An Antakshari To End All Antaksharis

An Antakshari To End All Antaksharis

Antakshari is a typical Indian (I guess) game which almost everyone in India must have played at some time or other in their childhood. This traditional game which must have kept the folk songs alive through centuries received a great boost in past few decades as film music proliferated and provided the players of Antakshari a veritable treasure-trove of songs. This is a game which is a great leveler, anyone and everyone can participate on an equal footing, young ones with the recent trendy hits and the golden oldies with their khazana of old forgotten songs. 

The traditional form of Antakshari used to be like a timeless test which would go on for hours at end and I remember spending an entire train journey on a family trip spread over a few days battling (solo, that too) relentlessly against two very determined ladies who refused to give up. I had to bring out all my resources and managed just about to hang on.

But in these days of ODIs and T20s, the classic format has given way to a few modified versions which take into consideration the time constraint on players and exciting fresh variations. As a result the Antakshari has morphed into a totally different creature, a heady blend between the traditional form and a music quiz. As a result the Antakshari of earlier years which hardly required a referee, now requires a savvy organizer who can design interesting formats and provide the contestants with a far more complex challenge. The audio and video media have added new dimensions to the game and made the game infinitely more interesting. The variations it can take are only restricted by the imagination of the organizers.

So when a maestro like Manohar Iyer arranges an Antakshari, you can be sure that it is going to be a treat for the spectators and test the contestants to their limits. Manohar is a walking encyclopedia of Hindi film music. Throw any song at him and he comes up not only the film from which it is taken but also the lyricist, music director, the year it hit the theatres, the banner under which it was produced, the lead pair on whom it was filmed and quite likely tell you some notable incident which took place during the making of the film. Manohar runs an institution called “Keep Alive” formed and nurtured by him with a religious zeal for past 20 years now, for music is nothing short of a religion to him. 

Keep Alive, as the name suggests, has made it a mission to keep the old Hindi film music alive for the older generation and in the process also introduced the melodies from past to the younger generation. Keep Alive holds regular programs, each one with its unique theme, like songs by a particular singer or a music director or a lyricist or from a particular era in Bollywood filmi sangeet. Given his penchant for bringing out forgotten gems of past, each program of Keep Alive has at least 3-4 songs which very few (read probably no one) in the audience have heard before, googlies and bouncers that are totally unplayable.  

So one can only imagine what to expect when he organizes an Antakshari event and has to approach it with some amount of trepidation.

Look at some of the rounds in the last one he organized.

Round 1 : Geet Gaata Chal:

Normal traditional antakshari round with a twist - the older the song the contestant comes up with, more points he gets e.g songs from films released in:

 1931 - 40 : 30 points

                              1941 - 50 : 25 points

                               1951 – 60 : 20 points

                              1961 – 70 : 15 points

                              1971 onwards : 10 points

Round 2 : SHABD ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam :

Contestants to sing a song starting from a word picked at random.

Round 3 :   Hum CHAR Mein Jalnewalon ko Chain Kahaan :

The contestants are to guess a song given four words from the mukhda of a song in random order.

Round 4 : ANGREZI Mein Kahtaa Hoon Ki …..: (Buzzer Round)

The clue is the translation in English of a mukhda of a Hindi song for the contestants to decipher.

Round 5 : DHUN Saybaa DHUN :  (Buzzer Round)

Clue will be prelude music of a song played by artists on instruments – contestants have to guess the song  / mukhda.

Round 6 : Ek SHER Sunataa Hoon Main : (Buzzer Round)

Many songs are preceded by a couplet; contestants need to identify the song from this clue.

Round 7 : Hum Bane Tum Bane EK DOOJE KE LIYE :

The clue will be a star – pair and the contestants will have to sing a song from any of the films starring this pair.

Round 8 : CHHUPNEWALE SAMNE AA :

Mukhda of a song will be played for the contestants to identify names of films hidden in the mukhda.

                   

So you get the idea. No freebies here. The contestants have to really know their stuff if they have to get anywhere. Add to that the negative points to wrong answers on buzzer rounds and the teams can very well end up in negative territory (as did my team – in not one but two Finals). Manohar is also a strong believer in Prevention of MRTP Act (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices) and tries to ensure a level field by insisting that the contestants are cast in teams of 3 members picked at random, so that the teams may be balanced to the extent possible.

He is organizing one this week for Girija Sharma Memorial Foundation on 26^th January at Mira Road.  Those interested in attending or participating, please contact sharmasheelkumar@yahoo.com or whatsapp 88981 79325 or 88981 75768. Some small admission fee shall be charged to cover refreshments to be served for all those attending. As a finalist in last two editions I would surely have loved to attend but alas I am about 13,500 kms away as the crow flies. (Given the distance I guess only crows from Krypton are likely to manage that!)

All Hindi film music lovers are welcome to participate or at least be a part of audience to savour the proceedings. Be warned that knowing Manohar, he will make a few changes to the format to make it more interesting. 100% Enjoyment guaranteed.   

 LazyBee

23^rd January 2017.