Indian Cinema Quiz | Bollywood Quiz

A Quiz by Eshan Sharma on Bollywood

1. Suhana Safar -II History of Indian cinema quiz Quiz master – Eshan Sharma Instagram: @_eshan.sharma_ +20/-10 POUNCE +10 DIRECT

2. Q1. In Bimal Roy’s storied career, the one film that has stood as an outlier is the Gothic noir mystery , X. If you have seen enough reincarnation-based Hindi films, many of which owe their existence in some manner to X. The beauty of Roy’s film lies in its ambience and the exquisite black and white frames. The miniature shots of the mansion are a joy to behold for thriller fans, especially in a country that hasn’t made enough genre films. The haunting melody of Y, the archetypal ghost song, elevates the narrative. Identify X and Y

3. MADHUMATI AA JAA RE

4. Q2. In 1949, the Film Enquiry Committee was set up by the Nehru government to cope with the imprints of colonial legacy which stayed on in the hearts and minds of the people of India. The decades of post Partition and 1950s were significant in building ideas and narratives of state formation and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting defined its role within the framework of nation building. Thus Indian film producers and directors were urged to consider a cinematic representation of the then newly independent nation. American historian Katherine Mayo’s 1927 book of the same name, was written as an opposition to India's desire for self-rule, and attacked Indian society, faith, religion and culture along with pointing out the ways women and the ‘untouchables’ were treated in Indian society by describing practices of child marriage and poverty. SEE THE NEXT PAGE FOR AN IMPORTANT CLUE

5. The film team dispatched the script along with a two-page letter on 17 September 1955 to External Affairs ministry saying: There has been considerable confusion and misunderstanding in regard to our film production  X and Mayo's book. Not only are the two incompatible but totally different and indeed opposite. We have intentionally called our film  X , as a challenge to this book, in an attempt to evict from the minds of the people the scurrilous work that is Miss Mayo's book.

6. MOTHER INDIA

7. Q3. Bimal Roy watched Bicycle Thieves at the film festival in Bombay and discovered what a chronicler of despair Vittorio de Sica was! The film showed how a father and son lose their moral compass when pushed to despair over a stolen bicycle. Bimal Roy was just as observant of human frailty. The film inspired him to make X. This film was released in 1953 The film's story is by Salil Chaudhary, the story had a miserable ending, but Bimal Roy’s sensibilities would not allow for so much hopelessness. The film ends with a scene that tells us all is not lost. Known for its socialist theme, it is considered an important film in the early parallel cinema of India, and a trend setter. The film also marks Meena Kumari's maiden guest appearance in her 33 years long career.

8. Do Bigah Zamin

9. Q4. X is a a 1946 Hindi film, directed by Chetan Anand. It was a pioneering effort in social realism in Indian cinema and paved the way for many such parallel cinema films. X was a Hindi film adaptation in an Indian setting of Maxim Gorky's 1902 play The Lower Depths. It became the first Indian film to gain recognition at the Cannes Film Festival, after it shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 with eleven of the eighteen entered feature films. It's the only Indian film to be ever awarded a Palme d’Or. It was the debut film of actress Y. She became the first leading heroine to continue working as lead film heroine after her marriage as well. She was was the first lead heroine for whom Lata Mangeshkar ever sang for. (Bonus +10)

10. X is NEECHA NAGAR (LOWER CITY) Y is KAMINI KAUSHAL

11. Q5. X is a 1943 Hindi historical film, directed by Vijay Bhatt, with Prem Adib and Shobhna Samarth in the lead roles. The film gained significance, as for title it used the term, Mahatma Gandhi often used to define democratic-righteous rule during the Indian independence struggle, and it was the only film he, who didn't think much of the medium, ever saw. It was the first Indian movie that premiered in the USA. Identify X.

12. RAM RAJYA

13. Q6. IDENTIFY ME He wrote over 800 songs in his career spanning four decades and was regarded as one of the top lyricist in the 1940s earning himself the soubriquet " Mahakavi X”. He is cited as one of the three "First Generation" of lyricists (1930s to 1950s) along with Y And Z ( Y,Z IS BONUS, +10 eac h). Apart from writing lyrics, he wrote screenplays and directed films. He was instrumental in introducing the famous composer Naushad to Bollywood. He appointed Naushad as an assistant music director in his directorial venture, a Punjabi film Mirza Sahiban (1939).

14. Mahakavi Madhok DN Madhok

15. Q7. After an eventful year of 1943, when Bollywood got its first blockbuster hits, a film was made in 1944, starring Swaran Lata, Karan Dewan and Amir Bano ; X. This film was also the top grossing film of 1944. However, more important than business it did was the phenomenon that occurred to Bollywood called Naushad Ali, one of the greatest music composers of all time. This film was shot at the Kardar Studios and was produced by A R Kardar sahib at Rs.75,000. It is said that The music by Naushad Ali was such a phenomenal hit that the company earned Rs 3 lakhs in royalties from Gramophone sales in the first year. Naushad’s first movie was Prem Nagar in 1940. However, it was X in 1944 that established Naushad as a successful music composer and from here he started demanding for Rs. 25,000 per film at that time, when the normal fees used to be a few hundred bucks. IDENTIFY X

