Wikipedia:Quizzing in India

Quizzing in India is different from American and British quizzing in that it is diverse, with different genres catering to different geographical regions, age groups, and interests.

Neil O'Brien conducted the first documented, formal quiz in 1967 at Christ the King Church Parish Hall in Calcutta (now Kolkata). O'Brien, who had recently returned from England and had been exposed to the pub quiz culture there, brought quizzing first to the Anglo-Indian community before it became popular among a wider audience. O'Brien remained active in quizzing, later hosting popular quiz show broadcasts, including the "North Star Quiz."

On 12 April 1972, Bournvita Quiz Contest, for high school students, become the first quiz show to be broadcast on radio in India; it was among the most popular programmes in the region. Hamid Sayani, followed by his brother Ameen, were the show's first quizmasters. It ran for over a decade and was later revived as a television quiz in the late 1990s. The first quiz show to become nationally popular was Quiz Time, which had its first season in 1985. Quizmaster Siddhartha Basu, labelled as the "grandfather of the quiz game in India," is credited with making quizzing a household word. Basu later went on to host other shows, including India Quiz. In 2000, the Kaun Banega Crorepati quiz, modeled after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, reignited nationwide interest in quizzing, becoming one of the most popular quiz shows of all time.