Events & Personalities
In the “hot seat”
In the "hot seat”
Marzi Bhesania created a stir when he became the first Parsi to feature on the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) game show. The 41-year-old resident of Ava Baug in Navsari wrote to Parsiana to say "I have always been a big fan of KBC and was always dreaming of making it to the hot seat with (film star) Amitabh Bachchan since the last 13 years and finally luck smiled on me in the month of May (2013) as I got a call from KBC (that I had been selected). From crores of entries I went on from one round to another until (I) got selected after auditions.”
In KBC the selected contestant occupies the "hot seat” facing Bachchan and is asked a number of questions by "Computerji.” With every correct answer the winning stakes double, whereas if the answer is incorrect, the prize money drops to the level previously chosen by the contestant as the cut-off amount. However, the contestant may opt not to answer a question after exhausting the four "life lines” and take home what he/she has won thus far.
Marzi Bhesania created a stir when he became the first Parsi to feature on the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) game show. The 41-year-old resident of Ava Baug in Navsari wrote to Parsiana to say "I have always been a big fan of KBC and was always dreaming of making it to the hot seat with (film star) Amitabh Bachchan since the last 13 years and finally luck smiled on me in the month of May (2013) as I got a call from KBC (that I had been selected). From crores of entries I went on from one round to another until (I) got selected after auditions.”
In KBC the selected contestant occupies the "hot seat” facing Bachchan and is asked a number of questions by "Computerji.” With every correct answer the winning stakes double, whereas if the answer is incorrect, the prize money drops to the level previously chosen by the contestant as the cut-off amount. However, the contestant may opt not to answer a question after exhausting the four "life lines” and take home what he/she has won thus far.
Marzi Bhesania (center) with Amitabh Bachchan. Also seen are (l-r) mother Farida,
wife Sonali and father-in-law Hasmukh Mehta
The episode in which Bhesania participated was aired on November 15, 2013 and he won Rs 6,40,000. "The magic of being there… was so special,” Bhesania describes the experience.
When Bhesania and his wife Sonali, a Jain, arrived in Bombay for the shooting of the episode they were lodged at a hotel in Andheri close to Yashraj Studios. "Then things started at roller coaster pace and we were made to understand the rules and regulations of the game show (with) mock trials of the fastest finger round… The great moment arrived… entry of Bachchan on the set… What a man, what an aura, what a personality; the way he walks, the way his face lights up after meeting you…”
Bhesania shares that Bachchan took great interest in him when they were not shooting and inquired about his life in Navsari, confessing that he holds Parsis in high esteem. He also was interested in knowing about Bhesania’s marriage to a Gujarati girl, how they got along, how they manage to keep the balance between the two cultures.
The couple has two children, daughter Zaina aged 10 and son Farish aged six. Bhesania’s late father Faram was an employee of the State Bank of India. His mother Farida was born and brought up near the atash behram at Navsari’s Tarota Bazar. She hails from the family of Burjorji Gandhi. Sister Nilufer Riyaz Mistry, who lives in Godrej Colony, Vikhroli with her husband and two children has been teaching at the Udyachal School for the past 10 years.
"The response from the community was mind-blowing… it is so heartwarming that it has made me 10,000 times more (of a) crorepati than I can ever imagine…I am being felicitated by various people and organizations… I really want to spread happiness… and would like to work a lot more for the community… I could really make use of my newfound success,” Bhesania concludes.
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