‘Umeed Se Dugna’ – Kaun Banega Crorepati (2)

Rating: *****

KBC is back. This time its a whole new series, with more money, new life lines, new rules but thankfully the host is the same inimitable Amitabh Bachchan. Aired on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 9PM and 10PM on Star Plus, KBC evokes memories of the famous catch line that rocked India a few years back, 'Nau baj gaye kyaa?'

Having started on 5th August, Kaun Banega Crorepati Series 2 is about 'Umeed Se Dugna' There are 2 crore rupees to be won this time. 15 questions answered correctly will fetch the moolah.Rs.20,000 at the 5th question and Rs.6,40,000 at the 10th are the new barriers that ensure the minimum guaranteed amount that the contestant will take away should (s)he get the questions beyond that wrong.

The usual 3 lifelines: 50-50, phone-a-friend and audience poll still persist. A new lifeline called Flip has been introduced that comes into effect after the 5th question is answered correctly. This gives the player a choice to reject the question given and ask for another question instead.

In order to involve the audience both on screen and off, a question is asked in every episode and answers are to be smsed during the episode itself. A randomly selected entry will fetch the winner a cool Rs.2 lakhs. There is good news for the participants who aren't lucky enough to make it to the famed 'hot seat'. The participant who answers all the questions asked during the game the fastest also wins a prize of Rs.2 lakh.

KBC (2) has lived up to the standards of the first edition of the serial. The participants are better prepared this time, as can be judged by the fact that almost all of them have answered atleast 10 questions correctly. The questions are framed to tease the intellect and yet ensure that you don't have to be a regular quizzard to get them right. Amitabh Bachchan is as jovial, genial and his presentation skills are only getting better with time. A host of sponsors has ensured that there is no dearth of money in the game. Good job done by Siddharth Basu and his team at Synergy communications. If you still haven't seen any episode of KBC (2) you're missing something.