3 Months back, Harish (http://magixncurses.blogspot.com) and I conducted A.R.Rahman quiz on Twitter, to celebrate Rockstar audio launch. Harish is the brain behind most of the questions.

(you can access the previous quiz here: Part1 and Part2.)

Here are the questions. Post your answer in comments. Will post the answers and results on 26th Dec (Monday).
You can find the answers below each question. Hover over smudged/blocked text to reveal the answers. If it doesn't work, just select the text, and you'll be able to see the answers.

Q1. What’s the significance of what you see here?
A1. Haji Ali Dargah (Mumbai), Dargah of Moinuddin Chishti (Ajmer), Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah (Delhi) - Each of them has inspired AR to compose an evergreen qawali- Piya Haji Ali, Khwaaja Mere and Kun Faya Kun (of course it'll be evergreen!)

Q2. We've known directors to pen lyrics (Shankar, Mani Ratnam, Tyrewala). Give us an instance of a lyricist lending his voice in a Rahman song.
A2. Mehboob in Dhakka Laga Bukka (Yuva), Raqeeb Alam in Jiya Se Jiya (Connections)

Q3. Identify the singer of this song


A3. Shreya Ghoshal! That’s the female version of Aaromale. Should’ve been Aarofemale. No? Ok.

Q4. Paarthale Paravasam, Ada, _________, Blue, Jhootha Hi Sahi. Fill in the blank.
A4. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Rashid Ali is the connect.

Q5. Identify the voice in this clip
 
A5. Sivamani. Palakkad sriram did the jathis (bols), while the Love Check, 1,2,3,4 were in Sivamani's voice.

Q6. Connect Naan Eppodhu (Sakkarakatti), Dekho Na and Kalvare.
A6. The original versions of all of them (Yeh Rishta, Baba Kichu Tha, Khili Re) were sung by Reena Bhardwaj

Q7. Grandchild of the 1st CM of what is now Kerala, she sang jingles for AR before her career was revived in a spectacular fashion. Who?
A7. Sujatha Mohan

Q8. Listen to the 2 clips from Jhootha Hi Sahi and put fundae!
 
A8. Before naming it JHS, Abbas called it “1800-Love” and later “Call me dil”. AR included them all. The beeps were 1800 punched on a phone! (beep-beep-beep-beep-Love = 1-8-0-0 Love)


Q9. Two people featured here share the same birthday. One is Kamal. Who's the other?

A9. Singer Srinivas

Q10. Two BGMs fused in to this Rock piece. Identify the songs :)

A10. Pachai Kiligal (Indian) and Vennilave (Minsara Kanavu). Fresh off AM (Aravind) Studios :D
Here are the original interludes, from the songs.
 

Q11. Give us Indai Haza's twitter handle.
A11. @Chinmayi - Rahman gave the name “Indai Haza” to her Arabic singing alter ego :) In “Miss You Da” she’s credited with both names!

Q12. Connect: Boom Boom Robot da, Pudhiya Manidha, Maja Maja, Chikku Bukku Rayile, Eechi Elumichi.
A12: Sung by people whose parents have sung for ARR too! (Swetha->Sujatha, Khatija->ARR, Charan->SPB, GVP->Raihana, Manoj->Bharathiraja)

Q13. Identify the voice
 
A13. Karthik

Q14. Name a Rahman song picturised on a couple of tamil comedy artists (No, Nee Marilyn Monroe will not be counted as a valid answer!)
A14. Coimbatore Maanukutti picturised on Vadivelu and Kovai Sarala

Q15. Ahora conmigo, tu baila para hoy.. Por nuestro dia olvidas, los problemas que sean.. Salud! Baila Baila! Identify the lyricist.
A15. Tanvi Shah

Q16. a) Name the 1st song that Rahman composed and sang in English. b) Name the 1st song that Rahman composed and sang completely in English.
A16. A) Musafir (Vande Mataram) B) Pray for me brother

Q17. Identify the lead male singer in this clip
 
A17. Benny Dayal. It's the Tamil version - There's a clear difference in the interludes in Tamil and Hindi.

Q18. Connect Roobaroo, Rozaana, Saiyyan (Nayak), Munbe Va, Omana Penne
A18. Sung by singers who were popular music reality show contestant! (Naresh Iyer, Viva, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, Benny Dayal)

Q19. Find the odd one out in this clip.


A19. Irumbile. Everything else was sung by Suzanne. She sang the hindi version of Irumbile.

Q20. Identify the voice in this clip.

A20. Conductor Srinivasa Murthy

Q21. Connect!

Hint:  Focus on the names.
A21. Lakshmi Narasimha Vijaya Rajagopal Sheshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman - aka Blaaze!

Q22. Connect Aalalakanda, Semmozhi anthem, Ballelakka, Oh Maria
A22. Music composers have lent their voice in these songs.

Q23. Something strange happened in 2004 and 2006. It had never happened since 1993 and has not happened since. What?
A23. The only years since his debut when ARR did not get any Filmfare awards.
(Another interesting answer came from Bharat KV - Those are the only two years in which ARR performed Haj)

Q24. Okay, this question is a little tricky. Go through all the odd numbered questions and the answers till now, and make a note of people related to each question. Find a connection (please note: order is important)
A24. A.R.Rahman, Shreya Ghosal, Sivamani, Sujatha Mohan, Srinivas, Chinmayi, Karthik, Tanvi Shah, Benny Dayal, Suzanne D'Mello, Blaaze, A.R.Rahman. The 12 of them feature in AR Rahman Foundation Official Calendar 2011, in that same order :)

Q25. Rockstar achieved a feat that was missed by Duet, Lagaan and Swades thanks to Yesudas, ARR and Vijay Prakash respectively. What?
A25. Given the number of voices Rahman experiments with, it's very rare that the lead actor lip-syncs to the same singer. Duet missed out with Yesudas singing one, Lagaan with Rahman/Srinivas and Swades with Vijay Prakash. Rockstar has Mohit all the way!


Here are the scores:
  • Bharat KV - 15.5*
  • Maanasaa & Envyram - 14 † ‡
  • Kanchna Subramaniam - 12.5
  • Kranthi Chand - 10
  • Sandeep - 9 
  • the hyper enthusiast  - 5


Clearly, Bharat tops the quiz, followed by Maanasaa & Envyram and Kanchna.


Congrats guys!!


*Q23 - We'd asked for a "strange" occurrence. Haj can't be labelled as strange. Hence, partial points.
Q22. The parents of the singers are not just film personalities, but they themselves have sung for ARR. That was the connect we were looking for. Hence, partial points.
Q17 - The clip is from the tamil version and not the Hindi version and hence, Benny is the correct answer. If both Benny and Sukhwinder are mentioned in the answer, I've given just partial points.