Siddhartha Basu

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Siddhartha Basu is widely regarded as the father of television quiz shows in India. An English literature graduate from Delhi's St. Stephen's College, Basu is the head of a media business, Synergy Communications. Starting with "Quiz Time" on the Doordarshan network, Basu moved on to host and produce "Spectrum", the 7 nation SAARC Quiz, "The IndiaQuiz",and "The Beanstalk Quiz Summit"(On Doordarshan), "Mastermind India", "University Challenge" on BBC World, and "India's Child Genius" on STAR Plus.

Basu's biggest quiz show success came in the form of "Kaun Banega Crorepati," produced for STAR Plus. KBC, as the show is also known, is the licensed Indian version of Celador's globally successful format "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" with Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan as its host. The second edition of the show, KBC 2 or KBC "Dwiteeya", began airing in August 2005 and notched up the highest ever opening in the history of Indian television, going on to sustain its position among the most watched programmes in the country. The third series of KBC is being hosted by superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Other than on TV, Basu has conducted a number of live multimedia quiz contests on the corporate, college, and school circuits.

Siddhartha Basu's career in television began in 1977 as a documentary filmaker, after he completed a post-graduate degree in English Literature from Delhi University. Sony's autumn hit show of 2006, "Jhalak Dikhla Jaa", the Indian version of BBC's celebrity dance show, Dancing with the Stars, was produced by his production company, Synergy Communications, which is now in an alliance with Adlabs Films, of the Reliance ADA Group, as its television division.