When the history book on quizzing on television in India is written, Siddhartha Basu will be remembered as the man who popularised the famous catchphrase “I’ve started, so I’ll finish” as he volleyed questions to contestants on various shows for nearly 40 years. Basu first captured the imagination of a nation in 1985 with his disarming smile, perfect diction and charming mop of hair, when he hosted Doordarshan’s Quiz Time, the inter-collegiate quiz show on Sundays at 9pm. Four decades later Basu is nowhere near finishing what he started — playing quizmaster. He is back with Sony Liv’s Quizzer Of The Year (QOTY), co-designed with Anita Kaul Basu and the team at Tree of Knowledge Digital, for students from Standard IX to XII.
Speaking over phone, Basu says, “QOTY is a daily digital offering which is on the Sony Liv app through the year. Within that, there is an open quiz and a schools’ contest. There will be episodes on city championships and the national finals. The aim is to offer an interactive daily engagement, at a time of choice and on a device of choice to students and everybody else.”
Participation is by registration on the Sony LIV app, followed by answering seven questions every day. “The scope of the quiz will be their school curriculum and general knowledge. There is diverse content, and the questions have elements of intrigue and tease,” says Basu, adding, “No question is repeated. You can binge play from Sunday to Saturday and there are prizes for weekly and monthly toppers.” The final winners will be awarded an educational scholarship of ₹1 crore and the title of Quizzer Of The Year.
With quiz shows moving away from live television where it was evident if you knew the right answer or not, Basu says that years of experience have helped prepare quizzes for an “app generation”. “We have tried to curate the content and game in such a way that we minimise people having others or Google to pitch in their answers for them. The contest aims at both out-reach and integrity.”
A quizzer is no longer the one who indulges in an omnivorous reading list or knows that staple of the quiz world — capital cities — by rote. The stage has shifted from recalling facts at an instance to how much prize money is at stake. Does that mean the audience for popular shows such as Kaun Banega Crorepati is not on a par with those who watch the intense Mastermind India? Basu, who has been associated with both, says, “I’ve seen everything from the purist to the popular. But now the net has been spread wide. The motivations are diverse. Some just want to find out where they stand. It is no longer so much about how informed you are, rather it is about arriving at an answer in an informed way.”
Basu says that viewers are increasingly not keen on watching gladiators of general knowledge battle it out on television. “Appointment TV is an endangered species. Today, we’ve moved away from the format because people want to be able to take part themselves, not just watch other people perform.”
At 68, Basu plays Wordle and QOTY under an assumed name to “get my daily dose of Vitamin Q”. Once a school boy in Madras where he studied at IIT-M’s Kendriya Vidyalaya, Basu, who has his hands full with other quiz shows, compiling quiz books and a cameo in Boman Irani’s upcoming directorial debut, says, “exploring the unknown, the half-known and the worth knowing is a life-long passion. Today, facts are at a discount, sadly. The regard for facts and the importance of arriving at the truth has become more critical now. Hopefully, quizzing will give people a tool to sharpen their own awareness and teach them to see it as a pleasurable pursuit”.
