Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The King is dead..Long live the King !!!

The King is dead, long live the King!!!

The same show, with the same roll over contestant but with a new host, is back on air. SRK aka King Khan replaced the Big B who they said was simple indispensable, if not with ease but with fun and down to earth mannerisms…. The fauji boy with his regular looks could rise to the superstardom in Bollywood where chocolate boys and family surnames ruled, could do so with the fun that he evoked, the feeling of a’ next door boy’ that he carefully cultivated.

Ditto here now as two episodes of KBC 3 has gone on air, I can see what people feel… to put it simply it will not take much of a time for the viewers to forget Big B and give King Khan his fair share of acceptance and reception

Of course…the classy elegance of the Big B and the baritone which characterised the bollywood iconare missing and so are the usages that made the earlier avatars of KBC popular…. “Computerji...” becomes Mr Computer and even Compaq sab (remember that SRK endorses Compaq and hence all other bidders seems to have got out)…… “Lock kiya jaaye...” now makes way for “Freeze kiya jaaye”….. “Shah Rukh, main aapko gale lagana chahta hoon” is the new usage instead of “I want to quit”…. “Kucha kucha pukka pukka ... Palat” (for “Flip the question”) with a dash of Shah Rukh style are also the new masala being added…..

Shah Rukh as reported by media did get hard practice in a mock set of the show erected at his residence while we got to see a promo film (intended to slowly introduce him as the new host, conceptualized by O&M)…... And for more than a week, the superstar got himself trained his part as for five hours everyday. And guess who have been sitting on the hot seat?

Shah Rukh’s friends like Karan johar, Farah khan and choreographer Ganesh Hegde...........(mmmmm…now you know the reason and the logic behind the song and dance just before the show…).The mock set had almost everything that the real set of the show would have. The computer, the chairs, the sound system and the graphic system are the same. Sometimes even some people are made to pose as audience. Hard work indeed and hopefully it pays off…..he lost a watch to Duggila from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh but that was a gesture which only SRK could do it with genuinity…. no airs of being a super celebrity, he gives and impression of being just one among the participants and not god…. Sure I am, it would have gone down well with the masses….

KBC which is an Indianised version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, has no doubt been the best game show ever in Indian TV history…. Copy cats and imitators failed miserably and critics and pessimists have all disappeared into thin air……..

The hope, and the promise of making big money…the spectacle of some one common, ordinary like you and me, walking with fat sums into fame and esteem make us aspiring and buoyant…. so we sms..call and wait..in anticipation of our day which would come and in the mean while religiously get stuck and wedged to Star Plus from 9 to 10 and blush over the success of Prasenjith sorkars and Ram babu duggillas………our turn may never come but we rule over a kind of a dream world while sponsors chuk money making the star coffers smirk in greed….

The sponsors' bandwagon for Shah Rukh Khan's KBC looks like the who is who… The repeat sponsors from last KBC like Airtel, Hyundai (again SRK is there) and Cadbury. . New sponsors like UTI Mutual Fund, Videocon, Godrej Sara Lee, Jyothi Labs, Pantaloon Retail (Big Bazaar) and the UB group…. After the recent bidding war, Motorola has dumped Nokia, which was on board with KBC 2…and ICICI bank had to give way to Union bank of India ( reading between the lines here?)….. KBC 3 has no title sponsors,which simply means that the ten main sponsors will share the same mileage, roughly each sponsor will have 1 to 1.5 minutes visibility for each episode and because of the varied audience reach provided by the show and that too in a time when cricket looks all uncertain and confusing , KBC 3 has become, apparently the apple of the eye for the media planner ….

What SRK takes home is anybody’s guess…but one thing is clear.... the show will go on and as long as aspirations remain, the average Indian will be glad to be trapped in this dreamworld and so the TRP’s will sour and you can see smiles all over the Ad world….

Long live the King !!!

11 comments:

gururanganathan said...

yesterday i watched kbc with my frenz!!i could feel people saying that SRK is not a match for Big B... and i could feel SRK is not as cool as he used to be!!!!! is it because of the idiotic comparison and hype made by these people...????.and more over every one has his/her one individuality ...nobody can be a match to anybody ..... "he is also king khan"...
i came across an interesting article today in ET saying that king khan is no match for BIG B in metros and the TVR WAS 9.5 DURING KBC2 NOW IT IS 6.3 IN METROS LIKE DELHI,MUMBAI AND KOLKATTA!!!!!

WHAT DO U FEEL ABOUT THIS ?? IS IT BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE CANNOT ACCEPT KING KHAN IN PLACE OF BIG B??? I GUESS THEN IT IS A MARKETING ISSUE?????

Anonymous said...

I too feel what guru said is right. SRK was looking nervous and hardly a match with BB. but your post nevertheless was informative and enriching.expecting you to carry on with the cool work.

Manav
Chennai

Anonymous said...

I will not agree to anything that guru said except that every person has his individuality and weighing his performace to that of Big B is unfair. He has his own style his own charm which even Big B cannot match. It was easier for Big B in the sense that when KBC was launched initially there was nobody to be compared with. Now Shah Rukh is facing this challenge only becoz Big B did it b4. Wud it be the same if Shah Rukh hosted the first series and passed the reign to Big B? I think v need to watch the show with an open mind rather than with a comparitive perspective and hats off to Shah Rukh tht he took on this huge challenge wherein he cud even face failure and even loads of embarrassment. It is a brave move to try to fit into the boots of Big B and like alwz Shah Rukh has proved agin that he is the Baadshah.

Dinesh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dinesh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dinesh said...

shahrukh is endorsing UTI in KBC, but
at the same time he is coming for icici ad. Is the Credibility of the brand ambassador is going to get affected?? In Future how these two brands are going two use SRK for its development??

Malvika said...

srk is known for his sense of instant repartee, but on kbc, he disappoints.

Anonymous said...

wonderful post!!! keep up and we want more. here we are feeling sad that we are not able to get you here sir.loved talking to u. as usual this is the case discussion this week in our class.

Mushirul

Anonymous said...

it is good to see this review in your blog.many theories are floating and most of them are premature, you have the wisdom to end it saying the reality. accidentalyreached your blog while searching for something. alwasy wanted to blog but felt lazy, now i think will start off. enjoyed ad formula.also send a mail to your mail with my details.kindly reply

Amitav bhonsle
Sweden

Krishnabhaskar Mangalasserri said...

hey guys... guru, manav, anaonymous 1&2 ( hope next time you will reveal ur name),malavika, dineash ,amitav,mushirul and saurabhs...

love to see all here... first time so many comments on my posts...Adformula is expanding and u will get to see some changes soon...hope you will all like it.. thanks for patronising this humble effort...keep visiting...

Unknown said...

sir, actually we indians are too emotional. as a result of this before viewing anything from a fresh perspective is not possible. we tend to live, think , eat and drink in our emotions. that is what is happening with SRK in KBC. people are too emotionally attached with AB, so they fail to realise that the new host has just hosted some handfull of episodes. let hime take his own time to do the job. just making a comparison with a host who has hosted a season of it is really unfair.agreeing to what someone has already said earlier, its not an easy task that SRK has landed himself in. Another reason is, this time slot there are some programmes being aired on ZEE tv which has regular viewers.these have chances of getting preffered over SRK KBC. thats what i feel about this whole issue.

Roopal

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