Quiz 2023 – Are you really an asianculturevulture or do you just like looking at pictures? Test your knowledge, special prize…  

By Suman Bhuchar

IT IS THAT time of year again to test your wit against yourself and figure out how cultural you truly are…
We present the www.asianculturevulture.com 2023 quiz and we have made it a bit easier, as well as a bit more compact, because the cost of living has been affecting all of us…
We will begin with the easier and more obvious questions but it will get harder as you progress…
There are a total of 38 points which you can earn for all the right answers.
If you get more than 33 right then pour yourself a large glass of fizz or an elderflower mocktail or whatever you enjoy!
Newsflash – you also win the prize of interviewing your favourite arts and cultural figure who we have not covered and we will post the interview on the site – Free of charge! (ED – be realistic!)
If you get between 27- 32 questions right you are still going on the home straight and as a consolation prize, you get to join us on a press night for an event. Subject to availability.
Anything from 20 to 26 is a deep source of embarrassment and we offer you a 1-2-1 session of 30 minutes with a team member who can give you a quick lesson on South Asian arts and culture.
Anything below 20 is not worth discussing!
Note: all these offers will be on an available basis and there is no alternative offer if you do not wish to take it up.
Tip: all the stories have appeared on the site. We will publish the answers on January 10, 2024 and do get in touch with your score on our X channel or comment on Instagram or our Businesss Facebook page.
Happy New Year!

1. Which UK based theatre director has got the top job as director of The National Theatre?
a) Iqbal Khan
b) Kully Thiarai
c)  Kristine Landon-Smith
d)  Indhu Rubasingham
e)  Amit Sharma

2. Which film set in India is in the long list for the Academy Awards nominations for 2024?
a) 2018: Everybody is a Hero
b) To Kill a Tiger
c) Against The Tide
d) Victor
e) Unicorns
For an extra point name the executive producer of this film – who also featured in an earlier Oscar winning film.  

3. Who received the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Film Festival of India( IFFI) 54 this year? A clue: he also produced ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’?
a) Jack Lemmon
b) Jack Nicholson
c) Kirk Douglas
d) Michael Douglas
e)  Saul Zaentz

4. Which epic poem was transposed on stage and ran at the Barbican in 2023?
a) The Panchatantra
b) The Mahabharata
c) Baital Pachisi
d) The Hakawati: Women of the Arabian Nights
e) The Iliad
For an extra arts buff point – whose version of the poem was used?

5. Who is ‘The Empress’ of the title in Tanika Gupta’s eponymous play which ran at the RSC (Stratford Upon Avon) and Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith?
a) Queen Victoria
b) Sarojini Naidu
c) Rani Das
d) Firoza
e) Lascar Sally
For an extra point who was the director of the show in the 2023 version? And for an extra 2 points what year was the first version produced at Stratford Upon Avon?  

6. Name the MTA (model turned actor) who appeared in a film in Cannes which shares the same title as a famous American president who was assassinated? (This is a two part answer name and title of film – so you can score 2 points in total)
a) Lara Dutta
b) Priyanka Chopra
c) Sunny Leone
d) Gul Panang
e) Zeenat Aman 

7. Who said “That evil laugh is mine” about their role in the film ‘Polite Society’?
a) Jeff Mirza
b) Shobu Kapoor
c) Nimra Bucha
d) Asim Chaudhry
e) Akshay Khanna
For a bonus point give us the name of the director of the film?

8. Three British Asian actors were nominated for The Olivier Awards for their roles in shows this year and two of them got awards. Who are these two people? You only get one point for this right answer, so don’t cheat and there are no half points…
a) Waleed Akhtar
b) Anjana Vasan
c) Maimuna Menon
d) Indira Varma
e) Zubin Varla
To get two extra bonus points then you need to name the productions and nominations

9. Which two musicians composed the music for the film, ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’? (Note you have to get both the names to score a point)
a) Anouskha Shankar /Soumik Datta
b) Arooj Aftab /Vijay Iyer
c) Nitin Sawhney /Naughty Boy
d) Raveena Aurora /Dhruv
e) Joy Crookes /Nadia Javed
For an extra easy point who was the producer and writer (Clue: she was once married to a former Prime Minister of Pakistan!)

