Shah Rukh?s commercial break

SRK?s KBC project makes great sense. For viewers, of course, it would be a refreshing change. Instead of the sophisticated rusticity of Big B, it will be the sophisticated sophistication of SRK.

Shah Rukh Khan fans will remember their hero as Commander Abhimanyu Rai in the 1988 TV series, Fauji. But with the news that SRK will be returning to television, we should actually dig out those old video recordings of Circus. In this 1989 serial, Khan played the son of a circus owner who comes back from the US and is forced to take control of a failing circus. While Kaun Banega Crorepati? wasn’t a failing circus, Amitabh Bachchan did opt out of the show, leaving it without a ringmaster. If one replaces ‘US’ with ‘Bollywood’ and ‘son of a circus owner’ with ‘successor to Hindi cinema’s badshah’, then SRK’s KBC project makes great sense.

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The prime requirement — hell, the only requirement! — for the show was to have a super-celebrity as KBC’s host. Anyone can ask questions. But to make riveting TV viewing, you need someone who already possesses an instantly recognisable (and lovable) personality. If Amitabh utilised his transition to Big B for the purpose of sitting down and retaining iconhood (and making money), Khan’s reason for hosting KBC could be a bit different. He is still a working movie mega-star; he still doesn’t need to fraternise with the political set; and he doesn’t require a suitable platform to camouflage any change in his public identity (because there has been no change).

So the compelling reason could be the most honest one: money. For viewers, of course, it would be a refreshing change. Instead of the sophisticated rusticity of Bachchan, it will be the sophisticated sophistication of SRK. Lock kar diya jaye?