-
... that the 1899 play
Sangeet Sharada was "a pioneer in social drama in India" and that the 1929
Child Marriage Restraint Act, called the "Sarda Act" for its sponsor, was soon known as the "Sharada Act"?
-
... that for the film
Samaantharangal (1998),
Balachandra Menon worked on nine aspects of the film-making and also won the
National Film Award for Best Actor at the
45th National Film Awards?
-
... that 1992's
Marathi film
Ek Hota Vidushak featured
P. L. Deshpande's first new screenplay with dialogue since 1953, after a hiatus of 39 years?
-
... that the soundtrack of the
Marathi film
Kaksparsh (2012) was released after the film's theatrical release on public demand and features songs rendered without any musical accompaniment?
-
... that
Paresh Mokashi's debut film,
Harishchandrachi Factory, depicts the making of India's first feature film,
Raja Harishchandra (1913), and in 2009 was India's
official entry to the
Academy Awards?
-
... that the 1955–56
Marathi radio programme
Geet Ramayan describing the events from an Indian epic
Ramayana (central characters pictured) has been translated to eight
Indian languages, English, and also transliterated in
Braille?
-
... that Indian filmmaker
Satyajit Ray (pictured) made his
last documentary in 1987 on his father, as a tribute to celebrate the centenary of his birth?
-
... that Indian composer
A. R. Rahman (pictured), known for
Slumdog Millionaire, released his single "
Infinite Love" to "instill faith and optimism in people" prior to the predicted doomsday on
21 December 2012?
-
... that Indian filmmaker
Satyajit Ray paid tribute to the
silent film genre through his short film
Two (1964), made without any dialogue, which also makes "a strong anti-war statement"?
-
... that though
Balasaraswati was called "a revolutionary
Bharata Natyam dancer", she was only filmed at the age of 58 in
Bala, a documentary made by
Satyajit Ray?
-
... that
Meenakshi Shirodkar stunned the traditional audience when she appeared in a swimsuit in the 1938
Marathi film
Brahmachari?
-
... that when a
French television channel approached
Satyajit Ray for
Pikoo (1980), he was told "you can place your camera at your window and shoot the house next door—we will accept that"?
-
... that for the film
Rabindranath Tagore,
Satyajit Ray did not use any of Tagore's poems as he believed that people who heard the English translations would not consider Tagore "a very great poet"?
-
... that
Satyajit Ray's documentary,
The Inner Eye (1972), features an artist's journey to blindness with his own words, "Blindness is a new feeling, a new experience, a new state of being"?
-
... that after a common career span of 27 years,
Madhuri Dixit and
Juhi Chawla are costarring for the first time in the upcoming film
Gulaab Gang?
-
... that when
Charles O'Rear took a photograph of a green, lush hillside near
Napa Valley, he did not expect it to be "the most viewed image of the world"?
-
... that the
season three
premiere episode of
Game of Thrones was dedicated in the memory of its cinematographer,
Martin Kenzie?
-
... that some historians believe that presumed reels of India's first feature film
Raja Harishchandra (1913) are actually of its remake
Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra (1917)?
-
... that advertised as a "Photographed Play",
Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra (1917) is
India's first remake feature film?
-
... that on
Earth Day,
HBO
apologized to the elephants?
-
... that two years after the mission that killed
Osama bin Laden,
HBO aired a
documentary on the decade-long hunt, narrated by the
CIA agents involved?
-
... that the Russian newspaper
Moskovsky Korrespondent was shut down after running a story that President
Vladimir Putin was to divorce his
wife and marry gymnast
Alina Kabaeva?
-
... that
Ashok Patki has composed more than 5,000
jingles and also composed "
Mile Sur Mera Tumhara"?'
-
... that during the 17th century many couples performed "erotic" acts near
The Iron Lady (pictured), and it was thrown into the river twice for being an object of pagan veneration?
-
2
2... that Bollywood director
Rahul Rawail paid tribute to his father
H. S. Rawail's film
Sunghursh (1968) by titling one of his films as
Jeevan Ek Sanghursh (1990)?
- ... that in 2013, the
Bharat Ratna – India's highest
civilian award – was conferred on
Sachin Tendulkar, the youngest recipient and first sportsperson to receive the honour?
-
... that the Indian filmmaker
Satyajit Ray
was awarded both India's
highest civilian award and France's
highest decoration?
-
... that the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, was instituted in 1954, and the "father of the Indian bomb" was one of its
first recipients?
-
... that as of 2015, India's second highest civilian award has been conferred upon 18 non-citizen
recipients including
Edmund Hillary, one of the first climbers to reach the summit of
Mount Everest?
-
... that Indian composer and singer
Shankar Mahadevan made his acting debut in the 2015
Marathi film
Katyar Kaljat Ghusali?
