India’s Millionaire game show has its first winner: And we don’t mean host Amitabh Bachchan

The Province, Fri Oct 28 2011

A computer operator who earns just $130 a month has become the first person to win the $1 million top prize on the Indian version of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? television quiz.

Sushil Kumar, 27, from the impoverished eastern state of Bihar, scooped 50 million rupees on Kaun Banega Crorepati? during recording on Tuesday, the show’s host Amitabh Bachchan revealed on his blog on Thursday.

“A young man from the interiors of Bihar, earning a meagre salary of just Rs 6,500 per month, coming from the most humblest of back grounds, reaches the Hot Seat and cracks the ultimate prize – (50 million rupees),” Bachchan wrote.

“An incredible feat! This is what the common man is all about,” he added, describing the excitement on set during filming as “unimaginable.”

Bollywood star Bachchan, who began presenting the quiz 11 years ago, said the celebrations that followed were “rare and once in a lifetime.”

The show has had winners in previous series, but at lower jackpot levels.

“I love reading,” Kumar said in an interview after his win. “Before winning this amount, I couldn’t buy many books, but now, I will make a huge library.”

He added he would use part of the prize to train for gruelling examinations to secure a coveted civil service post.

The Times of India said on its website that the episode would be broadcast next month.

Kaun Banega Crorepati? is one of India’s most popular television shows and inspired the best-selling book Q and A, by Vikas Swarup, which was turned into the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

Both the book and the film feature a lowly tea-boy who bags top prize on the show to win his childhood sweetheart.