Siddhartha Basu on Amitabh Bachchan’s 80th Birthday: His willingness to learn and master the medium of unscripted television is impressive – Exclusive – Times of India

Kaun Banega Crorepati was a major landmark and turning point in Amitabh Bachchan’s illustrious career. The knowledge-based game show has been running successfully for two decades now and as its celebrated host reaches a new milestone in his real life, ETimes spoke to the show’s ex-producer and game show expert Siddhartha Basu. Wishing Mr Bachchan on his 80th birthday, Basu spoke of his superstar collaborator’s best qualities. Basu was closely associated with Mr Bachchan during a key phase in his career’s transition, where he turned around his fortunes with KBC. During that time Basu was able to observe key aspects of Big B’s personality and he said, “His singular focus on preparation and performance, his willingness to learn and master the medium of real-time unscripted television and his hunger to excel were most impressive. Apart from his charisma, it’s his self-discipline and work ethic that has always stood out.”

Basu has had a long association with Mr Bachchan and KBC, a show now synonymous with his stardom. Revealing further on what has made Mr Bachchan such a revered and loved figure on Indian television, Basu revealed, “As a host what’s been the most noticeable development is the empathy with which he’s drawn out the human story through a knowledge game. And the growth of his own willingness to share incidents, anecdotes, experiences and insights from his own life and career, without distracting from the spotlight on the contestants.”

KBC is in its 14th season this year and Amitabh Bachchan continues to regale the fans and contestants like every year. Like Mr Bachchan, Siddhartha Basu too had a very long association with the show. He was the producer till 2014 and a creative consultant till 2021.