Q 1. Nimnath Baba is suddenly famous because...
a) He's Ram Chandra Paramhans' likely successor as head of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas
b) He assisted Kanchi's Shankaracharya in the recent Ayodhya talks
c) BJP MP Vinay Katiyar says his hair is preserved at Hazratbal

Q 2. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh wants the quick introduction of...
a) Bt Cotton
b) E-governance
c) WTO rules

Q 3. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans to rename Park Street as..
a) Mao Zedong Sarani
b) Mother Teresa Sarani
c) Jyoti Sarani

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

FILM REVIEW
Thinking Man's Thriller

MEET THE MAKER: Director Shankar

A rogue ISI general is cashiered by Pervez Musharraf. He uses hawala funds channelled out by an Indian politician to buy a former Soviet nuclear warhead. This is detonated in Delhi on December 16, the anniversary of the Pakistan Army's defeat in the 1971 war.

A US think tank's subcontinental scare? The latest military thriller? Far from it: 16 December claims to be India's first techno-thriller weaving current affairs and nuclear terrorism into a tapestry of clear and present danger. The genre has until now been given a complete miss by Bollywood, whose definition of a bomb is a heroine wriggling under a waterfall.

For starters, the Rs 7 crore film starring Milind Soman and Aditi Govitrikar boasts a half-hour of special effects, from digital plastic surgery that makes 1971 war veterans played by Gulshan Grover and Danny look 30 years younger, to slow motion bullets. With its Tehelka-esque button cameras, surgical assassinations and 12-year-old hackers, it's a techie's paradise. There are no heroes and villains, just characters, and no suspension of belief, says director Mani Shankar. "I wanted to make a film that doesn't insult the viewers intelligence." Given the current IQ of Hindi films, he's already made a point.

-Sandeep Unnithan

MUSIC REVIEW
Concert Magic On The Record

Unlike music recorded in studios, there is a spontaneous magic to live concerts. This is evident in the Swar Utsav albums which present selections of music from the festival of the same name held at India Gate in Delhi in 2001. Under a sub-series called Confluence it showcases a rare jugalbandi of legends-Ustad Bismillah Khan on the shehnai and Rais Khan on the sitar playing raga Yaman Kalyan.

The youthful combination of Ganesh, Kumaresh and Taufiq Qureshi was a big hit at the festival. The album also contains their interpretation of the nine rasas-Adhbhuta, Karuna Krodha, Bhakti, Veera, Shringara, Bhayanak, Ananda and Shanti. It is a wonderful combination of Carnatic, folk, classical and contemporary fusion music.

Also in the series: Reshma, Ghulam Ali, Hariharan, Ajoy Chakraborty, the Sri Lankan group Gypsies, Barkat Sidhu and Aruna Sairam.

-S. Sahaya Ranjit

SOTTO VOCE

McDonald's plans to apologise to "Hindus and vegetarians" for beef flavouring in its fries in US outlets ...

...National Stadium in Delhi has been renamed after Dhyan Chand. Pre-1947 it was called Irwin Amphitheatre

... The VHP may complain against the West Bengal Government to Amnesty International ....

Sikkim's Chief Minister Pawan Chamling delivered a five-hour speech ...

Gujarat has equalised compensation for Godhra and post-Godhra victims. Next of kin of all those killed will get Rs 1 lakh ...

At the Ayodhya hearing, the Supreme Court judges upbraided Babri Masjid Action Committee lawyer and Rajya Sabha member R.K. Anand for interrupting the AG. "This is not Parliament," they said.