IIHB and Rediffusion’s Red Lab reveal potential successors for KBC host Amitabh Bachchan

New Delhi:  Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) will mark its 25th anniversary on July 3, 2025. This will be Season 16 of the millionaire quiz show. There are speculations surrounding the replacement of Amitabh Bachchan as the show’s host as he plans to reduce his workload. 

To check who would be the most preferred anchor to take Bachchan’s place in KBC, the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) and Rediffusion’s Red Lab ran a research last week covering 768 respondents (M=408, F=360) in the Hindi heartland.

 Respondents voted for potential replacements are as follows:

Shah Rukh Khan 63%

Aishwarya Rai   51%

MS Dhoni          37%

Harsha Bhogle  32%

Anil Kapoor       15%

Amongst others, who got high single digit percentage of votes, were Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Shashi Tharoor and Chetan Bhagat. Akshay Kumar had topped a similar survey by IIHB in 2022, but this year, he did not make the top 10. His wife Twinkle Khanna was also featured in the survey. “Bachchan should continue till he can” was the response of 42% of the respondents surveyed.

Anil Kapoor was placed at number 5 in the survey. Aamir and Dixit were placed next in the rankings.

“The fact that politician Tharoor and novelist Bhagat have made the top 10 indicates that the viewing public is happy to look beyond matinee stars as the KBC anchor – it is possible that Bachchan’s easy-going style has democratised the choice of his successor,” said Sandeep Goyal, Chief Mentor, IIHB and Chairman, Rediffusion.

Shah Rukh was the number 1 choice of both male and female respondents. There was no discernable difference between the voting patterns of both sexes, except in the case of Bhogle, who had a significant male skew.