Raga Mala is the autobiography of which Indian musician?
- A.Ali Akbar Khan
- B.Ravi Shankar
- C.Bismillah Khan
- D.Vilayat Khan
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Ravi Shankar. The sitar player wrote two books about his own life and art: My Music, My Life, an early introduction to Hindustani music written for readers abroad, and Raga Mala, the autobiography edited by his student George Harrison of the Beatles. Option A, Ali Akbar Khan, the sarod player and son of Allauddin Khan, left no such autobiography. Option C, Bismillah Khan, the shehnai player of Varanasi, is the subject of books by others rather than the author of one. Option D, Vilayat Khan, another great sitar player, is wrong for the same reason, and he is a deliberate distractor because the instrument matches. The editor's name, George Harrison, is the detail that confirms Raga Mala. Note also that the two titles are easy to separate: My Music, My Life came out in the nineteen sixties as a teaching book, while Raga Mala is the later life story, so a question that mentions an editor is always pointing at Raga Mala.
Read the full article: Books by Film, Music and Art Personalities
Practice Questions
View allRomancing with Life is the autobiography of which Indian film personality?
- A.Dharmendra
- B.Dev Anand
- C.Shammi Kapoor
- D.Rajendra Kumar
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Romancing with Life appeared in 2007, timed to the actor's eighty-fourth birthday, and covers his arrival in Bombay, the founding of Navketan Films with his brother Chetan Anand, and the making of films such as Guide and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
Read the full explanation →The memoir An Unsuitable Boy was written by which director?
- A.Karan Johar
- B.Mahesh Bhatt
- C.Ramesh Sippy
- D.Subhash Ghai
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The director of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai wrote this memoir with the journalist Poonam Saxena, and its title plays deliberately on Vikram Seth's novel A Suitable Boy, which is the trap most often set with this question.
Read the full explanation →The Substance and the Shadow is the autobiography of which actor?
- A.Raj Kapoor
- B.Dilip Kumar
- C.Balraj Sahni
- D.Ashok Kumar
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The book came out in 2014 and was narrated by the actor to the journalist Udayatara Nayar, which is why it is described as an autobiography rather than a biography.
Read the full explanation →And Then One Day: A Memoir was written by which actor?
- A.Om Puri
- B.Naseeruddin Shah
- C.Anupam Kher
- D.Pankaj Kapur
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His 2014 memoir runs from a childhood in Uttar Pradesh through the National School of Drama and the Film and Television Institute of India to the parallel cinema of the nineteen seventies.
Read the full explanation →Which film lyricist received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 for the Urdu short-story collection Dhuan?
- A.Javed Akhtar
- B.Gulzar
- C.Kaifi Azmi
- D.Sahir Ludhianvi
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He is among the few figures honoured both by the film world and by the Sahitya Akademi, and the award of 2002 was for Dhuan, a collection of Urdu short stories; his poetry collections include Raat Pashmine Ki and Pluto.
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