millionaire. The production team set up the studio for the film, and Danny Boyle’s crew worked there. “There were some ideas we didn’t fully agree with, but since the producers of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire were behind it, we had to go ahead,” he added.