QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–346

This one’s going to be quite a bit convoluted.

The song A was supposed to have been composed for film B, starring X in the lead. Instead, gained fame when picturised on Y in the film C.

Years later, Y’s son Z starred in a film D, whose name and theme song were inspired by a famous song from one of X’s most famous films.

Strangely enough, Z is seen humming (more like ‘reciting’) the song A as he interrogates ‘suspects’ by injecting what is initially shown as a deadly cocktail of drugs into them.

Identify all – A, B, C, D, X, Y and Z.

Hint: C’s remake, which also had its interpretation of A, is spawning a sequel.

PS: Take a look at the latest post on my opinion blog.

PPS: There may not be any more questions for the next few days (again). But this time it’s because I am moving to Delhi to take up a new offer. More on that when I get there and get a new internet connection and start posting again.

Meanwhile, happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three answers, and two have got it.

A is Khaike paan banaras wala.

B is Banarasi Babu

X is Dev Anand

Y is Amitabh Bachchan

C is Don

Z is Abhishek Bachchan

D is Dum Maaro Dum

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–345

X’s mother, a veterinarian like X’s father, paid a record house to write a song, get X to sing it, record a video and publish it. She paid them $4,000 for a vanity release on Facebook and Youtube. Initially, it received only about a 1,000 hits, but went viral later, remaining a trending topic on Twitter for several days all across the world.

Unfortunately, despite the large number of views, the reviews of the song were mostly negative, and it was panned badly by critics.

The upshot of it all was that X began to be bullied in school, and had to drop out, preferring to be home-schooled. However, X later said that the move to drop out was so that X could focus more on career prospects.

Simple. Identify X. Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: Happy Mahalaya / beginning of the Navaratras, for tomorrow.

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A dozen answers over several days, and all correct! This is indeed Rebecca Black, of Friday fame, or infamy, whichever you choose.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–344

Another connect, but it’s not exactly a filmi one.

1.

2. Only the artiste matters.

3.

What connects these three and an event that took place in March-April this year?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Five answers, and four correct. Karthike Ramesh, I was not talking about Rabindranath Tagore, but Raghab Chatterjee. The other two are Ranidu Lankage and Shankar Mahadevan (of course). These three sang the three different versions of De Ghumake, the official song of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Meanwhile, I welcome back an old patron of this blog – Partha the oncologist. Nice to see you back.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–343

Fender, that famous manufacturer of guitars, especially the Stratocaster electric guitar, which has several collections of it released.

This is exactly one such signature Fender Squier XXXXXX Electric Guitar Strat. The blocked-out part is the artiste’s name. Identify him.

Hint: He is the first from his country to be bestowed with this honour.

Further hint (not much of a hint): The following are some of the features of the guitar.

• Alder body
• Maple veneer
• Maple neck with slim C back shape
• Rosewood fretboard
• Nut width 1.65
• Neck Radius 9.5
• 6105 Medium Jumbo Frets
• Duncan Designed HSH Pickup Configuration
• Available in Emerald Green finish , Deep Purple Finish , Blue and Red
• Sperzel Licensed Locking Tuners
• Tremolo Bridge with solid saddles

A better hint, making it much easier: This guitar is available only in India. Oh, and I think you can see his signature on the guitar too!

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: Apropos what Kapinjal Chowdhury said regarding QR 341. A lot of people tried to answer the question on several pages of Facebook. As I have stated earlier, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reply to all of them, or even keep track of them! That’s the first reason I haven’t mentioned Mit Chowdhury’s name as one of those who answered. The second reason, of course, was that the answer was not correct. There’s a significant difference between Bengali bands and bands from Kolkata.

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Three answers, and only two correct. This is indeed Ehsaan Noorani, from the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–342

Apparently, the last one was too difficult. So here’s one that should elicit a little more response, as opposed to no answers last time.

