Father of Indian Television Quizzing; Image source: Twitter

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Most of us know Siddharth Basu as the man behind Kaun Banega Crorepati? One of India's most famous and longest-running tv quiz shows. However, Siddharth Basu is much more than that. His contribution to Indian television is unparalleled. If not for him, Indian pop culture would never have had a significant section of edutainment programming in it.

Basu was born in Calcutta and grew in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Bombay and Madras. He was a studious kid and liked theatre in his young days. During his undergraduate days at Delhi University, he became one of the founding members of the Theatre action group under the guidance of Famous acting coach Barry John. Basu was a great theatre actor, and his performance as Mozart in Amadeus is still remembered by his peers.

> His love for theatre and art led him to his career in television; he began as a documentary filmmaker and even took up the job of an announcer at All India Radio. However, Basu's destiny lied elsewhere, and soon he came face to face with it.
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Basu got the chance to host Doordarshan's inaugural quiz show, Quiz Time. It was an intercollegiate quiz show that is still known for the high quality of the quizzing and the quizzers that participated. Basu understood the educational and entertainment value of a well-produced quiz show and herein began a journey that would take both Basu and Indian television to new heights. Basu went to produce and host several quiz shows. A shrewd producer and a brilliant host, his shows soon became popular among the Indian mass.

> The notable quiz shows he hosted and produced are Spectrum (TV series) - the 7-nation SAARC Quiz, The India Quiz, Mastermind India, University Challenge and India's Child Genius.
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He founded the media business Synergy Communications ( later became BIG Synergy) with his wife, former India Today journalist Anita Kaul. It was one of the country's first independent television production organisations and has established itself as a cornerstone of factual entertainment today. BIG Synergy has produced some of the most popular Indian reality shows; notable among them are Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, India's Got Talent, Dus Ka Dum etc.

However, Basu's most notable achievement came in the form of Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000. The show was a licensed adoption of Who Wants to be Millionaire? Basu and his team decided that they wanted Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bacchan as host. However, before this, no Bollywood star had done such a job, and even Bacchan was on the fence about doing the show.

Bacchan decided to watch a recording of the original show, and once he saw it, he agreed but on the condition that Basu and his team replicate the atmosphere and the discipline of the original show. It was an ambitious project, but Basu was successful in executing it. Initially, the prize money was supposed to be 1 lakh rupees, but Ruport Murdoch, the owner of the network where KBC was supposed to be aired, decided to increase the amount to 1 crore rupees. This was a gigantic leap and added to the excitement of the show.

Basu on the sets of KBC; Image source: RVCJMedia

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> Everybody dreamt of winning 1 crore on national television while sitting next to Bollywood legend Amitabh Bacchan. Soon KBC became one of the most beloved shows on Indian television in every household. People would stick to their screen, trying to guess the questions with the contestant.
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KBC is currently at its 13th season, with Amitabh Bacchan still its host. Basu started something on Indian television that forever changed the meaning of entertainment for people. As people watched ordinary citizens telling their stories, meeting Amitabh Bacchan and winning life-changing money, they felt their dream could come true too.

This is the story of the man who made our beloved idiot box smart. The man who gave us not one, not two, but 5 fantastic reality shows forever changing the world of Indian television programming.