Komal Nahta

The camera loves her and she knows it.

But Madhuri Dixit was unusually nervous on the eve of the shooting at Film City on Monday, February 5.

But then again, this was no ordinary take.

The actress was in the line of fire on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the quiz show on the Star Plus television channel, with the questions being fired by its inimitable host, Amitabh Bachchan.

And it wasn't just her heart that was missing a dhak-dhak, Madhuri's friends were equally tense. The actress and her friends spent Sunday evening poring over general knowledge books in an attempt to come out with flying colors the next day.

Revealed Madhuri's mother: "Come and have a look at our dining table. It is full of general knowledge books." The actress revealed that her friend had bought GK books because ''she wanted me to win handsomely.''

Monday morning saw Mads in Film City with her parents and trusted secretary, Rikku, aka Rakesh Nath, in tow. Although she had been asked to report for the show at 10 am, the shooting commenced at 2:30 pm.

A shoot with Sachin Tendulkar in the hot seat was completed before Madhuri's show. The prize money won by both stars is to be donated for the welfare of Gujarat's earthquake victims. The show will be aired on February 10, at 8 pm on Star Plus.

Madhuri has requested the producers to send part of her winnings to an orphanage in Pune. Said the conscientious actress, "I dread to think what children who have been orphaned and/or lost their limbs in the quake will do. With the prize money, the orphanage can help such children."

As Madhuri revealed the previous evening to a friend, "Had it not been for a noble cause, nothing on earth could have made me participate in the show."

Madhuri used just one lifeline -- phone-a friend. And pray, who was this friend?

Since it was a question related to matters of the heart -- Who performed the first successful heart transplant operation? -- the Dil girl obviously phoned dil ki dhadkan, the dil ka doctor, Sriram Nene. And no prizes for guessing that saajan Nene breezed through the question as easily as his wife danced to the heart stopping Ek, do teen...

Poor Sri! It is customary for the KBC team to telephone those named by the participant for the phone-a-friend lifeline. Since the shooting was delayed, they kept ringing Dr Nene to make sure he would be available. From midnight West Coast time to 4 o'clock in the morning, Dr Nene's phone didn't stop ringing as the team gave him a blow by blow of what was happening.

"The KBC team was understandably tense about whether Sri would be standing by for my call, if I needed his help. I laughed and told them, 'Look, it is 2 o'clock in the night there. Where will Sri go at this hour?!'"

"Another option for a phone-a-friend was my maternal aunt who lives in Dombivli (a town close to Bombay)," the superstar said. "Before the shooting, I telephoned to inform her. She was so nervous she told me to repeat every word and very slowly at that, even after I told her to relax!

"A funnier thing happened when the KBC team called her to make sure she would be available if required. They had got her name wrong, so when they asked for her by that name, she snapped that the person they were looking for had gone out and would return home only after 3, 4 hours!

"She didn't know the phone was from KBC. She wanted to postpone all other calls until after my show because she wanted the telephone to be free. When the KBC people, on being told that the lady had gone out, told her they were calling from the game show, she jumped out of her skin. 'Oh! It's me, it's me,' she screamed even as she almost scolded them for not revealing their identity before asking for her!"

Amitabh couldn't help but marvel at Madhuri's presence of mind as the actress unhesitatingly answered one question after the other. Her time was up when she was just a question away from the 1 crore mark with two lifelines remaining. Nonetheless, she won a princely amount of Rs 50 lakh.

In spite of her outwardly calm, Madhuri says she lost a couple of kilos in the four days she was preparing for the game show! "Digestive disorders were the order of the day, not just for me, but for my hypersensitive friend too!" giggled Madhuri.

Two other Bollywood actresses, Sonali Bendre and Rani Mukherjee, have been participants on the show and won Rs 25 lakhs each. Both donated the prize money to charity.

Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, who featured in previous episodes of the show, won Rs 50 lakhs each. Sachin Tendulkar also won Rs 50 lakhs. 

Madhuri, Sachin donate KBC winnings 

Mumbai, Feb 7: Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and film star Madhuri Dixit have together bagged Rs 1 crore on Amitabh Bachchan’s Kaun Banega Crorepati show to help the Gujarat quake victims.

Winning Rs 50 lakh each in the recording yesterday, the two popular personalities have donated their prize money for the rehabilitation of the quake victims.

The show, scheduled for Saturday, will see the two stars in the hot seat facing Amitabh’s queries in a relaxed ambience, with a large, albeit disciplined, crowd to cheer them on both answering the 11 questions with ease.