This photo is a comical take on the origins of what?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

****************

Twelve answers, but only a few correct. Wonder hoe people got to conclusions like Yahoo! Also, this isn’t Stone Hedge, folks, it’s Stonehenge!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–341

A connect after quite some time.

Hints: The symbol is the last alphabet in an Indian language. And the gap to which the arrow points towards actually has a name.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: This blog could really do with some sponsors!

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Looks like this one is too tough. No answers so far! The connection is musical bands from West Bengal / Poschim Bongo, or more specifically, Kolkata. The first is Fossils, the second is Chandrabindoo, the third is Cactus, and the fourth is Cassini’s Division. Will try to make it easier this time.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–340

Try this, for a change.

Just give me the names of the instrument and the performer.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Four answers, and none of you got the instrument correct! However, three of you correctly identified this gentleman as Niladri Kumar. The instrument he is playing is the zitar, his own creation. It is a combination of the sitar and the guitar.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–339

This shouldn’t be too difficult.

The words shown above form a famous laconic phrase. Tell me, who said these, and to whom? Even if you don’t get those, simply tell me how this is immortalised in popular culture. And no, I am not looking for the place where these words are inscribed.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Five answers, and four correct. This is what King Leonidas said to Xerxes: “Molon labe! (Come and get them!)” Their saga is immortalised in the film 300. Wonder why nobody mentioned it.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–338

Easy, actually.

Simply identify the bitch.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: Have a quick look at my opinion blog too. Got a few fresh posts there.

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Five answers, and all correct! This is indeed Zynga, after whom her owner named his gaming organisation that gave us Farmville and more. And yes, that’s Mark Pincus, owner of both Zyngas.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–337

Have been impressed by quite a few comic sites and internet memes lately. So here’s one for you guys.

What line from Gandalf completes this comic?

Enjoy these and more at Comixed!

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Thanks to those who said this was funny. Obviously, Gandalf is saying, “You shall not pass!!” For those who didn’t get this, I suggest you see the LOTR films more carefully.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–336

Bit of a quiz-ception, this.

Identify the name and logo of the television programme that has been whitened out from this static advertisement.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Nine answers, and all correct! This is indeed the Bournvita Quiz Contest, or BQC, for short!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–335

The X, are often described as spiritual warriors, or warrior monks. Theirs is best described as a ‘post-modern religious movement’. According to the 2001 census of Australia, more than 70,000 people belong to this religion, and according to the census of New Zealand the same year, they outnumber the country’s Buddhist and Hindu population! The census of the same year in England and Wales saw nearly 400,000 of them register as following this ‘religion’, a number which surpasses the Sikhs and Buddhhists there!

Which religion am I talking about? Or simply, identify X, or what people wrote under the tab ‘Religion’ during the census in the above-mentioned countries.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Six answers, and all correct! X is indeed Jedi! Yes, those Star Wars people!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–334

This one is for all those school students who visit this blog. But that does not mean that the bigger boys can’t answer.

Beautiful anti-corruption cartoon, and wonderfully drawn by the cartoonist. Kudos to him. Just identify the video game it is modelled on.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Eleven answers, and quite a few of them have the derivative of the original game. Look a little bit more carefully, folks. This is more of a tribute to Angry Birds than Angry Anna!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–333

The list is looooooooooong, and I don’t want much. Just give me the names of the first two films.

• _____________ (1962)
• ___________________ (1973)
• Zavallilar (1974)
• Nashville (1975)
• Yol (1981)
• After Hours (1985)
• The Player (1992)
• Short Cuts (1993)
• The Three Colors Trilogy (1993-1994)
• Before the Rain (1994)
• Exotica (1994)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• The Opposite of Sex (1998)
• Playing by Heart (1998)
• Go (1999)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Timecode (2000)
• Amores Perros (2000)
• Traffic (2000)
• Lantana (2001)
• City of God (2002)
• 21 Grams (2003)
• Cape of Good Hope (2004)
• Crash (2004)
• Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004)
• Yuva (2004)
• Happy Endings (2005)
• Syriana (2005)
• Nine Lives (2005)
• Look Both Ways (2006)
• Babel (2006)
• The Edge of Heaven (2007)
• Rendition (2007)
• The Air I Breathe (2008)
• Gomorrah (2008)
• Mammoth (2009)
• Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)
• Ajami (2009)
• Powder Blue (2009
• Hereafter (2010)
• Kaker blanca (2010)
• Traffic (2011)

Hint: The list will expand with time, of course, but the connection is a term that was first used and popularised in 2005.

