Adgully Exclusive | Indian viewers deserve the best: Siddhartha Basu, CMD, Big Synergy

Quizzing the quiz master left me with butterflies in my stomach and my heart beating even faster with nervousness. "How will I interview the quiz master himself?" I ask my boss. But after much Coaxing and cajoling I gave in, they gave me the much needed confidence to do it. Finding no escape, I met and requested the mastermind to give me some time to talk to him. "Yes ma'am, I will speak to you in a while" said Siddhartha Basu, CMD, Big Synergy in his rich polished voice.

Wikipedia describes him as the Father of Television Quiz shows in India. Today's generation associates him with the mega successful "Kaun banega Crorepati". From being the Quiz Master of Quiz Time to Big Synergy, Siddhartha Basu has walked quite a few miles. In a candid conversation with Adgully, Basu shares with us the little secret behind his interest in quizzing. He reveals that he was always an artist at heart and more keen on pursuing theatre and Radio Jockeying and never quizzing per se. Quizzing happened almost accidentally.

Opportunity came in the form of an introduction of a show, and that was the beginnings of being a presenter. Thereon, one thing led to another. Siddhartha Basu has also enjoyed his stint as an established producer and director. Big Synergy's endeavor till date has been to showcase best of content and communicate it to the audience by world class presentation.

"Inspired effort' is the norm of the day. Television shows based on some international programming format are in vogue, but the one show that brought definitive popularity is KBC. So, what was it that made the mastermind bring these international formats to India, the latest being India's Got Talent on Colors? Let's hear it from the Man behind it himself. Siddhartha Basu explained it something like this ' "I think Indian audiences deserve the best whether it is from India or from anywhere in the world and the point is even if you take a format from anywhere in the world, you have to make it your own; you have to make it Indian." The fact is Big Synergy did not look for formats; they (the formats) came to them. For Big Synergy, it has always been the excellence of the content and the presentation.

Talking about content and presentation, Basu divulges the ingredients that keep the audiences engaged, "I think it is a management of content and presentation and the intrinsic drama of something like KBC, and to recognize and highlight that."

He further adds, "That it is the team's effort which plays a key role as many functions and roles are involved, another signature of Big Synergy is teams from all spheres come together whether it is the research for the search of quiz questions, or the presentation of Amitabh Bachhan/ Shahrukh Khan, or the lighting/sound/music or the way the contestants are briefed for that matter or the role of technicians/creative/direction that come into play"

If you see, there are shows on television with at least one celebrity host or many judges sitting there and giving expert comments. This has been in the play for quite some time now and celebrity involvement has become one of the most important aspects. The Quiz master opines as, "You try and get sampling; there is big chunk of channels out there, so you are competing for attention and celebrity talent particularly. If they bring certain value and skills to the table then it not only adds certain sparkle and star value, and when you talk about star value in a program, we are talking about pulling power to attraction attention"

This man with multiple talents has been around for more than two decades in the space, and to get his views on the biggest change noticed in the format of the shows was quite enlightening. "At the moment it is the daily soaps that are ruling and certain kind of non-fiction shows; but there are changes within that. You have moved from big city culture to smaller towns and in entertainment you are looking at people from different or more remote places and looking at different kinds of talent as on India's Got Talent," he says.

In addition to India's Got Talent, Big Synergy is getting increasingly associated with sports. The company has a tie-up with Doordarshan for "Sports Superstars' that there is an activity planned with Sony which we will hear about soon.

We asked him about his personal experiences which have left a indelible mark in his mind and heart, Basu says, "As a communicator anything that touches your head and your heart is a memorable moment and there are many such moments."

On a final note he parts with us, saying, "Indian viewers deserve the best not just mass produced assembly line down content. They need variety and quality and I hope we get it and I also hope we find that kind of support for that."