Kaun Banega Deshbhakt?

Less quiz show, more Jio & GOI mouthpiece.

WrittenBy:Rajyasree Sen
Date:
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The Government of India has hit upon a unique public relations tool. One spearheaded by none other than our very own Shahenshah, Amitabh Bachchan and beamed directly into homes every weeknight from 9 to 10.30pm. Wondering what I’m speaking of? The ninth season of what seems to be Kaun Banega Deshbhakt. Well, that’s what I would call it. It’s also known as Kaun Banega Crorepati, with an overriding theme of deshbhakti and a need for an intricate knowledge of all things Bharatiya Janata Party-related.

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Let’s set a reference to context first. KBC is back in its ninth season as of August 28 after a three-year gap. The first plus point is that unlike in other years, this season’s first episode didn’t give in to rubbish such as Bachchan saab singing Ekla Chalo Re badly, and simply went straight into a question-answer round. Also, despite the three-year hiatus, Bachchan is back in the hot seat being the elderly statesman (but he has not forgotten that he is breathing in a little bit of Gujarat while doing so, as I found out).

This year, the show has gone back to basics. There will be no film promotions or brand integrations (not true as I found out) and no celebrities waltzing in and out. I remember watching KBC 17 years ago with the entire family including my grandmother and our household help, and like all good Bengalis trying to answer the questions correctly. The questions were sometimes really tough, as expected from Siddhartha Basu who is a quiz master extraordinaire.

But Puraano Shei Diner Katha (those are tales of yore) seems to be the theme song, instead of Ekla Chalo Re this time around. Because, to win any moolah this time around, you better be up to speed with the Modi government’s policies and all things government-related. Because what is a quizzer, if he doesn’t know the nitty-gritties of the GOI’s Minimum Support Price or the height of the Statue of Unity or how many toilets there are at Modi’s home. Okay, I exaggerate. But only in the last point.

I’ve watched three entire episodes and I have never felt more patriotic than in those four and a half hours. The things I have learnt would make the Niti Aayog proud. Questions have ranged from topics such as the National Calendar of India to Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the island on which the aforementioned Statue of Unity will be built to many others. Of the 15 questions that were asked in each episode, at least three if not more were on the government and its initiatives and a generous sprinkling of questions to do with Hinduism. For good measure.

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Realising a pattern, I started taking down the questions from the second episode on. Here are some of them:

1. The chief minister of which state is fondly known as mama? Who cares, and what an absurd question. The answer is Madhya Pradesh, by the way.
2. According to the official Table Of Precedence of India, arrange these constitutional posts in descending order of hierarchy.
3. Which among the following practices does not come under the Indian government’s Ayush ministry? Acupuncture, if you must know. Following which we were told the full form of AYUSH.
4. On the banks of which river did Gandhiji establish his ashram in 1917, close to the place believed to be the site of Rishi Dadichi’s gurukul? This is supposedly the reason Gandhi chose to build his ashram there. Which would be news to Gandhi.
5. Who has held the office of VP of India for 2 consecutive terms? Hamid Ansari.
6. What is the name of India’s first Arctic research station set up in 2008? I zoned out at this point.
7. Shri Shaneshwar Devasthan temple of Shingnapur is situated in which state? Maharashtra.
8. We were also told why and when Gurugram was renamed and given a small primer on Guru Dronacharya.

This is like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire having at least five questions on the royals or the Theresa May government in each episode.

We were also shown videos of toilets being built and told how Modi said to build shauchalayas.

Then we came to the payment of the prize money. Which Bachchan informed us and the participant would be made digitally. This was followed by a small lecture on the wonder of going Digital and the statement, “Digital ka zamaana aa gaya hai” in each episode. Then Bachchan whipped out his phone and opened the Axis Bank app and made the payment to the winner. I dread to imagine what will happen if someone without a bank account participates.

And when the wonder of Modi and his policies wasn’t being drilled into our heads, the long arm of Mukesh-bhai reached out and tickled us under our chins. Because, despite being telecast on Sony, Reliance Jio is everywhere. And with good reason. Reliance Jio has paid close to Rs 100 crore for the deal, which is more than three times the Rs 30 crore that chocolate brand Cadbury paid last season. Sony is estimated to have spent around Rs 200 crore on producing the show, nearly 60 per cent of which is said to be Bachchan’s remuneration. Who can buy many Panama hats as a result?

All computers have a Jio Digital life placard on them. You can also participate by downloading the Reliance Jio KBC play along app – on any network. Thankfully, there are no questions on Dhirubhai Ambani, yet.

There’s really no pretense of subtlety here. And to be fair, there is a spot of self-promotion as well. In the three episodes I watched, there were two questions on the film, Pink. To give credit where due, Bachchan has a very easy bedside manner and makes all participants feel at ease.

Also, two of my favourite questions were:
1. According to Yash & SRK’s film title what is “dil”?
2. According to the film, Sultan what does Baby like?

Inspired stuff this.

But the clincher came at the end of Friday’s episode, which featured a teacher, Anand Kumar who impressed me greatly. He seemed to be a humble man who had shunned corporate money to run a stay-at-home tutorial for IIT aspirants. Just when his anecdotes and winning streak were warming the cockles of my heart, the episode ended with pictures of Kumar standing next to a beaming Mukesh Ambani. Followed by a photo of him shaking Modi’s hand.

It’s as if Modi and Ambani have regurgitated all over the show. A pity, because KBC was one of the few shows which was worth a watch. No ad campaign can ever compare to KBC and Bachchan spreading the good word about Jio and GOI every night. So, (Panama) hats off to the two main men of India for pulling off the biggest branding campaign possible.

If you’d like to learn about Mukesh-bhai and our government’s initiatives, tune into Sony every weeknight at 9 pm. 

The author can be reached on Twitter @rajyasree.

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