Further hint: The term has something to do with the way I plug my opinion blog here.

And a special thanks to the person who directed me to this topic through one of his questions on a Facebook quizzing page.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Just four answers, and three correct! The list above is a complete collection, till date, of Hyperlink Cinema. The first two examples are a matter of pride for us---they are Indian!! They are Kanchenjungha and Titas Ekti Nadir Nam.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–332

This is a very specific connect.

1. For those of you who can’t hear this, it’s the song Motumaster from Udaan.

QR 332 by arkadev

2.

3.

4. The busiest day of shopping in the USA since 2005, this specific day comes right after Thanksgiving, and often sees retailers opening their shops as early as 4am, and offering special discounts and deals, because it marks the beginning of shopping for Christmas.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

*************

Six answers, and only one went off the track, pointing towards Dawood Ibrahim, for some reason. All the others were right. This is indeed Anurag Kashyap. The song has him debuting as a singer, Shagird saw him as a full-time actor, as opposed to his small cameos and guest appearances earlier. Satya was a film he co-wrote.

The story goes that when, later, he went to the censor board with Paanch, they said that the film was not ‘constructive’. And that it had too much of rough language. Kashyap pointed out that he had written rougher dialogues for Satya, and it’s story wasn’t too ‘constructive’ either. Paanch, if I have heard correctly, is yet to see the light of the day.

As for the last clue, the day is named Black Friday, which also happens to be the name of one of Kashyap’s most critically-acclaimed and controversial films.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–331 (NSFW)

Another simple one.

Identify the product for which this is a print ad.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: Take a look at my opinion blog for some new posts.

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Ten answers, and seven correct. This is indeed a print-ad for Viagra. The NSFW tag should have alerted a lot of people!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–330

Simple!

Who is this, and what happens next?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Eleven answers, and all correct! This is indeed Usain Bolt’s false start at the World Athletics 2011. It got him disqualified, and started a heated debate about the new disqualification rules.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–329

Apple and Samsung are engaged in several legal battles against each other in courts across at least nine countries. One of them is at the District Court for the Northern District of California, where Apple is trying to have four Samsung smartphones and tablets banned from the US due to alleged design patent infringement.

It was at this court that Samsung countered Apple’s allegations of it stealing from designs patented for the iPad with the argument that someone else had already designed an iPad-like device decades before the iLife giant.

Samsung says that this person, X, had created iPad’s design and depicted it in his groundbreaking work of fiction Y. Coincidentally, another of Apple’s market-changing gadgets derives its name from the same work of fiction.

Identify X and Y.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

**********

Five answers, but only two are entirely correct. X is Stanley Kubrick, and Y is 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s the iPad now, but even the iPod owes its nomenclature to this ‘work of fiction’, or more specifically, the film directed by Kubrick!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–328

Here’s a relatively easy one.

Identify both the artist and the context.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Three answers, and spot on! The artist is indeed Banksy, from London, famous for graffiti art all over the city. The context, as is evident from the clever wordplay, is the infamous phone-tapping scandal that spelt doom for News of the World.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–327

Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Just tell me the country where this happened, and the context.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!!

PS: Here’s a replug of my opinion blog.

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Three answers here, and all correct. This is the way Norwegians showed their gratitude towards the police after the lone-man shootout and bombing recently.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–326

Spurting out again.

