Amitabh Bachchan has been hosting 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' for 24 years, but there was a time when his close ones didn't want him to appear on TV because they were afraid of his image being tarnished.
Amitabh Bachchan is hosting the 16th season of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'. Except for the third season, Amitabh has hosted 15 seasons of this game show so far and it has been 24 years since he started doing so. But do you know that there was a time when Amitabh Bachchan's close ones did not want him to appear on TV because they were afraid that it would tarnish his image? But Big B turned a deaf ear and came on TV to host 'KBC' and completely dismissed everyone's apprehensions.
Amitabh Bachchan was not getting work in films then!
Amitabh Bachchan had told in 2011 on the completion of 1000 episodes of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' how this show changed his life. Big B's daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda and granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda were sitting on the hot seat with him in this special episode. During this, Big B recalled and said, "The show started in 2000. I had no idea at that time. People were warning me not to go from the big screen to the small screen. It will damage your image. However, the circumstances were such that I was not getting work in films. But the kind of reaction I got after the premiere of this show, it seemed that my life had changed." Saying this, Amitabh became emotional and tears welled up in his eyes.
When Amitabh Bachchan was offered 'KBC'
When Star India Network CEO Sameer Nair approached Amitabh Bachchan in January 2000 with the idea of an Indian version of the British game show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', he was very excited about it. Talking about his proposal, Amitabh Bachchan had said, "Everyone was against me doing TV. Jaya (wife Jaya Bachchan) strongly opposed it. At that time, TV meant shortening the career of an actor. But for some reason I didn't see it that way. It was a new beginning for me. My film career was going through a phase of change. My reinvention on screen happened almost simultaneously with the film 'Mohabbatein' and 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'."
'KBC' was a straw for Amitabh, who was drowning in debt
Amitabh Bachchan got 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' at a time when he was bankrupt and drowning in debt. Actually, in 1995, Amitabh started his company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL), which got a lot of success in the initial phase. The company produced the show 'Dekh Bhai Dekh' on TV. Films like 'Gulabi', 'Tere Mere Sapne', 'Mrityudata' and 'Major Saab' were made under the banner of the company. In 1996, the company organized the 'Miss World' competition. The company suffered heavy losses from this event. It is said that Amitabh Bachchan had taken a loan of 90 crores from different people and when he could not repay it, he was declared bankrupt.
Amitabh Bachchan told the story of going bankrupt
Amitabh had said in a conversation, "There came a time in my life when I went bankrupt. The company I started went into loss. I was in debt. My personal bank account was empty. All avenues of my earnings were closed and the government had raided my house." According to Amitabh, during this time Dhirubhai Ambani had offered him financial support. But he refused to take help. In 1999, four of Amitabh Bachchan's films 'Lal Baadshah', 'Sooryavansham', 'Hindustan Ki Kasam' and 'Kohram' flopped in a row, after which he almost stopped getting work. In this bad phase, he got 'Kaun Banega Crorepati', which helped him a lot in getting out of debt, and in this bad phase, he went ahead and asked Yash Chopra for work in the film 'Mohabbatein', which he got. The credit for bringing Big B's life back on track goes to both of these projects.