I bought-in a subscription to SLING only to watch ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ 9 primarily, and secondarily the India versus Australia matches. [Somehow, it is India facing Australia on Australian pitches boosts the adrenalin in me and not that highly vice-versa.]
I am amazed by the vibrancy the show still generates after 17 years and with that same, French-bearded man heralding the show. It requires a special strength to under-play one’s over-whelming influence on people as a cultural icon and let the common man take center-stage: How Amitabh does it, is not only his secret but also a testimony to two facets of his: a) a pan-Indian cultural icon who is still in touch with his roots inspite of annoying wealth and a whopping fandom at his disposal; b) and that of being an out-standing star-actor still not dampened by the sands of time. Whether one picks a) or b), it doesn’t matter; cynicism or fondness, the winners in the end turn out to be the audience and the common man.
He just lets himself be subdued by the strength and resilience of the common man in India. He might be the only actor left in India who starts, mediates, and ends his sentences in a mono-language; be it Hindi or English, but it is the voice of the folks of India that thunder above his baritone. It’s their emotions, their voices, their angst, their suppression, their joy, their tears, and their LIVES. Bachchan is, as they showed in Soderbergh’s delightful LOGAN LUCKY, just a conduit to whoosh the money through; albeit with a soul; and a thriving soul at that.
One contestant, a certain Mrs. Jayashree Jadhav [http://www.risingstarlive.in/2017/09/kbc-9-its-dream-come-true-for-jayshree.html], smilingly talked of the fact that she works in a village school in Raigadh in Maharashtra having a ‘non-grant’ status, which, in ugly parlance means a non-paying job. After 5 years of being in such a position, she would then ‘graduate’ to being given a ‘grant’ status, meaning, she would earn 20% for the first year, and 20% incrementally every year, until she reaches the fifth year, wherein she could expect a ‘salary’ that a ‘salaried’ teacher teaching middle-school would beget. And then there’s the episode of Mrs. Anuradha Agarwal, the Deputy Collector who happens to be polio-afflicted along with her brother: Her influence is far more powerful when one considers the fact that she attended the show with a smiling countenance inspite of her mother passing away the day before she was to take the hot seat! How I wish I had that kind of rigidity and steel! Not for once did I judge Mrs. Agarwal, or couldI judge the fact that she had the interest and tenacity to come and sit on a show that promised ‘money’, when her mother passed away the previous day? These are the travails of the common man/woman. These are the influences that S. L. Bhyrapaa whiffs through in his novels when he mentions his relatives passing away from bubonic plague year after year but how he used those tragic incidents into weaving some of his finer novels: [And on a lesser tragic note and a far-lesser brutal landscape, the emotional layers that Munshi Premchand peels slowly one after the other in his stories – one that primarily comes to mind is Hori Mahato from ‘Godaan’ subtly woven into ‘Peepli Live’.] There’s then the episode of Mr. Arun Singh Rana from Bhaktavarpur, Delhi, a research scholar, and a genetically-blessed-man in-terms of good looks and intelligence, who took home Rs. 25 lakhs: His grand-father graduated doing menial work in 13 different jobs in Indian railways before becoming a railway-inspection official starting right from cleaning the toilets and the floors of Indian railways.
The most entertaining, interesting, and riveting episode till now has, off-course been that of Anita Singh from Chakri, Dadri in Haryana when she challenged the traditional trope of ‘thinking, separating, analyzing, and then answering’ with mostly her gut; her plain gut and instincts. [And this took my idiotic cinematic mind to Aamir’s response to his daughter in ‘Dangal’, ‘के खराबी हैं तेरे बापू के टेक्नीक में?’ in the face of all ‘international-level’ training that his daughter was now privy to.] The way she answered/tackled the questions was mind-boggling; and the way she was impervious to the world around her was even more soul-stirring. It was pretty clear that she was a house-wife content within her own world consisting of her husband and her kids. Along-side, as it came across to the audience that she might have been forced into marrying—[please note the subtle difference as per her words, she isn’t against marrying a person, she is against the concept of marriage since she, accordingly to her ‘worldly-knowledge’ didn’t want to get into hassles with her ‘saas’ and her ‘nanad’]—she was equally stoic in proclaiming that she didn’t want to marry her present husband. She doesn’t say that with any malice or regret, she just says it as a matter-of-fact; as a human being running across the course of one’s life, stepping onto pebbles some times and hurting the soles, or harder still, smashing one’s toes against boulders resulting in bloodied toe-nails most of the times. During almost her entire presence on the show, she sits on the hot seat with her face at an angle not even catching a glance of Bachchan to which even Bachchan responds, “देविजी, इतना भी बुरा चेहरा नही हैं हमारा, कभी इस तरफ़ भी देखा करे”| To which the lady responds even more wittily, “नही सर पड़ोसी सब कहेंगे हम अमिताभ जी को मूह फाड़ फाड़ के देख रहे थे!” There might be a quotient of suppression in her that she displays when she says that all she wants is to prove that she can get on the hot seat and whether she wins 10K or 3 lakh 20 thousand rupees is just immaterial; I will leave it to the social-scientists and feminists to determine what they think when she implicitly—or programmatically—mentions that she would give all the money she might win to her husband. [On a hilarious note, one should nevermiss that spot when she mentions that one of her relatives does nothing but just gets involved in local politics and also keeps ‘roaming’ around. And Amitabh is stunned to discover that he did roam around in his daughter Shweta Bachchan’s wedding uninvited!!]
