A nervous-looking Hema Malini clutched the hand of Shatrughan Sinha, as both actor-turned-MPs walked to the hot seat of “Ke Bani Crorepati” (KBC), the Bhojpuri version of the popular game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati.”
Hema was on the sets to shoot the special episode of KBC which will be telecast on Mahua channel on July 29. Amid the familiar background music, Shatrughan, the host of the game show, said, “Chaleen, Khelal Jaye Ke Bani Crorepati.” (Come, let’s play KBC).
Once on the hot seat, Hema, clad in a pink sari, told Shatru, “Please ask me some easy questions as I am quite nervous.” “You need not be nervous at all as I have not set the questions. It’s the brain child of this Computer Maharaj,” replied her Bollywood co-star.
“Actually, I have so many things in my mind. I am an actor, a parliamentarian, a danseuse, an editor of a magazine, and a home-maker, all rolled into one. So I am not sure whether the correct answer will click it to me, once I am on the hot seat,” she made a candid confession. But 20 minutes after Shatru fired his first salvo, it was clear to those present there on the sets that the legendary actress was really a beauty with brains. In one of the questions, she was asked, “Who was the first actress to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha (RS)? Was it Nargis, Jaya Bachchan, Hema Malini or Vyajanthimala?”
Hema said it was Nargis, “because Jaya was elected to the Rajya Sabha from UP, Vyajanthimala was elected to the Lok Sabha, while I was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, but after Nargisji.” The answer was correct. The audience, which was enjoying every bit of the moment, wanted Hema to speak something in Bhojpuri. Like in the original KBC, where the participant says “Lock kiya jaye,” here the one who is on the hot seat had to say, “Mari muhar, lagayeen thappa (Seal it/Lock the answer).
Hema, who still struggles with Hindi and attributes this to her upbringing in Tamil Nadu, said, “Mari thappa.” Her two words in Bhojpuri were enough for the audience. to give her a deafening applause.