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Silver Anniversary of a Marriage Made for TV

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

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June 22, 2025

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?

- NAMRATA JOSHI

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.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA The New Indian Express Tiruchy

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

CCI will launch probe into IndiGo for ‘abusing its dominant position’

THE Competition Commission of India (CCI), a regulatory body under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, will probe the practices of India's largest domestic airline, IndiGo, to assess whether it has abused its dominant position in the aviation sector.

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

K’taka Assembly passes hate speech bill, BJP walks out

THE Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed The Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crime (Prevention)

time to read

2 mins

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

ELOQUENT SILENCE OF CONSTITUTIONS

LUDWIG Wittgenstein famously concluded his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus with the injunction: \"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.\"

time to read

3 mins

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

No action against men who got ₹10K under women yojna

THE Bihar government on Thursday clarified that it would not take 'coercive action' against the 470 differently abled men who received ₹10,000 each under Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojna ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

Give ESI cover for all staff, 2 univs warned

THE bank accounts of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and Anna University - Tirunelveli campus would be frozen and employees' contribution dues along with interest and damages would be recovered under the Code of Social Security (CSS), 2020, if the institutions fail to register their staff with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), said G Bhaskar, Joint Director (in-charge), ESIC Tirunelveli Sub-Region.

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

Be wary of groups only keen on vote bank: EPS

IN a veiled dig at DMK, AIAD-’MK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday cautioned people of minority communities to remain vigilant to “groups” that present themselves as their well-wishers but are actually driven by self-interest, seeking to retain power, generation after generation, by exploiting vote bank politics.

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

300 state govt school students selected for residential JEE training programme

FOR the first time, the school education department is organising a state-level residential training programme for 300 government school students across Tamil Nadu to prepare them for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Mains).

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

Names of 16L MGNREGS workers out

ABOUT a month before the Centre introduced the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), official data shows that more than 16.3 lakh workers were removed from the scheme rolls in the preceding 36 days.

time to read

1 mins

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

U’khand youth forced to join Russia war, dies

A 30-year-old Uttarakhand man, who went to Russia on a student visa for higher studies, died after he was allegedly forced to join the Russian army for Ukraine war.

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

The New Indian Express Tiruchy

Kishan's statement ton helps Jharkhand lift title

OUT-OF-FAVOUR India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan made a compelling case for a T20I recall with a belligerent hundred to power Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title with a 69-run victory over Haryana on Thursday.

time to read

1 min

December 19, 2025

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