Salman Khan to appear in first episode of Siddhartha Basu's new quiz show

New Delhi TV producerdirector Siddhartha Basu who brought popular quiz shows like ldquoKaun Banega Crorepatirdquo and ldquoDus Ka Dumrdquo to Indian television earlier has now come up with newsbased childrens quiz show ldquoNewz Wizrdquo the first episode of which will feature Bollywood superstar Salman KhanThe show will see students from different schools across the country testing their knowledge of current affairsSet to be aired on India Today Television starting July 24 ldquoNewz Wizrdquo will feature senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai as the host and quizmasterldquoOne of the underlined propositions is news is knowledge and knowledge is news But today there is a lot of misinformation going on as there are so many mediums TV newspapers magazines and most importantly internet How do people get to know about things particularly young peoplerdquo Basu told IANSldquoComing of age we have the largest population of young people in the world But how plugged in are they to what is going on around them There isnt a platform for them to show their excellence Theres hardly anything TV show where people can watch what the level of awareness of young people Thats why we have come up with Newz WizldquoThe subject for the show is whats on top of the mind in the left weeks or months Whats the news going on Also the viewers will get to play along with the contests literally while we will have some questions for them alsordquo Basu addedldquoNewz Wizrdquo received entries from 1500 schools across India from students of Classes 9 to 12 of whom 60 were shortlisted through an online test The list was further trimmed to 27 schools which will participate in the finalsThe show will consist of 13 episodes which will feature three teams consisting of two participants in each episodeThe teams will be provided with a phonein helpline where they can take help on their answers from a journalist of the concerned field Apart from that the show will also have a web guide station where one team member can look up the answers and assist the other team member who will be attempting the question in an allotted timeTalking about changing gears from being an anchor to quizmaster Sardesai said ldquoIts in a strange sort of a way fulfillment of a dream because one of my proudest moment as a young school boy was winning the Bournvita Quiz Contest at the age of 12 or 13 This was with Ameen Sayani for a radio showldquoThe first time that I came to Delhi was for National Cadet Corps NCC interstate quiz competition The second time was for Quiz Time for which Siddhartha was the quizmaster So I used to quiz a lot Now getting a chance to be the quizmaster on a news TV show is a great ideaSardesai said that ldquoNewz Wizrdquo will help youngsters start taking interest in newsldquoOne of my hopes has always been how do you get young people interested in news particularly school kids One interesting way is to start a news quiz with perhaps encourages them to at least follow the news a bit more closelyrdquo Sardesai saidThe winner of the show will get a trophy apart from other exciting prizes