- ... that some recipients of the
Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, have refused or even returned their medals?
-
... that
Sairat, which is set to be released today, is the first Indian film to include a symphonic score recorded in
Hollywood?
-
... that when poet
G. Sankara Kurup's (pictured) poem Odakkuzhal was nominated for the first
Jnanpith Award, the
Kerala Sahitya Akademi had opined that no Malayalam language work was worthy of this inaugural prize?
-
... that Indian scientist
Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, one of the
recipients of the Padma Bhushan award in 1980s, returned it in 2015?
-
... that the
Padma Bhushan, along with other
Indian civilian awards, was briefly suspended in
the 1990s?
-
... that historian
Romila Thapar refused to accept the
Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, but was still listed among
the recipients of the 2000s?
-
... that in 1968, Indian philosopher and statesman
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first recipient of the
Sahitya Akademi fellowship?
-
... that India's
Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship for the performing arts is usually not conferred on anyone under the age of 50?
-
2 ... that the
Neurological Society of India was founded in 1951 by
Jacob Chandy,
Balasubramaniam Ramamurthi,
S. T. Narasimhan, and
Baldev Singh, pioneers of epilepsy surgery in India?
-
... that following the tradition of Urdu poets,
Bollywood lyricist
Naqsh Lyallpuri took his surname from
his birthplace, and his family also adopted it?
-
... that India's
lifetime achievement sporting honour is named after field hockey player
Dhyan Chand, who scored more than 1000 goals during his career?
-
... that the
Dronacharya Award is an Indian sports coaching honour, named after
Drona, the royal preceptor from the Sanskrit epic
Mahabharata?
-
2 ... that India's
third highest civilian award was bestowed upon
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand
in 2017?
-
... that the
Adiyogi Shiva statue is the world's tallest bust of the Hindu god
Shiva?
-
2 ... that
Bonnie Burnard's 1999 debut novel,
A Good House, won the
Scotiabank Giller Prize?
-
... that in 1994, the fantasy novel
The Kingdom of Kevin Malone by
Suzy McKee Charnas won the
Mythopoeic Society Award in the Children's Literature category?
-
... that
Roz Chast's graphic memoir
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, about her parents in their final years, was No. 1 New York Times Bestseller in 2014?
-
... that the 2015 film
Ringan, set against the backdrop of
farmers' suicides in India, won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi?
-
... that
Richard B. Wright was nominated for the
Governor General's Awards and the
Scotiabank Giller Prize for
The Age of Longing (1995), but eventually won both for
Clara Callan (2001)?
-
... that
Stanley Elkin won the
National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for his novels
George Mills (1982) and
Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995)?
-
3 ... that the
Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, conferred its fellowship on
Kanhu Charan Mohanty (1994) and
Arjan Hasid (2013), and elected
Ronald E. Asher (2007) as an honorary fellow?
-
... that the title for
Elizabeth Nunez's novel
Anna In-Between (2009) was inspired by
M. G. Vassanji's novel
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall (2003)?
-
... that during the
Holocaust in Italy, doctors at
Fatebenefratelli Hospital protected Jews from the Nazis by diagnosing them with a fictitious disease called "Syndrome K"?
-
... that anthropologist
Verrier Elwin's autobiography
The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin was published posthumously and won the
Sahitya Akademi Award in 1965?
-
... that the
Bollywood writer
Mukhram Sharma won the inaugural
Filmfare Award for Best Story in 1955 for
Aulad (1954)?
-
2
... that Canadian author
David Bergen won the
McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award for
A Year of Lesser (1996),
The Time in Between (2005), and
The Retreat (2009)?
-
... that
Flood of Fire, the final volume of the
Ibis trilogy by
Amitav Ghosh, won the
Crossword Book Jury Award in Fiction in 2015?
-
6
5 ... that the
National Film Awards in various categories have been presented to the films
Doghi (
Other Social Issues),
Vastupurush (
Best Feature Film in Marathi),
Devrai (
Environment Conservation/Preservation),
Samhita (
Best Music Direction),
Astu (
Best Dialogue) and
Kaasav (
Best Feature Film), all by filmmaker duo
Sumitra Bhave–Sunil Sukthankar?
-
... that Barbadian-Canadian author
Austin Clarke listened to
Miles Davis while writing his
Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel
The Polished Hoe?
-
... that
Us Conductors, the debut novel by
Sean Michaels depicting a fictionalized account of the relationship between
Léon Theremin and
Clara Rockmore, won the 2014
Scotiabank Giller Prize?
-
... that
Science Express, a scientific exhibition for children mounted on a train, is included in the
Limca Book of Records for being the largest, the longest running and the most visited mobile exhibition?
- ... that as the film negatives used for the
first Indian feature film were of limited
spectral sensitivity, red color was avoided in sets, costumes, and make-up?
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