ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
BHUBANESWAR:Meeting your favourite star and getting wholesome praise from him was a dream-come-true for Sunil Tandi of Balangir. He was lucky enough to meet his childhood star Amitabh Bachchan in the Kaun Banega Crorepati show and won a whopping `50lakh cash prize by correctly answering 14 of the 16 questions.
In a chat with Orissa POST over phone from Sundargarh, where he worked as a district welfare officer, and where he was given a grand welcome upon his return by his colleagues and seniors, he said that for him, meeting his idol and film legend Amitabh was an important moment in his life. “For the last 17 years, I was preparing for this moment … to meet up with
Amitabh … and I was very anxious during that time when four contestants went before me to the host’s seat.” He said as he was the contestant during the Diwali special episode, he was expecting questions related to Diwali in the fastest finger first question.
The superstar asked the question wherein he had to say about the events that happened after Lord Ram went to his 14-year exile. It had to be presented in a chronological order. He answered the question in 6.07 seconds. Sunil, a district welfare officer, said when he was finally selected and shook hands with Amitabh Bachchan, he was in the seventh heaven. He said that listening to his voice from a close range gave him the goosebumps. “He helped me calm down and told me to focus on the questions.”
Sunil completed 14 rounds successfully by answering all the questions, but in this he lost all his lifelines. He said, “Sometimes, we know things but are not able to give the answer at the precise moment. I am happy to have won this match.” He said that he would spend the money he got on the education of his and his brother’s children, who live together. He will also take his wife Sasmita Tandi on a foreign tour to the Maldives.
The government officer is the first from Orissa to win the Rs 50lakh prize in this season of KBC, which has been constantly topping the charts as the mostwatched television show in India. The episode was aired on the Diwali, after which many from the state including from Balangir sent congratulatory messages to Sunil on the social media.
Sunil appeared to be very practical and answered each and every question with ease and clarity. Even Big B appeared to be impressed with his confidence and risk-taking attitude. The episode which was aired October 19 on Sony TV channel was the Diwali special episode. Sunil was accompanied by his friend from Bolangir Jaykrushna Sahu, a teacher by profession, who also came in as the Jodidaar. Sunil also used the phone-a-friend lifeline to call his friend Madanjeet Hota to help him answer a question. With ease, Sunil completed as many as 14 rounds out of the total 16 rounds. However, left with no more lifelines, he decided to quit the game and proudly walked away with Rs 50 lakh.
