BOURNVITA, COMPLAN OR BOOST? WHICH WAS YOUR FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE DRINK? words NAMRATA MANGHNANI image DOV HARRINGTON
to be prompt with their guesses. But I think the best round was the one where you had to identify the famous personality shown on the screen. The face of the celebrity would be contorted, and one would have to identify them using their judgment and strong vision. For the viewers, it seemed pretty straightforward, but only the contestants knew how difficult it was, especially since the 21” television set was placed a good 10 meters away from them! It kept us all engaged and it felt great when you were the one amongst the crowd to know the answer!
Speaking of Bournvita, you know your childhood became interesting when you started watching the Bournvita Quiz Contest on TV pretty religiously. The smarter ones amongst you actually took part in it and made sure your entire school, extended family and neighbourhood watched you on it! Aired on Zee TV in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, BQC was, back then, the holy grail of school quizzes. Derek O’Brian used to be the best TV host ever, and maybe even a role model for some. India’s most popular quiz contest was sponsored by Cadbury India and ran until 2007.
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One of the most light-hearted moments of the ‘90s was humming to the AD jingles of popular health food drinks, such as Complan, Boost and Bournvita. How can one forget ‘I’m a Complan boy/girl’ or ‘Boost is the secret of my energy...our energy’ (made even more popular by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar). And of course, there was ‘Tann ki Shakti, Mann ki Shakti, Bournvita!’. All these drinks offered a unique combination of health and taste, and pretty much every kid on the block must have tasted them as it was, without any milk: a spoonful of the chocolaty powder which would just melt in your mouth!
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BQC’s fans realised how this show formed an integral part of their education outside school and hence launched a strong campaign named ‘Bring BQC Back’ on the popular networking site, Facebook, thus bringing the show back on air (Colors TV). It’s been running on YouTube now as well! I recall how our hearts couldn’t stop racing during the buzzer round, anticipating which team is going
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Namrata Manghnani believes she’s a permanent tourist: she loves to explore the world and gets fascinated by the little things in life. Born and brought up in Dubai, she graduated in Finance from Manchester, and changed career paths, recently. She enjoys writing about emotions, dances for inspiration, and aspires to be an author. She possesses an eye for detail: would never miss a fluttering butterfly or a grammatical error. She is now freelancing for magazines and newspapers, and growing as a writer with each word she pens down.