39 Fun Facts About Kaun Banega Crorepati

KBC was nearly launched as Kaun Banega Lakhpati with a ₹1 lakh top prize; who ordered it raised to ₹1 crore?

Rupert Murdoch had the prize raised when he visited in February 2000, and even then Amitabh Bachchan see-sawed for months before agreeing to host.

Who hosted KBC's third season in 2007, after Amitabh Bachchan declined to return?

Shah Rukh Khan's season opened strongly but its ratings slid, and the show went dark for three and a half years before Bachchan returned in 2010.

Which Hindi phrase does Amitabh Bachchan use on KBC to confirm a contestant's final answer?

Lock kiya jaye, 'shall it be locked?', is Bachchan's cue to the computer, which he addresses as 'computer ji'.

Sushil Kumar, a ₹6,000-a-month computer teacher dubbed the real Slumdog Millionaire, won ₹5 crore from which state?

Bihar's Sushil Kumar taught computers under the MNREGA rural jobs scheme before his 2011 win, which drew the highest ratings of any Hindi entertainment channel in two years.

Who plays Prem Kumar, the sneering quiz host who feeds Jamal a wrong answer in Slumdog Millionaire?

Anil Kapoor plays the host, and with one question to go, Jamal is arrested and interrogated overnight on suspicion of cheating.

Which scripture did B.R. Ambedkar and his followers burn in 1927, in a question KBC asked in 2020?

Manusmriti was the answer, and the question led to a police complaint against Amitabh Bachchan and the show's makers for hurting Hindu sentiments.

Which British director's 2008 film about a KBC contestant from the Juhu slums won eight Academy Awards?

Danny Boyle didn't want to make a film about a TV quiz show, until he learned it was scripted by Simon Beaufoy, writer of The Full Monty.

Sushil Kumar's ₹5 crore question asked which European country sold the Nicobar Islands to the British in 1868?

Denmark had colonised the Nicobars through its own East India Company in the 1750s, kept abandoning them to malaria, and turned down an Italian bid to buy them in 1865 before selling to Britain.

Why was KBC's second season pulled off air in 2006?

Its host fell ill: Amitabh Bachchan was still recovering, and the channel said no fresh episodes would be shot.

Which channel launched KBC on 3 July 2000, days after turning itself into an all-Hindi network?

Star Plus had trailed its rivals in revenue and ratings, and within weeks of the launch it rose to number one.

When KBC returned in 2010 after a three-and-a-half-year gap, which channel aired it?

Sony TV's gamble on the revival paid off, with Amitabh Bachchan's return as host credited for the season's success.

Which KBC lifeline was dropped for the 2020 season and restored the following season?

Audience Poll gave way to Video a Friend, and the makers added recorded crowd sound in the edit, as IPL broadcasts did.

Which KBC round picks the hot-seat contestant by having hopefuls put four answers in order?

Fastest Finger First gave way to a three-question Triple Test in 2021, then made a comeback in 2023.

KBC is the licensed Hindi version of a quiz format first broadcast in September 1998 in which country?

The United Kingdom's ITV original was hit by scandal when Major Charles Ingram was found guilty in 2003 of cheating his way to the £1m prize with help from a fellow contestant's coughs.

Who became the first contestant to win ₹1 crore on KBC, in its debut season in 2000?

Harshvardhan Navathe was studying for the IAS exam, but the fame of the win left no time to prepare, so he took an MBA in Britain instead.

Who made KBC history in 2014 by winning its ₹7 crore jackpot?

Two brothers from Delhi, Achin and Sarthak Narula, won it after Achin had spent ten years trying to get onto the show.

Before KBC, which beauty pageant did Amitabh Bachchan's company stage in Bangalore in 1996, at a heavy loss?

Miss World 1996 drew protests from several groups and heavy losses that helped sink his company ABCL.

In Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal's final ₹2 crore question asks for the third musketeer; which name does he guess?

Aramis is a pure guess: Jamal's phone-a-friend, Latika, answers only to say she is safe and does not know, so he picks the first option on the screen.

Which KBC lifeline, borrowed from America's Super Millionaire, gives two guesses but removes the right to walk away?

Double Dip arrived in season 4 in 2010, the year a clock was first put on the questions, and the timer pauses only for the first of the two guesses.

Which lifeline in Amitabh Bachchan's 2013 KBC season let a contestant reuse one already spent on an earlier question?

