Mr Samir Nair, who now looks after programming on the entire Star TV band in India, has brushed off reports in sections of the Mumbai media accusing KBC of rigging the episode in which Khan and Bendre together made more than Rs 75 lakh by correctly answering the KBC questions. Mr Nair told India Abroad News Service: "I think it's highly unfair to Aamir and Sonali to say that their answers were rigged. Some papers in Mumbai even accused the one-crore rupee winner Harshvardhan Nawathe of answering rigged questions."

Some media observers believe that the rumours about KBC are being planted by Star Plus' rival channels who now have their own equivalent of KBC to promote and popularise. But Mr Nair shrugs at this possibility too. "If this is true then it's like cutting the nose to spite the face. If a game show with a crore-rupee prize is rigged then a game show with a ten-crore rupee prize is sure to be rigged, right?"

Observing that it's too early as yet to make any categorical statements on Zee TV's rival game show "Sawaal Dus Crore Ka," Nair says that having Amitabh Bachchan as the host makes a world of difference to KBC. "To do a similar show with another host is a tall order," says Mr Nair, adding that, "Sooner or later the best show is bound to win. But it's too late for any channel to stop the popularity of KBC."

IANS Admitting that Star Plus' fortunes had done a 180 degree turn after KBC, Mr Nair speaks of multi-expansion plans for the channel which is scheduled to go completely Hindi in the near future. "In the coming months there'll be lots of action on Star Plus. Now we're sitting in a happy position. KBC was the battering ram that opened up our viewership. Earlier we had an elitist image. We were the first to do a futuristic game show like KBC. It gave us the leeway to beef up our traditional fictional programming. Now our rivals are trying to catch up with us in the game show area."

Responding sharply to the close resemblance in format between Zee's "Sawaal Dus Crore Ka" and Star Plus' "Kaun Banega Crorepati," Samir Nair says, "We're looking into the question of copyright violation. We've sent tapes of the new program to our seniors in Hong Kong. Our `Kaun Banega Crorepati' is a licensed version of `Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.' If the other program is a rip-off, then it's an unlicensed version of the original game show".

Comparisons between the two shows seem obvious to Mr Nair. "Imitation is the best form of flattery. I guess we should be flattered, though not too much. `Sawaal Dus Crore Ka' is a very poor imitation."

India Abroad News Service