New Delhi: Top Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's popularity as host of India's biggest TV show is no match for his predecessor Amitabh Bachchan, a news report said yesterday.
Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) - based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire - was scrapped in January last year following film legend Bachchan's illness, but was revived last week with 41-year-old Khan at the helm.
The programme usually draws millions of viewers with huge money tied to advertising sales.
Star Entertainment India television channel restarted the show on January 22, and a random survey shows that audiences have given Khan the thumbs down, the Hindustan Times reported.
The data compiled by India's Television Audience Measurement for the first four days showed a television viewership rating, or TVR, of 12.33. Bachchan, 61, had a bigger four-day audience in August 2005 with a 19.75 rating, the daily said.
Findings
However, Star Entertainment India did not agree with the findings.
The number of people "reached" on Khan's first day was 23 million compared to Bachchan's 18 million, Paritosh Joshi, the network's president in charge of advertising and distribution said, according to the Hindustan Times.
NEW DELHI: Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and younger rival Shah Rukh Khan appear to be bickering over who's the bigger star, media reports said on Sunday.
"Let's see what happens to him after 35 years," Bachchan was quoted as saying to a news agency, referring to Khan.
Bachchan's remarks were provoked by Khan's recent comments to the media that Bachchan's time was up.
"I am ***y, smart and young. That was his century; this is mine," the agency was quoted Khan as saying. The war of words, which began innocuously over a perceived rivalry between the two about who was the reigning superstar of Bollywood, has been fanned by the media.
Bachchan has dismissed talk of any rivalry. "Whatever he says is correct. I am old and he is young, and I agree he is smart and ***y," Bachchan said, before going on to make the remark about Khan's future.
Affectionately called the "Big B," Bachchan, 63, has a massive fan following among South Asians and has acted in more than 150 movies in a career spanning more than three decades.
Khan, 41, is one of the Bollywood's biggest heartthrobs of the past decade and one of the highest paid actors in the Indian movie industry.
He has acted in nearly 60 movies, including the hits Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham , Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Na ', and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna .
Khan recently replaced Bachchan as host of India's most popular TV programme Kaun Banega Crorepati -- a gameshow based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire .' Early figures by the country's Television Audience Management appear to indicate the elder superstar had a bigger following.
