The Failure of Zee's Sawaal Dus Crore Ka

"If you want to counter a successful product like KBC, you have to be doubly prepared. Increasing the prize money alone will not do."

- Anupam Kher, commenting on the debacle of SDCK.

Flop Show

December 2000 was a time of sweet victory for STAR TV's¹ Indian arm. Archrival Zee TV's (Zee) desperate attempt to cash in on the gameshow² craze with their 'Sawal Dus Crore Ka' (SDCK), was making headlines for all the wrong reasons. SDCK, launched to counter the success of Star's pioneering gameshow effort in India, 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'³ (KBC), never really managed to hit it off with the audience. The final humiliation for SDCK came in the form of the termination of the contracts of its two anchors, Anupam Kher and Manisha Koirala⁴.

Commenting on this, Zee sources said, "Both anchors continued to lack the rapport and harmony ever since the launch of the show and it is sad that their individual ego should have marred or impaired the world's largest to be entertainment show." Soon after the termination, Anupam Kher filed an injunction suite in the Mumbai High Court against the channel claiming that the channel could not air the show without him as host. However, the court rejected Kher's plea. Reacting to Zee TV's comments on SDCK's failure being due to his and Manisha's incompetence, Anupam Kher said, "When they have anyway thrown the two of us out, why not go on with the existing format if we alone are to be blamed for its failure?" Manisha Koirala also came out strongly against SDCK and Zee in the media.

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1] Satellite Television Asian Region.

2] Interactive television shows, which awarded prizes (money, assets or both), based on the performance of the contestants in quizzes or other games.

3] Gameshow based on the format of 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'

4] Leading Bollywood actors.

Case Details

Case Code : BSTR004
Themes: ---
Case Length : 9 Pages
Period : 1991-2001
Organization : Zee TV, Star TV
Pub Date : 2001
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Media and Entertainment

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