Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) is an Indian television game show broadcast on Sony Entertainment Television. It is the official Indian adaptation of the British quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, originally created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill, and Steven Knight. The show, hosted primarily by actor Amitabh Bachchan, has become one of the most influential and longest-running programmes in Indian television history.
| Original name | Kaun Banega Crorepati |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show / Quiz |
| Based on | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? |
| Original network | Sony Entertainment Television (Star Plus for Season 3) |
| First aired | 3 July 2000 |
| Primary host | Amitabh Bachchan |
| Other hosts | Shah Rukh Khan (Season 3, 2007) |
| Language | Hindi |
| Production | Synergy Adlabs / Big Synergy |
| Country | India |
The format is built around a single contestant attempting to answer a sequence of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty, with each correct answer doubling or substantially raising the prize amount. The contestant may use a set of "lifelines" to assist when uncertain, and may quit at any milestone to retain the accumulated winnings. The show's name refers to the highest prize being one crore rupees, the goal that contestants seek to attain.
KBC was launched at a time when Indian satellite television was still consolidating its prime-time formats. Its premiere is widely credited with reviving Sony Entertainment Television's prime-time slot and reshaping the landscape of Hindi general entertainment programming.
Amitabh Bachchan has been the face of the show since its first season in 2000. His association with KBC is regarded as a major moment in his career, coming at a period of professional uncertainty, and helped establish the show's appeal across age groups. Shah Rukh Khan hosted the third season in 2007, when the show briefly moved to Star Plus, before Bachchan returned as host from the fourth season onward.
Contestants are selected through preliminary rounds, originally a telephone-based "Fastest Finger First" round and, in later seasons, mobile and internet-based registration involving daily questions. On the hot seat, contestants face a ladder of questions with safety thresholds at which the winnings are guaranteed.
KBC is widely regarded as a landmark in Indian television. Its arrival popularised the high-stakes quiz format in India, contributed to the rise of interactive television via SMS and call-in participation, and demonstrated the commercial viability of large prize money on Hindi general entertainment channels. The show has featured contestants from a wide range of socio-economic and regional backgrounds, and its narrative emphasis on personal stories has been credited with shaping the tone of subsequent Indian reality and game shows.
The show has also had a notable cultural footprint: it inspired the central premise of the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup and the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), directed by Danny Boyle.
The Indian version has been produced by Big Synergy (originally Synergy Adlabs), founded by Siddhartha Basu, who is regarded as a pioneer of the quiz-show format on Indian television. The show is recorded at studios in Mumbai, with set design and lighting modelled on the international format while incorporating Indian aesthetic elements.