Theatre and Cinema of India: Forms, Firsts and PYQs

The correct answer is D, Assam. Ankiya Nat is the one-act devotional play written by Srimanta Sankardeva, the saint of the Vaishnava movement in Assam, and its performance is called a Bhaona, staged in the prayer hall of a satra or naamghar with a narrator, songs and masks. Option A is wrong because Bihar's folk theatre traditions are Bidesia and Reshma-Chuharmal, not Ankiya Nat. Option B is wrong because the street theatre of Tamil Nadu is Therukoothu, with Villu Paatu as its ballad form. Option C is wrong because Odisha shares the Jatra tradition with Bengal and has Prahlada Nataka of its own. Questions on folk theatre are almost always of this shape, a form against four states, so learn the pairs rather than the descriptions.

The correct answer is D, film. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted in 1969 for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema and is named after Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, who made the first Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra, in 1913 and is called the father of Indian cinema; the first recipient was the actress Devika Rani. Option A is wrong because the highest sporting honours are the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award and the Arjuna Award, which cover cricket along with other games. Option B is wrong because hockey is honoured through the same sports awards, and Major Dhyan Chand's name is attached to them. Option C is wrong for the same reason. Note also that the award is presented with the National Film Awards. Phalke's own films, made between 1913 and the coming of sound, were silent, so the award honours a body of work rather than a single film.

The correct answer is D, Bhanu Athaiya. She won the Academy Award for costume design in 1983 for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, sharing it with John Mollo, and was the first Indian to win an Oscar in any category. Option A is wrong because Satyajit Ray received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1992, which came later and was not a competitive award. Option B is wrong because A. R. Rahman won two Academy Awards in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire, for original score and for the song Jai Ho, again later than 1983. Option C is wrong because Guru Dutt, the director of Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool, never received an Academy Award. Resul Pookutty won for sound mixing in the same year as Rahman.

The correct answer is B, Ranveer Singh. In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat he played the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji, whose siege of Chittor in 1303 is the historical background of the story, which is drawn from the Padmavat of Malik Muhammad Jayasi. Option A is wrong because Shahid Kapoor played Maharawal Ratan Singh, the ruler of Chittor, in the same film. Option C is wrong because Ranbir Kapoor was not part of the cast. Option D is wrong because Rana Daggubati, known for the Baahubali films, also had no role in it. Questions of this kind pair a film with an actor or with the historical figure behind the character, so the history is worth remembering along with the cast. Padmaavat was released in 2018 after a long dispute over its content, and Deepika Padukone played the queen Padmavati in it.

The correct answer is B, Raja Harishchandra. Dadasaheb Phalke made it in 1913 as a silent film on the legend of the truthful king, and it is counted as the first Indian feature film. Option A is wrong because Alam Ara, made by Ardeshir Irani in 1931, was the first Indian talkie, the first film with recorded sound and songs. Option C is wrong because Kisan Kanya, made in 1937, was the first Indian colour film and was also produced by Ardeshir Irani. Option D is wrong because Mother India, made by Mehboob Khan in 1957, was the first Indian film nominated for the Academy Award in the foreign film category. The four years 1913, 1931, 1937 and 1957 are the ones examiners shuffle. Phalke shot the film in Bombay with an all-male cast, since women of the time would not appear before the camera.

The correct answer is B, Ardeshir Irani. Alam Ara carried recorded dialogue and songs and opened in Bombay in 1931; Irani also produced Kisan Kanya in 1937, the first Indian colour film, which is why his name answers two questions in this chapter. Option A is wrong because Dadasaheb Phalke belongs to the silent era and made the first feature film, Raja Harishchandra, in 1913. Option C is wrong because V. Shantaram, the maker of Do Aankhen Barah Haath and Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, worked later and received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Option D is wrong because Mehboob Khan directed Mother India in 1957. Remember that the first talkie and the first colour film share one director. The Imperial Film Company of Bombay, which Irani ran, produced both of these landmark films of Indian cinema.

The correct answer is A, Bharata. The Natya Shastra describes the playhouse, the actor's gestures, music, dance and the theory of rasa, the sentiment a performance raises in the spectator, and it is the foundation of every classical form of Indian theatre and dance. Option B is wrong because Abhinavagupta was a later commentator from Kashmir who wrote the Abhinavabharati on this very text, but not the text itself. Option C is wrong because Bhasa was a dramatist, the author of Swapnavasavadattam, and not a theorist. Option D is wrong because Panini wrote the Ashtadhyayi on Sanskrit grammar. Examiners often pair the treatise with the commentator, so keep Bharata for the work and Abhinavagupta for the commentary. The text lists eight rasas, and a ninth, shanta or tranquillity, was added by later writers on the subject.

The correct answer is A, Karnataka. Yakshagana is performed through the night in coastal Karnataka on episodes from the epics, with tall headgear, painted faces, a singer who carries the story and drums that mark the dance. Option B is wrong because Kerala's Sanskrit theatre is Kutiyattam, recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, and its dance drama is Kathakali. Option C is wrong because Maharashtra's folk theatre is Tamasha, with the Powada ballad beside it. Option D is wrong because Gujarat, along with Rajasthan, has Bhavai, a satirical folk play. This is the commonest question shape in the chapter, so revise the forms as pairs with their states rather than by their descriptions. The singer who carries the story in Yakshagana is called the Bhagavata, and the drums used are the chande and the maddale.

The correct answer is A, Andhra Pradesh. Tholu Bommalata uses large leather puppets held against a lit screen, and the shadows tell episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata through the night. Option B is wrong because West Bengal's tradition is Putul Nautch, which uses rod puppets. Option C is wrong because Rajasthan is the home of Kathputli, the string puppet form seen at fairs. Option D is wrong because Kerala has Pavakathakali, a glove puppet form that borrows the make-up and the music of Kathakali. Puppetry questions are decided by the kind of puppet as much as by the state, so learn string, shadow, rod and glove with one example each. The Sangeet Natak Akademi supports these puppet traditions through its centres and through the annual festivals it holds.

The correct answer is B, Shudraka. Mrichchhakatika, the little clay cart, tells the story of the merchant Charudatta and the courtesan Vasantasena and is valued for its picture of ordinary city life rather than of kings. Option A is wrong because Kalidasa wrote Abhijnanashakuntalam, Malavikagnimitram and Vikramorvashiyam. Option C is wrong because Harsha, the ruler of Kanauj, is credited with Ratnavali, Nagananda and Priyadarshika. Option D is wrong because Bhavabhuti wrote Uttararamacharita and Malatimadhava. One more name worth keeping is Vishakhadatta, the author of Mudrarakshasa, which is set around Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya, because papers place him among these four. The play was later adapted for the screen as Utsav, and it is counted among the finest works of the classical Sanskrit stage. Shudraka himself is described in the prologue of the play as a king, though nothing certain is known about him.