Superstar Shah Rukh Khan signed off the first season of "Kaun Banega Crorepati" with his characteristic flourish in a special two-and-a-half hour show with Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif who took home Rs.1 crore.

The grand finale Thursday night was long, but had viewers hooked as Priyanka-Kareena came on first followed by Salman-Katrina, the first time the much talked about couple has opened up about their relationship.

The star of the evening was, however, the irrepressible Salman Khan who brought the house down with his antics.

When launched on Jan 22, the initial response to the show was lukewarm. Comparisons with the original host Amitabh Bachchan were inevitable. And everybody, from the media and the viewers to critics and fans, dissected the minutiae of each action, nuance and gesture that Shah Rukh made.

But soon the comparisons stopped and people started enjoying the show. From Monday to Thursday, it became a kind of stress buster, generating energy and fun thanks to its charming host. SRK managed to give the otherwise serious quiz show a makeover with his witticisms and warmth.

When the show completed two weeks, the television audience measuring body (TAM) report showed the show had had a decent start.

KBC 3 opened with TRPs of 12.33 on Monday, came down to 10.44 on the second day and dipped to 7.36 on day three. By Thursday, the TRP graph had moved up to 9.24.

Expectations hadn't been high to begin with because the introduction of CAS had affected the overall TRPs of almost all television programmes.

The first season of KBC had started with 20 plus ratings - and the entire blame was put on Shah Rukh.

But King Khan remained unnerved. He kept innovating - giving away watches, offering a thinking cap, warmly hugging contestants. It all worked in his favour. Those who had initially rebuffed the show started returning to it and the ratings picked up.

"Khan ka gyan" gradually took over from Bachchanisms. Flying kisses replaced warm handshakes, "kuchha kuchha-pucca-pucca" and "computerda/bhai/anna" became the new buzzwords.

The OMS-Hansa Research survey revealed that 69 percent people liked the way Shah Rukh conducted the show.

"My friends and I returned to the quiz show after being initially put off by Shah Rukh, whom we constantly compared with Amitabh," said Kunal Pandey, a Delhi-based executive.

He brought in celebrities like Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora, Karan Johar, Farah Khan, Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji, Sanjay Dutt and Boman Irani, adding glitter to the already glamorised show.

Later he presented some of the participants with cricket bats and just a few weeks back actually gave away nine cars to the nine participants of the 'fastest finger first' contest.

"It might sound a little material, that I keep giving away watches, cricket bats during the World Cup season, and whatever I can get hold of in terms of what is special to me. But I think the car idea is not very original. There is someone else who has done it before?

"Yes, Oprah Winfrey. She had given away cars to the audience. If I could afford it, I would actually give away Rs.20 million to everyone," Shah Rukh was quoted as saying in an interview.

Shah Rukh's only grudge was that nobody could win Rs.20 million (Rs 2 crores). In the last season too, which came to an abrupt end due to Amitabh's illness, none of the contestants were able to bag the big prize money.

Shah Rukh has promised to keep in touch with his fans through blogs and messages.

He said: "I'll be honest and say maybe not with the frequency I have been right now - but say once a month or so I'll definitely be on. Because once I move on from KBC I have to go and finish some of the work I'm doing just now on my film."

When Shah Rukh returns, he might not have to struggle to get the attention. People may start missing the daily dose of humour and fun.