This is a non-entertainment question, in a loose sense, actually. wonder if many people will consider what this insect does as entertainment,

The name is obvious from the filename. Just tell me the claim to fame of this insect.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Four answers, three correct. This insect makes the loudest noise possible, if one considers his body size in ratio with that sound. and the BUGger apparently does it by rubbing its penis!!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–325

This ought to be superbly easy!

There was a point of time in his life when he wore two watches on the same hand, so that he could keep track of time in his own country and in Switzerland too, where his children studied. He even confessed in a recent interview that he has worn three watches on the same hand at a certain point of time in life, but that was simply because he thought it looked stylish.

Now, years later, he has worn two watches on the same hand for a film that itself is a cheeky nod towards his younger days.

Who is this person, and which film are we talking about?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: Biz World, the book, has already gone into a reprint, with the publishers having run out of the initial 4,000 copies! Go get yours from www.flipkart.com or Dial-A-book!

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Eleven answers, nine correct. This is indeed Amitabh Bachchan, who repeated the feat in Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–324

Should not be all that difficult.

This is an overhead shot of a scene being filmed for an upcoming superhero flick. The green water body is probably a Lazarus Pit. Identify the film and the location.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS:

Here’s today’s Funda of the day from Biz World, which is already one of the Top 10 books at www.flipkart.com!

***

Nine answers, and seven of them are correct! Here’s a bit of explanation first. A Lazarus Pit is a fictional putrid reservoir in which Batman’s villain Ra’s al Ghul, an immortal, rejuvenates himself. That green thing is a Lazarus Pit, and Liam Neeson, last seen as Ghul in Batman Begins, shot a few scenes near and in it at an undisclosed location near Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–323

A straight one.

Identify this gentleman.

PS:

Here’s today’s Funda of the day from Biz World, which is already one of the Top 10 books at www.flipkart.com!

***

Four answers, and nailed it! This is indeed Pablo Picasso!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–322

Once again, folks, sorry for the long hiatus. Had been in a very low phase lately. trying to claw back into life, and hopefully this blog and your responses will help.

Regards, Arkadev.

And here’s an easy one to get the ball rolling, again.

Simply, identify both.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS:

Here’s today’s Funda of the day from Biz World, which is already one of the Top 10 books at www.flipkart.com!

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Four answers, and they got what I was looking for. One of them even got something I had overlooked! This is apparently a fake photograph of John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–321

There can only be one connect here.

1.

2.

It’s a person.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS:

Here’s today’s Funda of the day from Biz World, which is already one of the Top 10 books at www.flipkart.com!

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Sorry for the looooooooong hiatus, folks. This blog will be limping back to normalcy now. Meanwhile, as a few of you have pointed out, the answer is indeed Leonard Nimoy, who was Spock in the original Star Trek series, and also directed Three Men and a Baby, which was remade in Hindi as Heyy Babyy.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–320

Can’t even find the tempo these days to keep the blog going, but here’s something that might give me second wind. Connect…

1.

2.

3.

Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Happy Quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

Oh, and…

Here’s your funda of the day from BizWorld. They have already started shipping his book, and I already have my autographed copy!

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Three answers, and two correct. It’s indeed Stuart Little, the film. Michael J Fox voiced Stuart, Hugh Laurie played his father, and Manoj Night Shyamalan co-wrote the story!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–319

Sorry about the erratic posting, folks. Not been keeping too well. Exhaustion and all. So I’ll keep this one simple.

What is the biggest claim to fame of this hospitality institution? Sorry for the wonky photo, but I guess it’s still easy.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS:

Here’s BizWorld’s Funda of the Day.

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Just three replies over two days, and one of them is incorrect! The real claim to fame of this place is that it inspired The Eagles to write Hotel California!

QR–Cure- Quizzing Realms–318

Here’s a connect.

1.

2. The book on which this film is based is important.

3.

I want a VERY SPECIFIC answer. And it is beyond the absolute obvious.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

Meanwhile:

Here’s BizWorld’s Funda of the Day.

