Lighting up Diwali with memories

KBC director on how Akshay, Katrina and Rohit paid tribute to host Amitabh Bachchan on the Diwali special episode
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; November 1, 2021)

To celebrate the upcoming festival of lights, the team of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) has lined up special episodes with the Diwali theme. The final episode of the week sees actors Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif and director Rohit Shetty on the hot seat opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Besides putting their general knowledge to the test, the Sooryavanshi trio will pay tribute to the megastar host in their unique way.

KBC director Arun Sheshkumar says that Kumar sprang a surprise during the taping of the episode by dancing to Bachchan’s song, Sara Zamana from Yaarana (1981). “Akshay went backstage, and came back wearing a jacket with lights on it. Amit ji noted that Akshay was wearing a battery-operated jacket. He recalled that during the shoot, he had to wear a 220-watt jacket with a live wire in it. He joked that while people felt he was dancing, he was getting shocks in reality,” laughs Sheshkumar.

Kaif, who had done a special number in the 2012 Agneepath remake, was in her element as she mouthed Bachchan’s dialogues from the original action drama. The show took an emotional turn when Bachchan and Shetty exchanged anecdotes about the filmmaker’s action director-father, the late M B Shetty. “Rohit charted his own journey from being an AD on the sets of Suhaag [1994] to becoming a director. He noted that his father had worked with Amit ji on several films.”