Q 1. For Bihar's scientific and technological development Union Health Minister C.P. Thakur wants...

a. President's rule.
b. Better public healthcare facilities.
c. An IIT in Patna.

Q 2. Kolkata's Lovers' Organisation for Voluntary Exhibition (love) plan to cuddle up before Calcutta Municipal Corporation on February 1 demanding...

a. Establishment of exclusive "love zones".
b. Co-ed college hostels.
c. Special romance cubicles in restaurants.

Q 3. The Shiv Sena hopes to improve its image by...

a. Changing the party symbol to a dove.
b. Hiring a public relations firm.
c. Disassociating itself from Bal Thackeray.

Answers: 1 (c) 2 (a) 3 (b)

MOVIES
Animated Zeal

Based on the love story of Sultan Mohammed Qutub Quli Shah and Hindu courtesan Bhagmati, the film Bhagmati-The Queen of Fortunes has all the ingredients of a potboiler: political intrigue, romance and an action-packed end. Only no Khan is acting in this film: it's billed as India's first animated feature, a no-gags, no-cartoon film.

Rows of artists frown over storyboards, pencils flying over paper at Zee Television's Zed Interactive Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA) studios in Mumbai where it is being made. The idea initially met with sceptical shrugs. Yet years in assisting filmmaker Raj Kapoor and his own National Award-winning film Param Vir Chakra helped director Ashok Kaul hold on to his vision for four years, supervising each of the film's 7.5 lakh frames, its music, research, script, screenplay and dialogues. The 110 animators followed his lead, with one spending a year researching Lord Shiva's Tandav dance for a six-minute scene. Kaul even roped in Tabu and Milind Soman to essay roles in the movie.

Besides the Animo software that was installed by a team from Cambridge and some inputs from a technical team from Russia, Bhagmati has been made indigenously, at an estimated cost of $15 million (Rs 70.5 crore). The film is slated for release by April in Hindi and English.

-Himanshi Dhawan

MUSIC REVIEW
Emotive Tribute by the Rebel

SAMPRADAYA Sony Nad; Rs 200

If Gana Saraswati Kishori Amonkar, had merely parroted the rudiments of the Atrauli-Jaipur gayaki, she would have been like any other Hindustani vocalist. But she walked the untrodden path and is known as a rebel. "I am creative," says Amonkar. "Combining the finer points of different gharanas gave me new wings to fly. Music is much more than notations or compositions or styles."

Sampradaya, a twin album released by Sony Nad, is Amonkar's tribute to her mother and guru, late Mogubai Kurdikar. In Volume I, Amonkar sings raga Alhaiya Bilawal, a serene late morning melody. The composition Aliri Kita Ve Gaye, set to teentaal, is followed by Kavan Batariya Gailo Mai, a drut in teentaal. A delightful recital where Amonkar expounds the emotive content of the raga. In the second cassette, she sings raga Jaunpuri (which she calls Jeevanpuri) the popular composition Baje Jhanana in vilambit laya, concluding with a bhajan in raga Bhairavi.

While both these ragas have been recorded by Amonkar before, what is striking in this recital is the bhava and the meditative aspect. "I have to communicate with my God,"says Amonkar. Listen to this album.

-S. Sahaya Ranjit

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