يحاول ذهب - حر
Silver Anniversary of a Marriage Made for TV
June 22, 2025
|The New Indian Express Kozhikode
AMEER Nair, the programme head of Star TV back in 2000, recalls Amitabh Bachchan being his first and only choice to be the host of the Hindi version of the popular game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
AMEER Nair, the programme head of Star TV back in 2000, recalls Amitabh Bachchan being his first and only choice to be the host of the Hindi version of the popular game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The franchise was being launched in India as Kaun Banega Lakhpati—till Star TV's owner at the time, Rupert Murdoch, decided to add two zeroes to the figure in a matter of "seven seconds", as Nair puts it.
Most thought it was a bad idea for a larger-than-life superstar of the big screen to constrict himself to the idiot box. That it might make him lose his aura. But 25 years later, on the show's last episode of the 16th season telecast on March 11, the 82-year-old exuberantly arrived at the sets to open the proceedings of "Gyaan ka rajat mahotsav" (silver anniversary of knowledge). His appeal is, evidently, far from diminished after all these.
"Amit ji brought gravitas to the show... The deep baritone, magnetic eyes, dramatic pauses and booming laugh—all added to the magical entertainment," sums up Nair. Add to it Bachchan's impeccable enunciation and literary disposition and you have an idol for the aspirational Indian middle class.
هذه القصة من طبعة June 22, 2025 من The New Indian Express Kozhikode.
اشترك في Magzter GOLD للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة، وأكثر من 9000 مجلة وصحيفة.
هل أنت مشترك بالفعل؟ تسجيل الدخول
المزيد من القصص من The New Indian Express Kozhikode
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
RAHUL'S REIGN OF RELENTLESS DEFEATS
IT began not with a whisper, but with a political detonation across the Gangetic plains. Last week, Bihar, always a keen weathervane for shifting political winds, delivered a verdict so mortifying for the Congress that even its most seasoned apologists struggled to dress it up. Contesting 61 seats, the party staggered out with a miserable six. It wasn't a defeat-it was a spectacle of collapse. And at its centre, as always, stood Rahul Gandhi, the prudish prince of a shrinking empire, presiding over the most dramatic political implosion in the history of a once-dominant national party.
4 mins
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
Cong left tribals abandoned, BJP restored dignity: Modi
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1 mins
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
Human sacrifice of 17-day-old in Raj stokes storm
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1 min
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
LUXURY HOMES ON TAP BUT 'HOUSING' IN CRISIS
I T is only the rich who seem to be buying homes. New money is being pumped into larger, more stylish homes. On the other hand, the middle and poor are feeling the pinch of high prices and are holding back. Sales in the affordable and mid segments are down as resistance mounts against runaway prices.
3 mins
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The New Indian Express Kozhikode
US exempts agri products from import tariffs
US President Donald Trump on Friday announced to remove US tariffs on several commodities like beef, coffee, tropical fruits and others.
1 min
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
Behind the Eyes of the Tigress
Decades after a stranger captured her \"tigress eyes,\" Pappu Devi still sits by her stall, selling the photograph that once made her famous
2 mins
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
'I Enjoy Playing Complex People'
Jacob Elordi speaks with Adam Stone about his latest film, Frankenstein, and how transforming into a monster is one of the more human characters he has played
3 mins
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
Lokpal paves way for CBI charge sheet against MP in cash-for-query case
THE Lokpal has granted its nod to the CBI to file a chargesheet against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra within four weeks for her involvement in a cash-for-query case.
1 min
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
WHO norms on diabetes during pregnancy out
THE World Health Organization (WHO) has released its first global guidelines for the management of diabetes during pregnancy, a condition affecting about one in six pregnancies - or 21 million women annually.
1 mins
November 16, 2025
The New Indian Express Kozhikode
Clamour in Canada to call extortion an act of terror gains momentum
IN the face of unabated extortion calls affecting the legal community in British Columbia (BC), the lawyers have demanded that the Canadian federal government classify extortion as a terrorism offence under the Criminal Code.
1 mins
November 16, 2025
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