Amithab and salman The Big B and the Kaun Banega Crorepati(KBC) team are pulling out all stops to make sure the show provides stiff competition to Salman Khan-hosted Bigg Boss. Season 4 of KBC with Amitabh Bachchan at the helm kickstarts on the Big B’s birthday, 11 October. And the Big B will for the first time host a birthday party to herald the new season of the iconic game show. The channel has decided to pitch KBC in the 9 pm slot, alongside Bigg Boss 4.

Confirming this development a top executive from KBC’s channel says, “We are not afraid of the competition at all. We could have telecast KBC in a later slot so as to not clash with the other show. But we want to know which show the great Indian middleclass would prefer to watch. As far as we can see a show that fosters knowledge and provides Indian households with an engaging, clean, non-degenerative entertainment has nothing to fear.”

Barring his 60th birthday bash, hosted by wife Jaya Bachchan, the Big B has never had a birthday party. For the first time the Big B will play host to mediapersons and invitees from the television and film industry on the day KBC resumes. Apparently Salman Khan and the team behind Bigg Boss would also be invited to the Big B’s KBC-cum-birthday bash. Meanwhile there’s jubilation at the rival channel over the success of Salman Khan’s new film Dabangg, which bodes well for the fourth season of Bigg Boss.

Says a top official from the Bigg Boss side, “Our two Bigg Boss promos, directed by Milan Luthria, have got a tremendous response.” Bollywood’s original bad boy Salman Khan has stepped into the shoes of megastar Amitabh Bachchan as the host of the controversial reality show Bigg Boss and says that he is going to give the contestants a tough time. Unlike Big B’s ‘pop philosophy’, Salman said that his approach will be more straight forward.

The grapevine was abuzz with reports that arch rival SRK and Akshay Kumar were in talks to take over from Big B, but it was Salman who was announced as the host for the fourth season of the show. And Salman promises a style that will be very different from the show’s previous hosts, including, Arshad Warsi, Shilpa Shetty and Bachchan. “Big B and Shilpa did a good job. My style will be very different from Mr Bachchan’s. We are two different personalities. Though I have always respected Big B, he is the biggest star of the country and I am just a kid,” said Salman.

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