Kaun Banega Crorepati, simply KBC; English: Who Wants to Become a Crorepati is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It is being presented by actor Amitabh Bachan since its inception in 2000. The programme was aired on Star Plus for its first three seasons from 2000.
In the first season a question was asked: Who was the First Recipient of Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of India? The respondent sitting in the hot seat, after much deliberation answered Chakravarty Rajagopalachari. The answer was refuted and Amitabh Bachan and he gave the correct answer as: Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. The matter was taken up in The Delhi High Court and a Writ Petition was filed against Star Plus with Amitabh Bachan, the anchor, Sidhartha Basu, the content provider and Sameer Nair, the producer as parties.
The main contention was that the Channel along with a reputed personality was cheating the public and teaching wrong information to the youth and to the citizen of the country and the show must be stopped. The producer was in a tizzy and tried to collect facts to contest the case in court but hit a dead wall as the Gazetteer of India dated 1954 declared: Bharat Ratna being awarded for the first time in year 1954. The recipients were Chakravarti Venkatarya Iyengar Rajagopalachari, Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.
It is at this stage when the producer was sure that the axe will fall on the show, Amitabh Bachan recommended my name to be consulted on the matter. We had met briefly in the residence of my colleague in Anandabazar Group and he knew me as a resource person. It is Sidhartha Basu that first got in touch with me followed by Amitabh Bachan. Bachan pleaded that something must be done as the Show will be closed under court order and his reputation is also at stake.
There was no time as the clock ticked. I took up the assignment and went to the National Library. I checked the Gazetteer and true to the claim, the names ran in that order. But there was a catch. The Gazetteer printed, as per the convention, the names alphabetically. But the question was: Who was the first recipient? Not who was the first awardee?
I quickly requisitioned to check the newspaper of 1954. It took quite a time for it to come up from the basement stock room. And true to my mind there was a front page photograph of Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan receiving the award followed by Rajagopalachari and the C. V. Raman. I think the order was pegged more for the respect it accorded. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India’s first Vice-President and second President; C. Rajagopalachari, Governor, activist, statesman, and lawyer and CV Raman physicists, mathematician, and scientist.
I heaved a sigh of relief and gave the first call to Amitabh Bachan and then rushed to Anandabazar Office to get a copy. There were no original copy and after explaining the matter to the Chief Editor, Aveek Sarkar, a Photo copy was made Certified by the Chief Editor and the Chief Librarian Saktidas Roy. It was produced in court and the case was dismissed.
The Producer of Kaun Banega Crore Pati appointed me as the Chief Content Advisor.