10. Which artist and musician was the guest director for the Brighton 2023 Festival?
a) Bishi
b) Nabihah Iqbal
c) Arusa Qureshi
d) Halina Rifai
e) Rokia Traoré

11.  Which Indian artist created a piece of artwork called ‘Whorled (Here After Here After Here’) and where was it shown? (Note: there is only one point to this two part answer)
a) Ashish Gupta – William Morris Gallery
b) Jitesh Kallat – Somerset House
c) Ranjani Shettar – Barbican
d) Afrah Shafiq – Leeds Train Station
e) Chila Kumari Burman – Brighton Pavilion

12. Which British Asian DJ received a gong in King Charles Birthday Honour’s List?
a) DJ Shai Guy
b) DJ Ritu
c) DJ Shakti
d) DJ Sima
e) DJ Nish

13. Which Coventry lad got a job as a doctor in the Alan Bennett film, ‘Allelujah’ and seen as a love letter to the NHS?  (Note: This is so easy, that I will eat my hat if you get it wrong!)
a) Jassa Alhuwalia
b) Bally Gill
c) Guz Khan
d) Nitin Ganatra
e) Hardish Virk

14. Which British South Asian writer paralysed after a fall is sending his dispatches through the substack online platform?
a) Nikesh Shukla
b) Salman Rushdie
c) Nikita Lalwani
d) Hanif Kureishi
e) Jean Dominque-Bauby
For an extra point name the title of his journal… ?

15. Which artist curated the Kochi Biennale of 2022-2023?
 a) Shubigi Rao
 b) Devi Seetharam
 c) Anita Dube
d) Bose Krishnamachari
 e) Zarina Bhimji

16. In the Offbeat Sari exhibition held at the Design Museum this summer, which Indian designer  created a sari which was worn by an Indian businesswoman, Natasha Poonawalla at the Met Gala in 2022?
a) Sabyasachi Mukherjee
b) Tarun Tahiliani
c) Sanjay Garg
d) Rohit Bal
e) Osman Yousefzada

17. Which South Asian music artist who received the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre (ACTA) award advised people, “it’s never too late to follow your dream”?
a) Roopa Panesar
b) Swati Natekar
c) Zoe Rahman
d) Mehtab Malhotra
e) Patricia Rozario

18. Who was the tabla virtuoso performing at the opening show for Leeds City of Culture, 2023 The Awakening?
a) Inder Goldfinger
b) Talvin Singh
c) Aref Durvesh
d) Zakir Hussain
e) Sarvar Sabri

19. Which British Asian actor/ writer presented her solo show at Edinburgh Fringe 2023, ‘Evening Conversations’?
a) Lubna Kerr
b) Sudha Bhuchar
c) Shazia Mirza
d) Urooj Ashfaq
e) Sushani Shah

20.’ The Rite of Spring‘ Ballet by Igor Stravinsky was recently given a interpretation by an Indian classically trained dancer/choreographer and was performed at Sadler’s Wells by the company. Name the artist.
a) Amina Khayyam Dance Company
b) Seeta Patel Dance
c) Sonia Sabri Company
d) Nina Rajrani
e) Suba Subramaniam Akademi

21. ‘The Father and the Assassin’ is a political play about which power duo?
a) Mahtma Gandhi and Nathu Ram Godse
b) Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar
c) Ferdinand Marcos and Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino
d) Idi Amin and Milton Obote
e) Rajiv Gandhi and Narendra Modi
For a free bonus point give the name of the writer of the play...

22. ‘Forbidden’ is a dance piece about female sexual desire performed by Aditi Mangaldas. Which composer created the soundscape for the show?
a) Priti Paintal
b) Nikki Wells
c) Jasdeep Singh Degun
d) Rekesh Chauhan
e) Abi Sampa

23. Muslim men and masculinity has been a subject in some current plays in 2023. Name the play that dealt with the topic by setting it in a shisha lounge?
a) Brown Boys Swim
b) Passing
c) Blue Mist
d) Great Expectations
e) The House of Harbinder Kaur
For an extra two points name the director and writer of the show. (One extra point for each).

24. Where did the Sama Arts Shared Values 2 festival take place in London?
 a) Purcell Room
 b) Marylebone Theatre
 c) Nehru Centre
d) The Music Room
 e) Wigmore Hall

25. The South Asian theatre world lost one of its brightest stars this year – Abdul Shayek director of Tara Theatre. He posthumously received the UK Theatre Awards Digital Innovation Award for the venue. We salute his spirit, life and career and invite you to sign up to a memorial to be held on January 18, 2024 at the National Theatre. See link below.
https://taratheatre.com/whats-on/celebrating-the-life-of-abdul-shayek/
 
(NB – So this is not a question but a type of reminder of our collective artistic loss and how we need to keep remembering those who are gone but certainly not forgotten…).

We will carry more detailed captions to these pictures when we reveal all the answers…

Previously…