'Crorepati' Bachchan draws a blank

By Hasan Suroor

NEW DELHI, JULY 9. Only time will tell how many, if anyone at all, will eventually become ``crorepati'', but one thing which can be predicted without the throw of dice is that by the time the show winds up, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan would have lost quite a chunk of his fan following, unless in a collective gesture of magnanimity everyone decides to forgive him in recognition of the services rendered in the past.

The first week of the Kaun Banega Crorepati? show on Star TV saw him reduced to an apology of himself as he struggled to retain viewers' interest and, in the end, you were left wondering if he was the same man who once had the power to keep a full house rivetted for hours together. Here, even 60 minutes seemed like an eternity as one waited for him to sign off without causing himself further embarrassment.

Whatever happened to his wit? To the haunting voice? The imposing presence? The famous delivery? Where was the magic of Amitabh Bachchan? Where was the man who could hold your attention as much with a blazing glance as with a soft whisper? This was, of course, not the occasion to play the angry hero, but what about even a whiff of that sparkling humour which turned inanities such as Chupke Chupke, Amar Akbar Anthony and Namak Halal into such delightful fare?

For all the hype, the show was never expected to be great shakes but with the `Big B' in the chair, you thought - well, it would be fun, at least. Actually the promos of the show - Mr. Bachchan inviting you to sit down with him on ``that chair there'' and gamble with him - were not too bad, but a few minutes into the real thing on Monday, July 4, and you wanted to go out for a long walk. Not come back till it was over. It was that disappointing.

Until you saw it, you couldn't have imagined Amitabh Bachchan - even in his worst moments - being so dumb on the screen, and hamming so much as did this last week. And, ominously, will do again next week, the week after, and the week after that...

On all four successive nights that he appeared, his entire performance consisted of a few staccato sentences (``so hum isko lock karten hai'', ``computerji inko inke dost se baat karaayie'', ``kya aap bilkul sure hain?'', aap ko itna bharosa hai apne dost par?'' and more in the same vein), some awkward movements as he walked up and down the set after each session, and a couple of tired one-liners which left you cold.

Even when he gave the contestant the good news that he had got it right, he sounded as if he was speaking at a funeral. Where was the drama - suspense, excitement, euphoria - which is so much the stuff of a TV show, especially of this kind? If there ever was a damp squib, this was it. And in comparison even those teeny- boppers trying their hands on early evening shows looked like pros.

This was the cinema super star's first major TV appearance and he botched it up - good and proper. In an interview he is quoted as saying that he is ``not acting'' in this show but ``playing'' his natural self. Which provoked a wit to retort that if this is his natural self, then he must be a big bore in real life. So, move over the ``natural'' Mr. Bachchan and step in the actor; or the Big Gamble could go horribly wrong.

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