Power Paplu arrived as KBC added a fifth lifeline, and Flip the Question returned in place of Ask the Expert.

Who was KBC's second ₹5 crore winner and the first woman to reach that prize, in January 2013?

Sunmeet Kaur Sawhney, a Mumbai tutor, said she would give part of the ₹5 crore away rather than keep all of it.

Which visually impaired maths teacher from Agra became KBC 13's first ₹1 crore winner in 2021?

Himani Bundela lost her sight in an accident at 15 and planned to use the prize to open a coaching centre for disabled children.

KBC's first ₹1 crore question, in 2000, asked which official the Constitution lets join Parliament's proceedings?

The Attorney General isn't counted as a government servant, so the holder may keep up a private legal practice.

What did Ravi Mohan Saini, who won ₹1 crore on KBC Junior at 14 in 2001, go on to become?

An IPS officer: Saini, the son of a retired Navy officer, qualified as a doctor first, then cleared the civil services exam and in 2020 took charge in Porbandar.

Which Tokyo 2020 medallist shared KBC 13's hot seat with hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh in 2021?

Neeraj Chopra got Amitabh Bachchan to recite his famous police-station line from Zanjeer in Haryanvi.

In the Ramayana question that stumped Sonakshi Sinha on KBC in 2019, for whom did Hanuman fetch the Sanjeevani herb?

Lakshmana was the answer, and the gaffe drew jokes because her father Shatrughan is named after Rama's youngest brother and her brothers are Luv and Kush.

Slumdog Millionaire was adapted from Q & A, a 2005 novel by which Indian diplomat, later High Commissioner to Canada?

Vikas Swarup wrote the novel in about two months in 2003, while alone in London with his family away in India.

Which celebrity hosted Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti, KBC's Bengali edition, when it launched in 2011?

Sourav Ganguly fronted the first season on Mahuaa Bangla, and when the show returned in 2018 on Colors Bangla, actor Prosenjit Chatterjee took over.

Who hosted the original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from its 1998 debut until 2014?

Chris Tarrant was passed over when the show returned in 2018 for its 20th anniversary, and the host's chair went to Jeremy Clarkson instead.

Which quizmaster, host of Doordarshan's Quiz Time from 1985, produced KBC through his company Synergy?

Siddhartha Basu also coached the stars who fronted KBC across languages, from Amitabh Bachchan onward.

Which IIT Guwahati professor designed the ₹ sign, chosen in a 2010 public competition and added to KBC's logo that year?

D. Udaya Kumar is the son of a former DMK MLA, yet in 2025 the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government swapped his ₹ sign for a Tamil letter in its budget logo.

A 2019 KBC question that ended in an apology asked which of these rulers was a contemporary of Aurangzeb?

Shivaji appeared without his title Chhatrapati, and after protests Amitabh Bachchan apologised for the omission.

Which author was Amitabh Bachchan's guest on KBC 11's 2019 finale?

Sudha Murty had sent JRD Tata a postcard protesting a job notice that said women need not apply, and she was called for an interview.

What job did Babita Tade from Amravati hold when she won ₹1 crore on KBC 11 in 2019?

Babita Tade was a midday-meal cook earning ₹1,500 a month, and she told Bachchan she had hoped to win enough to buy a mobile phone.

Who did Amitabh Bachchan welcome to the hot seat for KBC's 1000th episode in 2021?

His daughter and granddaughter, Shweta and Navya Naveli Nanda, took the hot seat after a request to bring family onto it was accepted.

Chander Prakash won ₹1 crore on KBC 16 by naming which country, whose largest city's Arabic name means 'abode of peace'?

Tanzania took him to the ₹7 crore question, but with all his lifelines used up he chose to quit.

KBC's second ₹5 crore question, in January 2013, asked which climber was the first woman to summit K2?

Wanda Rutkiewicz climbed K2 in 1986 without bottled oxygen, but her French teammates Liliane and Maurice Barrard died on the descent.

The Narula brothers' final KBC question asked who captained the Hector, the first East India Company ship at Surat?

William Hawkins sailed on to Agra, where Emperor Jahangir made him a mansabdar with 400 horse, a 30,000-rupee allowance and an Armenian Christian bride, Mariam Khan.

Why did Shashwat Goel attempt KBC's ₹7.5 crore question after winning ₹1 crore?

A miss still left ₹75 lakh, so he judged the risk small, and after a wrong answer that is the sum he took home.