Poker Face

I was surfing TV for something interesting, I came across a show hosted by Sharman Joshi, one of the guys from RDB. I like his comic roles so I started watching the channel. It was on the new channel “real”. He was hosting a game show called Poker face. Initially I presumed it must be some gambling related show. To my surprise it was talent game show.

“Kaun Banega Crorepati” is my favorite game shows ever. It was aired when I was in my 10th std. My brother, mom and I watched every episode. During exams, we planned our breaks according to the show timings. There had been my other game shows like “Deal Ya No deal”, “10 Ka Dum” and “Paanchvi Pass”. But nothing was comparable to “Crorepati”.

“Poker face” is really good. The concept is very simple. There are 6 contestants every episode. Sharman reads out multiple- choice questions. The contestant are supposed to answer the questions by pressing the appropriate choice button. Every question is for everyone and they earn whenever they answer the question correct. The answers are spelled out after every question is answered. The contestants know just their earnings and they don't have any idea how much the others have earned. Then they are given few minutes to make poker face i.e. show others that they are not the one who have got the least earnings. Then the contestants are called to a podium where there are buzzers in front of each of them and a countdown starts for 10 seconds. Any contestant who pressed the buzzer meanwhile, packs up from the show with his earnings so far in the game. If no one pressed the buzzer, the least earner leaves the game by losing everything he has earned so far. If more than 1 person pressed the buzzer, the earliest one leaves the show with the amount he has earned. This continues till 1 person is left with. The winner earns 10 lacs in every episode and on Sunday all the winners of the week contest for 1 crore.

Best part of the show is Sharman Joshi. He is good composed host. He doesn't speak nonsense, no stupid jokes or discouraging comments. He lets the contestant speak. Next, I liked the questions. It covers many fields, chemistry to math, mythology to cinema, geography to history. And the difficulty level also increases as the game moves on. Next, is the graphics/widgets in the show, the questions/answers are displayed very clearly. After ever question, a small box with a photo of the contestant pops out with a tick/cross symbol below their snap to show if they have addressed it correct/wrong respectively.

I remember the episode of the first Crorepati won by “Harshavardhan”. I was on the edge of my seat biting my nails as if I was seated before Amitabh and as if I was answering the question. The moment he won 1 crore was hilarious. But I doubt if that excitement would ever be brought back.

8 years back, 1 crore was a huge amount. Years have passed so fast that the value of 1 crore sounds cheap for a game shows. Whatsoever, for a common man 1 crore is always 1 crore.