Amitabh on the set of KBC-2

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan returns to the small screen this year for the second run of the super-hit television serialKaun Banega Crorepati (KBC)which had brought a turnaround in his personal fortunes five years ago.

The sequel of Kaun Banega Crorepati will hit the small screen in August. Bachchan hopes the viewers would like the new version, to be known as KBC-2, as much they had done the first one. "We have made some changes in the sequel and hope to get the same success as in the past," the actor said.

When the KBC serial had gone on air for the first time in the year 2000 on Star Plus television channel, it had immediately made media magnate Rupert Murdoch-promoted satellite channel one of the most popular in India.

Bachchan said he had signed to do some 85 episodes for the second show of KBC which Star Plus proposes to air as a prime time show.

Organisers of KBC- 2 say the prize money for the new show would be doubled to Rs 20 million from Rs 10 million last time for the top winner.

The first KBC show had helped the actor come out of heavy debt incurred by him from the collapse of his company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) and also launched him on a second glorious innings in Bollywood after having been seemingly reached the end of his three-decade-old film career.

Following the enormous success of KBC-1, Bachchan was once again the super star of Bollywood, no matter his advancing years, and he cleared his entire debt after film-makers and advertisement movie makers made a beeline to rope him in.

Today at the age of 63, it is a tribute to Bachchan's versatility that he can do a rap number in the promo of an out-and-out Bollywood masala movie, Bunty Aur Babli, released recently starring his son Abhishek and Rani Mukherjee.