Based on all the above experiences and sojourns and travails of the common man of India, it is so obvious that the Hindi films of today, catering to the ‘aware-youth’ are so much distanced from the real India as the Earth is from Mars. Nobody wants to cover that middle-class milieu: A Hrithik Roshan is going to play the role of Super-30 Anand Kumar whose mother fried ‘papads’ so that their sons could sell them to make a living: [Both the Roshans are still trying to prove that 180 crores is equal to 240+ crores by any mathematical standards and the son will now play a vanity-free, ‘de-gigoloized’ role of a genius mathematician Mr. Anand Kumar – go figure: Anybody who has seen the Anand Kumar episode on KBC will be crest-fallen that there still exists a job-title called ‘casting’ expert in the Hindi film industry. A Nawazuddin Siddiqui is called out and mentioned that it would be ‘odd’ to have a ‘dark-skinned’ actor like him cast against a ‘fair’ maiden.
Coming back to Bachchan, he is content to let the ‘commoner’ of India take the center-stage for a change. Whenever there’s any praise or epithet referring him as the ‘star of the millennium’ and what have you, he politely deflects it away. Now I am not saying that’sonly his brilliance; but it just points to the man’s dedication to the real intention of the program. [This is the brilliance of the show when they don’t make it all only about money; it is about that class-difference trying to be leveled on this platform, from one of the biggest and wealthiest stars of the country to that R. K. Lakshman’s common man sitting across. A 3rd rate original might be considered better than a first –rate duplicate; but I have seen the US version, and in this case, I will go for the duplicate in all its glory.]It’s quite easy to get one’s stardom in the way and over-whelm the audience, but he’s not interested: Case in point, when the Jayashree Jadhav episode aired, he made it a point to steer the focus on her father-in-law, trying to drive home the fact that if women-empowerment could happen in a town like Raigarh in Maharashtra, what’s stopping others? He keeps asking him questions as to the inspiration, the causes behind the decision to continue encouraging his daughter-in-law to work. He is also slyly and subtly seen locking up the answers quickly when he doesn’t want anyone to lose just for a slight hesitancy from them in terms of answering simple questions.
As I watched the Arun Singh episode, and saw his wife whistling and shouting as though it were a rock-star concert [as far as I know, the first time in KBC], my mind started judging. And then my cinematic-idiotic mind again went back to Pacino’s and Russel’s under-rated Michael Mann masterpiece , ‘The Insider’, and the scene when Pacino’s Bergman arranges a dinner with Crowe’s Wigand, his wife, and Plummer’s Mike Wallace, senior correspondent at CBS new: Husband and wife quarrel in front of them and make a scene. Both abruptly then leave and Mike Wallace asks, almost exasperatedly ‘Who are these people?’ Pacino sees the surprised, decisive/judgmental look on Plummer’s face and just non-chalantly throws the napkin on the table and utters: ‘Ordinary people under extra-ordinary pressure, Mike. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency?’
P.S.: As I write the above, I just finished witnessing another fantastic episode with the contestant Mrs. AnamikaMajumdar..andRanjit Singh…and Yogesh Sharma… and the sagas continue…
This post was written by An Jo
Amit Joki
December 13, 2017
An Jo: That was a lovely write up! KBC and I grew together. It was the first TV show I still remember watching since the age I could comprehend and the other being a serial called “Kumkum”.
My mom had even noted 3 or 4 seasons’ questions and answers even before I was born so that I could practice with those questions and be on the hotseat myself someday 😀
But this season has been a let down for me. You, know, with the centre trying to impose Hindi, it would have been helpful if KBC didn’t ask toooo many Hindi-related questions, or questions that only a native speaker of Hindi could answer. I am complaining because it wasn’t that way before. I almost thought there was an agenda, screaming, “Hey you! Want to play KBC? Know Hindi!”
Loved the write up anyway! 🙂
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Purple Sky
December 13, 2017
Excellent write up!
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Vivek narain
December 13, 2017
Our life is frittered away by detail…. Simplify,simplify.~Thoreau. As soon as you are complicated, you are ineffectual.~Konrad Adenaver. I never went for AB except for a couple of movies from mid 70s, right now he laughs like a hyena: he looks like a hyena.
