BrainPuzzles

Bollywood Quiz

Bollywood is the everyday name for the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai, and this quiz asks 15 questions about how those films were made rather than about the private lives of the people in them. The ground runs from the silent era to the 1990s, with one stop in 2004 to put an old film into colour: the 1913 feature that opened Indian cinema, the 1931 film that first carried sound, the writing pair behind the angry young man of the 1970s, and the trade words most fans half know, like playback singer and picturisation. Every question gives four options and 15 seconds, and every answer comes with a one line explanation that adds a fact instead of repeating the option you just tapped. One question asks what the Filmfare statuette is nicknamed. Another asks where the story of Devdas began, long before any camera was pointed at it.

All 15 questions

  1. Which 1913 film is counted as India's first full-length feature?

    • Raja Harishchandra
    • Shri Krishna Janma
    • Kaliya Mardan
    • Lanka Dahan

  2. Which 1931 film was the first Indian feature with sound?

    • Achhut Kanya
    • Alam Ara
    • Devdas
    • Sant Tukaram

  3. The name Bollywood joins Hollywood with which city's older name?

    • Baroda
    • Bangalore
    • Bombay
    • Bhopal

  4. What is the trade name for a Hindi film mixing action, romance and songs?

    • A thali picture
    • A chaat reel
    • A tiffin film
    • A masala film

  5. What do you call a singer whose recording an actor mimes on screen?

    • A playback singer
    • A rehearsal singer
    • A session singer
    • A chorus lead

  6. In Hindi cinema, what is the filming and staging of a song called?

    • Storyboarding
    • Picturisation
    • Blocking
    • Framing

  7. Pyaasa (1957) was directed by its leading man. Who was he?

    • Raj Kapoor
    • Dev Anand
    • Guru Dutt
    • Bimal Roy

  8. Mughal-e-Azam opened in 1960 mostly in black and white. What came in 2004?

    • A Tamil dub
    • A radio serial
    • A sequel
    • A colour release

  9. Which writing pair shaped the angry young man hero of the 1970s?

    • Salim-Javed
    • Jatin-Lalit
    • Anand-Milind
    • Nadeem-Shravan

  10. Which 1975 film gave Hindi cinema the bandit Gabbar Singh?

    • Deewaar
    • Sholay
    • Zanjeer
    • Don

  11. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) was whose first film as director?

    • Sooraj Barjatya
    • Karan Johar
    • Aditya Chopra
    • Yash Chopra

  12. A. R. Rahman first scored a Hindi film in 1995. Which one?

    • Dil Se
    • Lagaan
    • Dil To Pagal Hai
    • Rangeela

  13. Which 1957 film was the first from India nominated for a foreign-language Oscar?

    • Mother India
    • Do Bigha Zamin
    • Naya Daur
    • Madhumati

  14. The Filmfare award statuette is popularly known as which figure?

    • The Golden Peacock
    • The Black Lady
    • The Silver Lotus
    • The Bronze Deer

  15. Devdas has been filmed again and again. Where did the story start?

    • A Marathi stage play
    • A radio serial
    • A Bengali novel
    • A folk song