MELA Quiz | Qrioso '23

During a college session in Andhra Pradesh about a century back, the writer himself sang the song and captivated the students, prompting the college's then vice principal to ask the writer to create an English translation of the song and set down the musical notation. This notation is used only when the song is sung in its original slow rendition style, and does not need to be wrapped up under a minute.

Which song is this, a rather apt answer to start the proceedings?

During the 1970s, as a cough relief brand was being released in India, the client wanted a quirky and humorous advertisement inspired by Western pop culture.

Which creature, having been played by 11 different ‘kings’ between 1924-2021 before being replaced by CGI, finds their thundering voice back in the ad?

In a short story set in Maine, a young boy is resigned to look after a cantankerous old woman living in his house when his mother has to take his injured elder brother to the hospital.

Over the next few hours, in a homicidal frenzy of hallucinations, he realises the woman is a witch and manages to put her to rest.

Which Marathi story, later adapted onto the big screen, was inspired by this earlier work?

In partnership with the Embassy of France in India, a popular Indian festival offers a chance for South Asian visual artists to get funding and have their work exhibited in a small town, that was immortalised by someone’s stay there near the end of the 19th century.

Which coastal French town is this?

Which iconic 1978 work is the inspiration behind this graphic novel?

Identify the show from the below scenes in its title sequence.

It is based in a south Asian country during the 1980s and is composed in the second person perspective. The primary character is a deceased photographer who embarks on a quest to unravel the enigma surrounding his own death. Given one week, he can travel between the afterlife and the real world. During this limited time, he seeks to recover a collection of photographs hidden beneath a bed and convince his acquaintances to circulate them widely to expose the atrocities of the Civil War.

Which award-winning novel is described here?

If one of the characters in this play is Da Vinci, which contemporary artist is the other?

The video for the song Blue Song by Mint Royale follows a hipster motorist as he enjoys music all alone while his passengers go about robbing a bank.

What was born when this idea was fleshed out by a British director a few years later?

In this comic book series turned Netflix TV show, one of the students who grew up in the shadow of the titular institution is sent back in time to a public crossing in Dallas six decades back from now to accomplish a task for an evil group - thus fulfilling a popular conspiracy theory about the same day’s events.

Which institution/show is this?