IANS

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who succeeds Amitabh Bachchan as the new host of STAR Plus' highly popular game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati", said Monday he would try to bring his personality into the show even while making sure it did not lose its earlier appeal.

"It's very special for me because I am going to host such a beautiful show," Khan said at a press conference here. He was named to host the show last week in place of Bachchan who steered the show from 2000 for two seasons.

"It is very, very close to my heart like to the millions and billions of people in the country. It is smart, classy, cool and hopefully I will not bring it down and keep it as it was earlier," Shah Rukh said. The show goes on air in January next year.

To a question, he said: "The show has a set format. In fact, it has an international format. And I hope, I will bring my personality into it. Undoubtedly, the current popularity of the show is due to Mr. Bachchan and I hope I maintain that."

"I am honoured that Sameer Nair (CEO STAR Entertainment India) and Siddharth Basu (quiz master) thought that I am good enough to join the show."

"The second part of my happiness is that I am being able to do it in my city of joy, that is New Delhi. I am also very happy that once again I am coming back on television from where I started my career."

Commenting upon the format of the show he said: "We will surely present it in a new way. There would be something new in the show. You will find changes in the format. Technically also we have moved ahead - like the number of phone calls and SMSes have gone up. As far as the actual creativeness is concerned, we will start working on it now."

Nair, who was present at the conference, said that KBC was the most important show of STAR because it had boosted its ratings and catapulted it to No. 3 from No. 7.

"We have signed a fresh contract and now KBC will be on air till 2012, but it is going to be a seasonal thing. We will have 52 to 60 episodes per calendar year," said Nair.

Nair said he was confident that Shah Rukh Khan would take the show on the road to success.

"When Amitabh Bachchan declined the offer we thought Shah Rukh is the only person to carry it further. We are thankful to him for accepting the challenge."

Basu was equally confident about Shah Rukh, and said: "Shah Rukh is classy, charming and smart. He is one of the most entertaining actors. He is going to be superb on the show because he has got the wit and intelligence."

The show will be telecast four days a week - Monday to Thursday.