Kaun Banega Crorepati host Amitabh Bachchan has apologised after Twitter users criticised the makers of the show for missing the title Chhatrapti Maharaj while mentioning Shivaji in the latest episode. Responding to another apologetic tweet by the show’s producer Siddhartha Basu, Bachchan tweeted: “No disrespect meant at all... apologies if it has hurt sentiments.”
The contentious question asked was, “Which of these rulers was the contemporary of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb?” and the four options for it were Maharana Pratap, Rana Sanga, Maharaj Ranjit Singh and Shivaji. The hashtag #BoycottKBCSonyTV began trending on Twitter as users asked why the title ‘Chhatrapati Maharaj’ had not been prefixed to Shivaji in the options. Sony TV issued a statement on 8 November apologising for the oversight. “There was an inaccurate reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj during Wednesday’s KBC episode, due to inadvertence. We deeply regret the same and being mindful of the sentiments of our viewers have carried a scroll expressing regret during our episode yesterday,” the channel tweeted.
Producer Siddhartha Basu also took to Twitter to clarify that the channel meant no disrespect to the memory of Shivaji. He said that missing the title was a “regrettable oversight and not deliberate at all” and confirmed that the error has been rectified and that going forward, the correct version will be available on SonyLiv.
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