Country of origin India No. of seasons 4 | Original language(s) Telugu Running time 90 minutes | |
Presented by Nagarjuna (Season 1 - 3 )
Chiranjeevi (Season 4) Composer(s) Keith Strachan
Matthew Strachan | ||
Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu, (English: Who among you is a Millionaire?), popularly known by its abbreviation MEK or simply Koteeswarudu, is an Indian regional television game show presented in Telugu produced by BIG Synergy which is the official adaptation of the internationally acclaimed Hindi game show Kaun Banega Crorepati which itself was an adaptation of the UK game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? owned by Sony Pictures Television.
The first season of this game show was hosted by Telugu actor Nagarjuna. The first episode was aired on June 9, 2014 at 9:00 PM in MAA TV. The game show, similar to the other adaptations of Kaun Banega Crorepati, was hugely acclaimed. In the first 3 seasons, no one has won 1 crore in the show. However, two pairs of contestants - Husband-Wife duo Amarnath - Rohita from Visakhapatnam, and Mother-Son duo Uma - Aditya, also from Visakhapatnam, have each won ₹50 lakhs. Both attempted the ₹1 crore question accurately after quitting.
Production
In March 2014, reports emerged that Nagarjuna would host the Telugu version of Kaun Banega Crorepati and the makers are in talks with him. With Nagarjuna confessing that he wanted to be a Television game host, the reports gained prominence. There were reports that Nagarjuna charged ₹3 crores for hosting 40 episodes for the first season. The reports of Nagarjuna's inclusion were confirmed in early April 2014 and Nagarjuna participated in the promo shoots. The official announcement was made on April 18, 2014 and the show was titled Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu which would be aired on MAA TV. The game show was launched in an event at Hyderabad. Nagarjuna and his wife include actress Amala were present at the event and Allu Aravind, MAA TV Chairman Nimmagadda Prasad, CMD of BIG Synergy Siddhartha Basu and his wife Anitha also attended the event. To introduce and educate the viewers about the show, Nagarjuna was seated on the hot seat and Amala has asked some questions about their personal life which were answered by Nagarjuna and the team of Nagarjuna, Allu Aravind, Nimmagadda Prasad and Siddhartha Basu spoke to the media about the game show.
The Call for Entry (CFE) was announced on April 24, 2014 and the registration lines opened at 8:00 PM. The makers asked the people to answer the five questions asked by replying with an SMS. The registration lines were closed at 7:00 PM on May 1, 2014 and the selection process was supervised by Ernst & Young. The channel’s call for participants received more than a million entries, of which 1500 were shortlisted through randomized process. From among them, 100 contestants were selected through auditions in Vijayawada, Tirupati and Hyderabad. The show was announced to go on air from June 9, 2014 at 9:00 PM and by June 6, 2014 Nagarjuna completed shooting of 6 episodes. In those 6 episodes, 9 participants played the game who came from different economic backgrounds. Every contestant's back-end story was recorded and addressed in the show. It was also said that The prize money is from ₹1,000 to ₹1 crore and the rules are the same like the Hindi version and those who answer all the 15 questions correctly would win ₹1 crore. The telecast of the show started on 9:00 PM and ended on 10:30 PM from June 9, 2014 and was aired for 4 days in a week from Monday to Thursday which later changed to 5 days in a week from Sunday to Thursday since mid-July because of the show's success.
The shoot of 40 episodes of the first season ended on July 18, 2014 and the last episode of the first season was aired on August 7, 2014. Apart from the participants, celebrities like Vidya Balan Shriya Saran, Allari Naresh, Naga Chaitanya, Vishal Jhansi, Suma, Charmme, Lakshmi Manchu, Kajal Aggarwal, Chiranjeevi made guest appearances in the game show and answered to Nagarjuna's questions which were not a part of the game, but only some friendly talk with him.
Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu Season 2 to commence soon all for Entry (CFE) registrations open on 9 October
Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu (MEK), the most sought after game show in the history of the Telugu Television screen, is all set to come back soon with season 3.
Season 3 has started from Nov 26, 2015. This time they have introduced Jodi round also that created the extra enthusiasm in the audience.
The visual treat to the viewers of the Telugu TV with the big-time film star Nagarjuna as the host has achieved phenomenal reach and success with over 4 Crore Telugu people watching the MEK game show in Season 1.
As per the TAM data, MEK has recorded 17.61 TVR in CS Female AB 25-44 Years category, 14.58 TVR in CS Female ABC 25+ years category, 10.20 TVR in CS Male ABC 15+ Years category, 12.31 TVR in CS ABC 15-44 Years category and 10.15 TVR in CS 4+ Years category, which is a record of sort for a game show in Telugu.
The unprecedented emotional connect and engagement brought by Nagarjuna Akkineni as the host resulted in this kind of large scale family viewing and appointment viewing for 5 days a week in the prime time. To take the MEK game show to the next level, Maa TV has decided to launch the MEK Season 2 soon with Nagarjuna as the host again.
As the first step towards the launch of MEK Season 2, the registration process to participate in the game show through Call for Entry (CFE) process would commence on 9 October at 7.00 PM and would continue for 10 days till 6.30 PM on 18 October.
As part of the CFE process, one question is flashed every day at 7.00 PM on Maa TV. Those who are interested can respond to the question before 6.30 PM on the next day. Another question is flashed at 7.00 PM on the next day.
The 10-day CFE process with 10 questions provide a big chance to come to the MEK hot seat and win a maximum cash prize of Rs. 1 Crore. Telugu speaking people interested in participating in the game show can register themselves during this 10 day period either through SMS or IVRS.