Madhuri, in a peach silk saree, was her graceful self, answering questions briskly. She even called up her doctor husband in Florida on the phone-a-friend option to get an answer to who carried out the first successful heart transplant, reports said.

Sachin on the other hand was a little tense before the show but opened up to narrate many anecdotes and incidents about his cricketing career. He was accompanied by his doctor wife Anjali and daughter Sara. Also present was his childhood friend and fellow cricketer Vinod Kambli.

Amitabh, amid applause, announced that the money collected would be given to the Earthquake Relief Fund. However, an ‘Indian Express’ report quoted a senior KBC crew member to say it had not yet been finalised where exactly the amount would go. “We initially thought of contributing it to the Chief Minister’s or Prime Minister’s Relief Fund but decided against it because of the procedural problems involved. We might even adopt two or three villages for rehabilitation,” the paper quoted him as saying.

Apart from the Rs 1 crore collected through this show, Star TV has also contributed Rs 41 lakh, the amount equal to the total of last week’s winners. The TV staff too raised a substantial amount for the victims. (UNI)

KBC ropes in Madhuri and Sachin
Aparajita Saha

Star’s Kaun Banega Crorepati is doing its bit to help in the wake of the devastation brought about by the killer quake in Gujarat.

"The collective winning amount in the 4 episodes in the week starting January 29 is Rs 41 lakhs. A contribution of the same amount will be made to the Government of Gujarat," states a spokesperson for Star.

Additionally, a special episode starring Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Sachin Tendulkar will be aired some time next week. The proceeds of this particular episode will also be donated to benefit the earthquake victims.

The date of telecast of the episode is yet to be fixed but both Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Sachin Tendulkar have confirmed their participation.

KBC has previously featured noted film celebrities Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Aamir Khan and Sonali Bendre in its earlier episodes.

According to sources in Zee Telefims Pvt Ltd, the channel, in addition to its Zee Relief Fund, has adopted a village Samakhayali in Gujarat and is undertaking responsibility for its rehabilitation.

Madhuri, Sachin go fifty-fifty! 
Jamal Shaikh

Finally, a celebrity episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) which does not involve the male star winning Rs 50 lakh and the female, Rs 25 lakh! And it is none other than Madhuri Dixit who has become the first female ever to have won Rs 50 lakh on the show. With the other KBC guest Sachin Tendulkar also winning the same amount, Rs 1 crore will be sent to Gujarat for earthquake-relief work.

Shot on Monday, this particular episode of KBC saw Madhuri arriving on the sets with her mum and secretary Rikku. Looking resplendent in a peach sari which complemented her peaches-and-cream complexion just perfectly, Madhuri's arrival was followed by that of master-blaster Sachin, who came casually dressed with friend and fellow cricketer Vinod Kambli for company.

When the shooting began at 11:30 am (just half an hour later than usual), Sachin took the hot seat first. Appearing a tad tense in the beginning, Sachin gradually relaxed as the show progressed. There was talk among the audience that Sachin had brought Kambli -- his best friend -- along because he was a big fan of the Big B. And this was proved true when Amitabh presented a few of his famous dialogues on Kambli's request. Well, these clips might not be telecast in the final episode when it goes on the air at 8 pm tomorrow, but the live audience loved every bit of it.

Sachin was a hit of course, but when Madhuri took the seat opposite Amitabh, it was almost as if the entire set had come to life. In between coming up with answers which were bang on target, Mrs Nene enlivened proceedings with little anecdotes of her own, including one about her visit to an ashram in Pune. Incidentally, the only lifeline she used was Phone-A-Friend. With the question being related to medicine, Madhuri called up her husband, Shriram Nene, in Atlanta. As the show moved progressed, Amitabh urged Madhuri to hurry up, as time was running out. In fact, just as Amitabh was in the process of writing out a cheque for Rs 50 lakh, the alarm went off. And yes, before we forget, Madhuri is terrified of cockroaches. And once off the air, Amitabh couldn't stop pulling her leg on this.

Earlier in the afternoon, there was yet another surprise in store for the audience when Abhishek Bachchan strolled on to the sets at around 11 am, casually dressed in a Pathani suit. What made it more exciting was that it was his birthday that day.

This one-and-a-half-hour-long celebrity episode was conceptualised by Star TV to help the quake-affected in Gujarat. The channel has already donated Rs 41 lakh, an amount which equals the winnings of those who featured in the show between January 29 and February 1. Besides, Star TV's staff have pooled in Rs 5 lakh. Well, whether it is Star or the stars themselves, concern for Gujarat's grief certainly isn't lakhlustre when a touching gesture comes from the crore of the heart.

Madhuri to raise money for quake victims

Madhuri-pati Badgered For KBC!