Gamechanger of the common man

Arguably, it is one of the most popular Indian television reality game shows ever. A brand of hope that rewards brilliant minds, Kaun Banega Crorepati is one of the greatest finds on television. And it continues to keep the hopes of millions alive through its various local avatars.

In Kannada, it is called Kannadada Kotyadhipati, with a successful journey which was until now hosted by Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar. With the show shifting to another channel — Star Suvarna, a new host with new hope is set to roll in less than a week as KK gets set to hit the Kannada audience with a brand new look. Call him versatile or a multi-talented, actor, director Ramesh Aravind is the new face of Kannadada Kotyadhipati. He speaks with Bengaluru Chronicle, about his latest exciting journey on TV.

“Such a crazy life — I was suppose to host the show when it was initially getting launched in Kannada but unfortunately when the license was taken over by another channel, I missed the opportunity but as they say, life comes full circle, here I am with it, realising a missed opportunity,” says Ramesh Aravind.

The actor, director and popular TV host believes in work as a brand. “I am the greatest believer that work is one’s brand. All we need to do is to keep working, and it will reward you in its own way. There is no point in cribbing or wasting time sulking about missed opportunities. Just stay true to whatever you get in life, and work on it,” he says relating a meaningful example of the show and what it means to everyone’s life.

“As per Hindu mythology, Goddess Saraswati who is considered to be the centre of knowledge, wisdom and so on, is always shown in the simplest avatar with no temptation, whereas Goddess Lakshmi, the one who governs wealth is always associated with temptations in life, and these two crucial factors in real life are rarely seen together. Hence, one requires to seek knowledge and work hard for it, such games shows are a ray of hope for those who are good enough to seek and realise their dreams,” he adds.

The popularity of the show is evident by its attempt to bridge the gap. “Dreams are always bigger than one’s earnings. No matter how much we earn, our dreams remain unreachable. In other words, dreams and income never match! Kannada Kotyadhipati is an opportunity to make such dreams come true,” says Aravind.

This season, Kannadada Kotyadhipati will air atleast 65 episodes with ordinary folk as participants, apart from a couple of episodes dedicated to celebrities.
“Our aim is realise the dreams of commoners. Our channel head, while discussing, shared a valuable view that no wrong person should get such an opportunity, and the right people should not miss such a life changing game,” Ramesh Aravind shares.

He reveals that after missing the chance to host the show in the beginning, it led him on another wonderful journey through Weekend with Ramesh, which had an emotional appeal with real life experiences of both celebrities and ordinary people. Ramesh, who has always been a great of fan of Kaun Banega Crorepati, cannot wait to witness the life-changing incidents of others, bridging the gap through Kannadada Kotyadhipati.

Meanwhile, he is also busy directing Butterfly and Paris Paris, a multilingual project, which is the remake of the Bollywood hit film Queen (in Kannada and Tamil). That apart, he is the lead actor in a handful of projects including Bahiradevi starring alongside Radhika Kumaraswamy.