Flipkart Video Original’s New Quiz Show Backbenchers Creates Waves

Does Anil Kapoor remember the Hindi alphabet? 

Can Shilpa Shetty draw a cube? 

Does Bhumi Pednekar know what the R in RAW stands for? 

If you've ever wondered what kind of students your favourite celebrities were back in the day, you can stop now. That's because Flipkart Video, the new OTT platform from e-commerce giant, Flipkart is finally here.

Flipkart Video Original's unique celebrity game show, Backbenchers, just dropped last weekend and each episode is a fun 30-minute ride with some of your favourite celebrities. The show's host and ace director Farah Khan plays classroom teacher while different celebrities face off against each other as their knowledge is tested in this truly unique quiz show. Backbenchers has huge amounts of banter, and given Farah's quirky and no-holds-barred sense of humour, the end result is a bundle of laughs. Add to this the nostalgic memories of school the show recreates, and the unparalleled joy of seeing someone else take an exam, and you have an unmissable treat. 

Backbenchers' Class of 2019 includes Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Parineeti Chopra, Sania Mirza, Bhumi Pednekar, Taapsee Pannu, Vineet Singh and many more celebrities. The show puts these 'star students' on the 'hot seat', testing their general knowledge through multiple rounds of written and oral tests; just like in school. And, like your favourite teacher from school, Farah is just the right mix of strict, loving, encouraging and oh-so-funny. 

Backbenchers is more than a one-of-a-kind quiz show, it also doubles up as an interesting chat show giving the audience an opportunity to get to know their favourite stars a little better. A little knowledge, loads of laughs, high wattage star power, some dancing — what more could anyone ask for!  And, this is what has reflected in social media conversations about Backbenchers over the last few days. 

In every episode, Farah also challenges the celebrities to match her moves on her 'Step of the Day', which is then thrown open to TikTok users.TikTok has seen a deluge of entries over the past few days, and has already generated over 4 Billion views on India's most popular social media platform. The show also lit up the rest of social media over the weekend, with multiple discussions on Twitter and the #Backbenchers hashtag trending on Twitter last Sunday. A testament to the show's success are the multiple submissions of students showcasing their talent. Using the #BackbenchersTalent, a dance challenge has been doing the rounds, where college students from across the country are dancing to the Backbenchers theme song and challenging others to do better.

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The show has just launched but it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the meme universe will be a lot richer for it. 

The OTT platforms in India haven't really jumped onto the reality genre, particularly the game show space, and Flipkart has announced their foray into the space with a bang. Flipkart Video Originals promises a great mix of entertainment cutting across genres and languages in the time to come. 

Backbenchers is free to watch for Flipkart users, who can watch it on the  Flipkart android app. The first episode that dropped on October 19th features Anil Kapoor taking on Shilpa Shetty, while the second one has the cast of Saand Ki Aankh — Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar and Vineet Kumar Singh. The show will have a total of 20 episodes, with two episodes releasing every weekend.