Chaudhuri - Bollybook : the big book of Hindi movie trivia

A quiz on some of our quirkier credits from some of our biggest hits and most favourite films. Lets see how many you can get.

1. This actor starred in Jaani Dushman (1979) and The Burning Train and in both cases, he was credited as And above all... Who is this stratospheric dude?

2. And... with his Wonder Bird... Name the actor and his pet from this film, which incorporated the birds image in the logo of the films title.

3. Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor acted together in five movies (not counting guest appearances). In only one of them, Rishis name appeared before Amitabh in the titles. Which one and why?

4. Which Hindi film had the following as part of its cast:... and Lord Bertrand Russell in...?

5. Who is credited with the story of Shahenshah?

6. Complete the following credits from Queen: Dialogue: Anvita Dutt, Additional dialogue...

7. In films written by SalimJaved, what distinction do the following four people hold: Gulzar, Inder Raj Anand, Nasir Husain and Manoj Kumar?

8. Which film had the following as part of its credits: Anupam Kher (Principal), Rani Mukherji (Tina), Kajol (Angie), Shah Rukh Khan (Rocky)?

9. Which film had the following stars: Waheeda Rehman, Mala Sinha, Sharmila Tagore, Simi, Indrani Mukherji, Bindu, Komila Wirk, Prema Narayan, Simple Kapadia?

10. Kundan Shah and Saeed Mirza were Script Associates. Sudhir Mishra was Dialogue Assistant. Naseeruddin Shah was credited with the still photography. Which is this film?

10.Khamosh, Vidhu Vinod Chopras second feature film had this stellar cast partly because the budget dictated a lot of gratis work.

9. Naseeb. These were the female stars who participated as guests in the John Jaani Janardhan song.

8. Koochie Koochie Hota Hai, an animation film around the love stories of a pack of dogs, borrowed the character names from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

7. They are the only four people who were credited with the dialogues in SalimJaved films, which the writer duo usually preferred to write themselves. For Andaz, Seeta Aur Geeta, Yaadon Ki Baaraat and Kranti respectively.

6. Kangana Ranaut, who wrote most of the lines for her character.

5. Jaya Bachchan

4. Aman (starring Rajendra Kumar) had an anti-war message and convinced Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation to get the British philosopher to appear in a cameo.

3. Amar Akbar Anthony because Rishi Kapoor played Akbar whose name was announced before Anthony in the hospital where the credits played out.

2. Pran and Sheroo in Dharam Veer.

1. Jeetendra

ANSWERS

The moving finger writes...

Opening line from Yash Chopras Waqt

As you struggle to open the slightly oily packet of chips, the lights go off, making the already difficult job of locating the seal impossible. You also stop tugging at the polythene and concentrate on the list of people who are going to fill your next three hoursand maybe the rest of your lifewith meaning.

No amount of pre-release hype or music-channel song promos can bring about a surge of adrenaline the way a rocking opening credits sequence does. And while some do it with mirrors, Bollywood does it with a mix of cool devices.

Pre-credit backstory compressionvery popular till the 1980swas an attempt to knock off the socio-historical context of the film, the motivation of the hero and the emergence of the key characters before the titles so that the real story could begin. It took economy of expression to a completely new level, saying more in the first 22 minutes than in the next 222!

There were many film-makers who employed this device but nobody did it better than Manmohan Desai.

In his biggest hit, he separated a family of five in a matter of eight minutes. The father got into a gun-battle with a smuggler and escaped with a crate of gold biscuits. The mother was rendered blind by the falling branch of a tree. Their three sons were picked up by a Hindu police officer, a Muslim tailor and a Christian priest each, but not before all of them had left behind tons of identifiers to pick up years later. Years passed, and we are brought to an accident site where a blind flower-lady was hit badly and needed blood urgently. A Christian do-gooder took her to the hospital. A Hindu police inspector was at the hospital to lodge the case. A Muslim qawwali singer was also there, flirting with a lady doctor. All of them were found to be of the same blood group as the blind lady, and were all roped in to donate some blood.