Dus Saal Baad, the beautiful game

Amitabhs return to KBC reminds us how much TVs changed and how much its stayed the same

Amitabhs return to KBC reminds us how much TVs changed and how much its stayed the same
Ten years after he first sat on a high chair and asked the individual opposite him Sure? Confident? Lock kar diya jaye?,10 years after Daddy-long-legs walked into the small screen of our lives and helped create television history,the don is back. Amitabh Bachchan will,once again,host Kaun Banega Crorepati. And perhaps,once again,it will be a beautiful game.
The consummate performer that he is,he could be the darling of TV viewers sick of watching unhappy love soaps,reality shows where half are happy and the rest unhappy because of the spectre of elimination,or with little children who dont reach even ABs hips,happily gyrating to his Jumma,chumma de de. Yes,it could well be a second coming for Bachchan on TV.

Its been a decade,but cant you still remember that July of 2000,when he appeared in a halo of strobe lights,in his double-breasted suits and fluorescent ties,rubbing his hands before he sauntered forward and took up his seat? How he made the besotted contestants feel as tall as him and the viewers like welcome guests into his home (Hello,? No reality TV show other than perhaps Zees Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (in its early days) has come even close to being as classy a show as KBC then.

Together they ushered in the greatest television success story so far. Before KBC came calling and brought along with it Ekta Kapoors K serials Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi began in July 2000 all we watched on Star Plus was Saans and The Bold and the Beautiful. This unlikely English-Hindi combination wasnt working well so Star Plus went from being partially pardesi to entirely desi. And in walked the big man with a voice to match his height inviting you to join him in a quiz game that was foreign in origin,but with the Big B became as Indian as,well,him.

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Before and after him came the delightful young Tulsi (Kyunki…),the perfect Parvati (Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki) and a year later,TVs most beloved doomed lovers,Anurag and Prerna (Kasautii Zindagi Kay). Those were the days,my friend. This is not pure rosy nostalgia: watching todays top serials Bidaai,Pavitra Rishta,Pratigya,Balika Vadhu you can see the K imprint as clearly as though it had been freshly stamped today. The camera gyrations (rather like the kids dancing on Boogie Woogie or Chak Dhoom Dhoom) the close-ups,the costumes,the melodrama heightened by the music,and the storylines which deal with young love,marriage and family responsibilities/injustices. In their heyday,werent those the stories Kyunki,Kahani or Kasautii recounted? Its entirely possible that if these soaps were to be aired for the first time now,they would be almost as successful as they were during 2000-2005. Really,little has changed for all the claims we make of social themes being the favourite of the day. Its still all about loving or not loving your families.
KBC should do well. Bachchan is older and more frail but that voice still rings out clear and he probably signs his name with that familiar flourish. Lets see if we find him as endearing as we did a decade ago.

What was not at all endearing was the Hindi commentary during the football World Cup final last Sunday. No,havent lost it,as the Dutch clearly did that night. If you were watching DD National which very kindly telecast the match live,you would have heard something like this,some of it lost in translation: And the ball is now with Spain. The midfielder passes it to the left inside who passes it to the forward who passes to… who shoots it at the goal keeper and… its not a goal! The identity of the players followed but often after the ball was with another player. We were left trying to keep up with the game and chasing after the names.