Superstar Amitabh Bachchan is to take up the quiz master's seat once again with the hugely popular television game show - "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC) - slated to make a comeback some time around August this year.

The television show that re-launched Amitabh Bachchan's career will return on Star television in a new format and with a larger booty than before, said Deepak Segal, STAR India's executive vice-president, content and communications.

The show, an Indian version of the British game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", could begin some time in August-September, said Segal, but efforts are on to have telephone lines for participating in the show open by June.

Segal was quoted as saying in the local media that they were in talks with fixed line and mobile telephone companies to have the lines opened well before the scheduled re-launch of the show.

This time the maximum prize money has been doubled to Rs.20 million ($457,000) for correct answers to all 15 questions that a participant is asked.

In a change from the earlier format, the new version would enable one to claim a share of the bounty on telephone or mobile short messaging service without appearing on the show.

Amitabh Bachchan has given dates for the shooting of the show, that was the most-watched in Indian television history.

However, this time the show wouldn't be as long as it was in 2001 when it ran 305 episodes. Segal said the new KBC would have only 85 episodes that would be shot between May and September.

It couldn't be known how many times a week the show would be telecast.