New Delhi: Today is the day and tonight is the night. As India braces to catch the first glimpse of the King in the Emperor's clothing, the drawing room debate is still not ending. Will SRK fit into the shoes of Big B? Will he be able to make a mark and make it an SRK brand from now on?
Nobody has the answers yet. Even the most powerful media pundits won't take a call on this war of brands until they take a look and get the feel.
Star Plus is leaving no stones unturned in its attempt to give a new face to Kaun Banega Crorepati with an unprecedented media blitz, perhaps the longest in Indian television history and also perhaps the most expensive.
The promo does bring in a whip of fresh air, with Shah Rukh Khan himself selling crorepati dreams to aspiring Indians. Only thing that looks old, though, is the format.
From the sneak peek that Star has allowed thus far, it seems SRK will have to literally fit into the Big B's shoes -- sitting in the same revolving chair, facing the same TFT monitor in the same blue-light ambiance with the same old music playing in the background.
Neither does he have the luxury of donning his Don-like casuals, for even Big B's dress code gets retained on the show. And, last but not the least, he begins from where Big B had ended, quizzing the last candidate to appear on Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya, who had ended up earning just Rs 80,000 when the curtains fell on the show.
So, where does the difference lie?
First, Big B’s KBC had begun on a twice-a-week schedule and then thrice-a-week in its second avatar. SRK changes it a bit, making it a four-day-a-week event.
Amitabh Bachchan began it at the age of 58, which also happened to be his debut on the small screen. SRK takes the rein, when he is just 41 and it's not his first TV career also. He has already tasted it with Fauji, when he was just 24, and then again with Circus.
Big B had a lot at stake when he took the hot seat. His career was flagging then and his finances in the doldrums in the wake of the collapse of ABCL. KBC resurrected not only his popularity, in fact it brought in a complete turnaround to his career and fortunes.
SRK does not face any such challenge. Rather, he steps into the show when his career is at the pinnacle and if at all people are calling it a big bargain, it's because he risks losing some of his fame, if not fortune, just in case he fails to live up to expectations. But SRK being SRK, it's not only mushkil (difficult) to write him off so easily, it's namunkin (impossible) too!
One score where, many suspect, SRK might slip is the stature and the demi-god image of Big B, which had added an element of reverence and awe to the show. There were occasions when contestants would proclaim that more than their crorepati dreams, it was their longing to be in the company of the Big B which brought them to KBC.
SRK is no demi-god, but then King Khan does carry the charm and appeal that can only be second to that of Big B's. And if Big B was reverence personified, SRK packages all the 'fun and energy', something that is likely to go extremely well with the young. So, it maybe that SRK might bring in a change in the audience profile, but that may not mean lower TRP at all.
All said and done, SRK surely has to meet the benchmarks that Big B had set and possibly fix new ones, whereas when Bachchan started off, he had no such bars. And one can certainly expect SRK to belt out his lingo and, who knows, maybe he may come up with a more memorable line that Big B's famous Lock kar diya jaye?
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