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MANK
December 13, 2017
[Both the Roshans are still trying to prove that 180 crores is equal to 240+ crores by any mathematical standards and the son will now play a vanity-free, ‘de-gigoloized’ role of a genius mathematician Mr. Anand Kumar – go figure:
My dear AnJo :). if India had papa Roshan’s calculator, then we would have been a developed nation by now :). i am equally shocked about HR playing Anand Kumar
Honestly , i have never been comfortable with AB hosting KBC, i still am not. i always felt it was a big comedown for him, As Jaya B had always maintained. And so with all his brand endorsements. AB peddling pepsi(or was it coke?) dressed up as a postman in one of his first ads in the late 90’s was a genuine shocker for me from which i haven’t yet recovered. if it wasn’t for ABCL going bust , i dont think he would have undertaken KBC. But i agree that it has brought him closer to the masses at a time when he was practically down and out
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phaneendra201
December 13, 2017
Superb write up
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Aran
December 13, 2017
MANK, who would you rather have as a host on KBC?
For me, I’ve never been part of that ‘larger than life Amitabh’ fan-base (that was my brother, so I HAD to be different, you know? 😀 ), so maybe it’s easier for me to stomach him in the role, but I honestly cannot think of anyone else who’d bring that class and grace to the show. I feel he elevates it rather than the show being a comedown for him.
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Apu
December 14, 2017
Loved this – an accurate side of KBC and why it is still interesting!
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An Jo
December 14, 2017
Firstly, BR Saab: Thanks for posting this.
@ MANK:
Bachchan was at dead-ends in 1999 [https://www.bemoneyaware.com/blog/amitabh-bachchan-from-bankruptcy-to-crorepati/]
His interview, I remember, was focused on saving his father’s sur-nam; the ‘Bachchan’ tHe could have run-away, like the great Mallya, but he chose to stay and fight-back and repay all the loans. Yes, as a fan, at least for me, it was painful to see him selling products left, right, and center. He could have declared bankruptcy and gone on as though nothing happened. But he wanted to desperately stay in the good-books since his sur-name was involved.As far as I know, Bachchan owed almost 99 crore rupees to the banks, and that’s a BLOODY big amount.
It is quite amazing but if you look at it in a different way, isn’t it quite striking that Amitabh in Deewar was quite stuck with the life-time tatto of MERA BAAP CHOR HAI and here, in real-life, he is trying to make sure that his father’s sur-name doesn’t get diluted?
And as far as Bachchan ‘reducing’ himself to the TV format, I am afraid I dont’ agree with you in the sense that NO OTHER ACTOR has had such an influence on the psyche of the Indian common man as Amitabh has had with KBC. It has been fascinating to see a pan-Indian star-actor talk and ‘bow-down’ [as was the case with the contestant Ranjith Singh] and say he would bow-down if the contestant were to bow-down!
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
December 14, 2017
An Jo : Wonderful read and fresh angle on KBC ! You’ve really nailed the power of One (copywriting jargon) without spreading yourself all over the place.
That bit from The Insider at the end was the knock out.
Superb !
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Madan
December 14, 2017
Great write up! I would add though that in his movie turns these days (and for a long time) even AB only fleetingly establishes the connect of old. Partly because he is now more of a character actor but also because he is often seen in multiplex films like Cheeni Kum, Piku or Pink. So it’s also the films that have changed. Since DCH, the English media is able to exert a disproportionate influence which in turn pushes film makers in certain directions. It’s not that out and out masala potboilers or comedies don’t run anymore. It’s that the English media has ‘de-coupled’ from these kind of films; somebody like Mayank Shekar flaunted this sort of ‘multiplex’ sensibility pretty openly, even saying things like ‘I thought we had left this sort of films behind’.
The truth is we haven’t, really, and they are the kind of films my colleagues usually watch. In the 90s, reviews were mainly published in newspapers and these tended to agree with mainstream sensibilities. Today, I would say that kind of review only appears in TOI or DNA while reviews have generally got denser and more elaborate for the most part. I am not saying this is bad. There’s just more choice, as AB himself observed in his interview with Rajesh Khanna back in the 90s. If he felt that way just about the advent of home video, imagine how far removed the scenario of today is from his 70s and 80s heyday. When you have more choice, it’s more difficult to get attached to a particular anything/anyone. We still retain the attachment to AB because it’s a carryover from a time when we had less choice and his towering legacy (as well as presence) looms over KBC, giving him something other presenters will never have even if they do a very good job. I really did like SRK’s stint in KBC but it just never caught on because he doesn’t have AB’s stature (not that it’s really necessary for a show like that but once AB had cast it in that mould, there was no other go).
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