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Seven answers, but only three have the full funda. All three books have been made into films starring Irrfan Khan and Tabu in the lead. Ang Lee is currently making Life of Pi, actually. Got to know of it from Irrfan Khan himself, who I got to interview on Monday.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–317

Lets make it a not-so-easy one.

Identify this lady.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

And here’s the second funda of the day from Bizworld.

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Four responses, and thanks to the one who appreciates this blog here. Of the other three, only two have correctly identified Odhiya politician Nandini Satpathy.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–316

A simple connect.

1.

2.

3.

Filenames, as usual, remain unchanged.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS, Also take a look at this:

These two friends of mine are coming out with a book on business quizzing. Go ahead and buy it from Flipkart if you like.

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Five answers, and all correct! It’s indeed Jaya Bachchan nee Bhaduri, who made her acting debut in the Bengali film Dhanni Meye, and also acted in Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa, directed by Govind Nihalani, and based on Hajar Churashir Ma, written by Mahashweta Devi.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–315

Lets keep it dry for the day.

Within hours of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, which character, whom one of the directors of the earlier films in the franchise wanted to write out but could not because JK Rowling insisted that the character would play a very important role later on, began to trend on twitter worldwide, and remained that way for quite a few days?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: Got the laptop. Thanks to the one ‘anonymous’ person for the advice. Got me a Dell Vostro 1015. Sound’s not too good, but the rest of it is a real steal!

Oh, and check out the latest post on my opinion blog.

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Wow!! 276 visitors, and not a single reply! I though it was obvious! The film ends with the death of Dobby the house elf!

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms – 314

Simple.

Gimme the name of the artist.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: I am about to buy a laptop/netbook in the Rs20,000-25,000 range. DDR3 RAM, at least 250-320GB hard disk, preferably AMD processor. Any suggestions?

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Seven answers and one advice. All seven answers are correct, though. This is indeed Mamata Bannerjee in action. One of her paintings recently sold for Rs50 lakh at an auction.

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms – 313

A slightly difficult one.

This 4,446-metre high peak in country X was named after the leader of country Y so as to promote friendly relationships between the two countries. Z, the leader of Y, has several other achievements to his credit. Z has written a book on Judo, and is said to be the only world-leader to have a special Judo move of his own. On a certain occasion, when forest fires ravaged parts of Y, Z actually got into a helicopter and piloted it while spraying water/fire-retardant material over parts of the affected area. On another occasion, Z actually put a wild tiger in a forest to sleep with a tranquiliser gun, and helped forest officials measure its teeth!

Identify X, Y and Z.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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15 replies, and barring Yash the Dark, all seem to have conquered the summit! This is indeed Mount Putin in Kyrghystan, named after Vladmir Putin of Russia.

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms – 312

Easy.

Of which website is this the index page screen-grab?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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14 answers, and I’d have to say that all of them are correct. This is indeed www.poonampandeynude.com. :)

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms – 311

No questions today, because everything was answered last night. And this photo best describes the moment. The God with one of his most ardent devotees, share the ultimate prize in cricket.

So instead, Here’s some trivia about the WC final that took place, making us the winners once again.

1. This is not the first time that a host has one the World Cup. Sri Lanka did it in 1996.
2. This was, however, the first ever WC final where both captains were wicket-keepers.
3. This was also the first ever All-Asian WC final.
4. In fact, this was probably the first WC final that featured two teams from the same continent!
5. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time that a WC was won by hitting a six.

Add to them through your replies, and together we’ll build a veritable treasure trove of information about the final!

Happy trivia-hunting, and have a nice life, folks!

Two concrete additions:

6. This was the first time that a person scoring a 100 in the final ended up on the losing side. This, however, does NOT mean that a hundred has been scored in all the final matches of a cricket world cup.

7. India becomes the first team to win World Cups of limited overs in all three formats: 60 overs, 50 overs and 20 overs!