16. X is RATTAN, 1944

17. Q8. X was the first film under his Mehboob Khan production banner and was a grand success. It was a musical film with 12 songs, written by famous lyricist Tanvir Naqvi and beautifully composed by none other than Naushad Ali. This film starred the Mallika-e- Tarannum Noor Jehan , Surendra and this was the first film which made Y, a full-fledged singing star. Y s tarted her career as a child actor in Jaddanbai’s (Nargis’s mother who was also a leading producer) Madame Fashion in 1936. Naushad heard her voice at the All India Radio and became her mentor and gave her a song in AR Kardar’s Sharda in 1942 and then in X. It was the highest grossing film of 1946 and made a collection of Rs. 1,00,00,000 on box-office that year. This film has been remade in different languages several times. The film was remade in Telugu language in 2001 as Manasantha Nuvve (2001), again in Hindi as Jeena Sirf Merre Liye (2002), in Kannada as Manasella Neene (2002), in Tamil as Thithikudhe (2003), and in Bengali as Moner Majhe Tumi (2003). IDENTIFY X AND Y.

18. X is ANMOL GHADI Y IS SURAIYA

19. Q9. X made his film debut in Ajit (1948), opposite Monica Desai, which was one of the first colour films. He got major roles in Raj Kapoor's first directorial film Aag , and Barsaat (1949) which was his first major success. In 1951, he starred in Badal opposite Madhubala , which was a big box office success. He went on to appear in many films for the next three decades, some of which were the biggest blockbusters in Indian film history. The films in which he played the leading role failed to do well, but the films in which he played the central villain role or supporting role were some of the biggest blockbusters in Indian film history. He fell in love with actress Bina Rai during the filming of Aurat . They married and formed a production company together called P.N. films.

20. X is PREM NATH

21. Q10. She was the highest paid actress of her time and was one of the most successful actresses of the 1960s and 1970s. She is considered one of the most influential actresses of all time in Hindi cinema. She started her career as a child artist. She has remained unmarried, claiming that her reputation of being unapproachable made people hesitate in asking for her hand in marriage. In her memoir Y (Bonus +10), she confirmed rumours that she was romantically involved with director Nasir Hussain who was already married, but out of respect for both their families, she couldn't marry him. Who is She?

22. SHE IS ASHA PAREKH MEMOIR NAME: THE HIT GIRL

23. BONUS ROUND (no pounce) "In X I tried to prove that Vagabonds are not born, but are created in the slums of our modern cities, in the midst of dire poverty and evil environment.” – Raj Kapoor in his column in The Indian Express X is a 1951 Indian crime drama film, produced and directed by Raj Kapoor, and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. The film expresses socialist themes, and blends social and reformist themes with the crime, romantic comedy and musical melodrama genres. is considered a milestone in the history of Bollywood. The film became an overnight sensation in South Asia, and found even greater success abroad in the Soviet Union, East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. In 2012, X was included in the 20 new entries to All-Time 100 greatest films by TIME.

24. AWARA

25. Raj Kapoor made his debut as a director with the film Aag in 1948. Its music director Ram Ganguly was assisted by X and Y. However, during the recording of a song for his new venture B, Raj Kapoor had some serious differences with Ram Ganguly and decided to assign its music to X who insisted on taking Y as his partner. Thus came into existence the new pair of music directors named ‘X-Y' who composed the music for the film. B was one of the first major hit films directed by Kapoor. This success allowed Kapoor to buy RK Studios in 1950. B also had the distinction of featuring two firsts in Hindi cinema — a title song and a cabaret, which were also the first two songs written by A (+10 Bonus). A being one of the most poet of that era. The team of Raj Kapoor, A and X-Y went on to produce many other hit songs. The song " Awara Hoon " from the 1951 film Awaara , written by A, became the most appreciated Hindustani film song outside India at the time.

26. X AND Y ARE SHANKAR AND JAIKISHAN B IS BARSAAT A IS SHAILENDRA

27. X is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language film directed by V. Shantaram , who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. The film was inspired by the story of an "open prison" experiment: Swatantrapur in the princely state of Aundh near Satara . Now, Swatantrapur is part of Atpadi tehsil in Sangli district of Maharashtra. It was recounted by screenwriter G. D. Madgulkar to V. Shantaram . The film was later remade in 1975 as the Tamil language film Pallandu Vazhga and in 1976 as the Telugu language film Maa Daivam . The core plot line is thematically similar to the 1952 movie My Six Convicts. Identify X.

28. X is Do Aankhen Barah Haanth

29. CONNECT

30. They all played DEVDAS

31. Kisan Kanya was based on a novel by Saadat Hasan Manto and focussed on the plight of poor farmers. The film had music by Ram Gopal Pandey, and had ten songs. The plot of the story was Rural crime drama featuring an exploitative landlord ( Gani ) and a good peasant Ramu ( Nissar ) who is accused of murdering the landlord. What distinction does this 1937 film hold?

32. Answer The first Indian color film to be made entirely in India (the earlier Sairandhri (1933) was processed and printed in Germany).

33. Thank you!