Kaun Banega Crorepati? asks Amitabh Bachchan in his rich baritone.

Contestants have struck it rich, winning thousands, lakhs and even the coveted crore, for the highly popular game show on Star Plus.

What niggles the mind is reports of the show robbing the industry of crores of rupees.

Given the excitement level of the show coupled with the elegance lent to it by superstar Amitabh Bachchan, its popularity is not at all surprising. But what is shocking is the hue and cry over the havoc it is supposed to be creating with box office collections across the length and breadth of the country.

ALTHOUGH the adverse effect that KBC has on the BO in metropolitan cities like Bombay and Delhi has reduced since the show first went on air over four months ago, its magic continues to wean away audiences from the big screen in smaller cities, towns and mofussil areas.

The roads then wear a deserted look, when the show begins on the small screen from Mondays through Thursdays, around 9 pm. This also translates into reduced box office collection. People sit glued to their television sets, oblivious to other events/ happenings.

HERE is the truth: the effect is not as bad as it is being made out to be.

The film industry needs to realise that ever since KBC went on air, there has not been a single hit film. The real impact of KBC would be interesting to note only when a hit is released.

Says Parikh, owner of Sapna Cinema at Sarkhej, a suburb of Ahmedabad, "Collections in my cinema as well as in the entire cities have dropped by about 25-30% in the 6 pm and 9 pm shows from Mondays to Thursdays. Collection for the 12 noon and 3 pm shows are good, but they take a perceptible dip in the evening and night shows."

Films have nowadays become weekend experiences. Collections shoot up on Saturday and Sunday and then drop on weekdays

The adverse effect is felt more in the case of average and below-average films. The 6 pm shows across the nation are generally weak. But the last shows are usually stronger, sometimes as choc-a-bloc with people as the 3 pm shows.

Let me take you back a little. Both Refugee and KBC made their debuts in the same week.

Collections of Abhishek Bachchan's debut film were adversely hit because of dad Bachchan's debut on the small screen. Take a look: On Saturday and Sunday of the 2nd week of Refugee at Bombay's Gaiety cinema, the 6 pm and 9 pm shows were housefull.

But on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, collections for the 6 pm shows were 91%, 65%, 100% and 100% of the capacity respectively.

Percentages of the 9 pm shows on the four days when KBC is was aired were 80%, 61%, 100% and 86%. The corresponding percentages for the 3 pm show were 84%, 71%, 74% and 100%.

Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega at the same suburban cinema of Bombay drew all shows full in the first week, except the 12 noon and 9 pm shows on Thursday (the 7th day). At week 2, while the 6 pm and 9 pm shows on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were full, the film collected only 59% (6 pm) and 56% (9 pm) on Wednesday and 59% (6 p.m.) and 53% (9 p.m.) on Thursday.

Competitively, collections for the 3 pm shows, though down, were better at 72% and 76%.

Still, the extra dip in the 6 pm and 9 pm shows was marginal in comparison to the dip in the 3 pm shows.

Actually, films have nowadays become weekend experiences. Collections shoot up on Saturday and Sunday and drop on weekdays.

It is just a coincidence that KBC is aired on weekdays.

While it cannot be denied that KBC is affecting cinema collections, the impact has waned. When the game show started, the decline in collections was more marked. But as the novelty of the game wore off, its impact on the ticket-windows also reduced.

While cities have been faster to reconcile themselves to the small screen opposition and have, in fact, come back on the track almost completely, the smaller places continue to be swayed by the Big B's magic on the small screen.

The fact also remains that KBC is only the beginning.

For Sawaal Dus Karod Ka on Zee TV, with Anupam Kher as the host, is due to be launched shortly. One wonders whether the impact of the new show will be ten times greater like the 10 times bigger price money.

But that doesn't seem likely.

Not only was KBC the first show of its kind, but Amitabh Bachchan was also the first top film hero to break the size barrier and move on to the small screen.