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| Rupali Ganguly during the celebrity round |
Bhanu Kumar, Mulund
The finals of the Inter School Quiz competition hosted by Rotary Club of Bombay Mulund Valley was a big hit with huge crowds present to urge the participants at the Kalidas Auditorium on September 4. With the tiranga setting the backdrop, shimmering lights and scintillating fireworks, it looked more like a celebration of intelligence than a contest. From out of 200 teams, 12 were selected for the semifinals while six were filtered down to the finals.
The multi topic questions posed by quiz master Kumar Deshpande were answered with quick alertness by the participants. “For India to emerge as a global knowledge base, such programmes inculcate the spirit of growing knowledge in young minds,” said K G Ananthakrishnan, senior director, pharmaceuticals, Pfizer India and guest of honour.
The celebrity round set the stage on fireworks. Honey Irani, child actor was frightened away by a bomb that went off spilling colour bits all over. Having worked with the likes of Raveena Tandon and Shah Rukh Khan in popular ads, Honey has graduated to movies. “I am doing the role of a kidnapped child in a new movie,” she quipped.
Rupali Ganguly, star of popular tele serials like Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, conducted one quiz round. “Kids half my age, are more superior in intelligence. Though it is not good for anybody’s ego, one has to accept this,” admitted Rupali.
In a tęte-ŕ-tęte with Mulund Plus, she was effervescent talking about her serials. She spoke about her two cars affected by the floods and the work she has done for the flood-affected at Dharavi and Bandra. Films of one-minute footage enacted by her are being telecast in foreign channels. “About ten nations are coming forward to help,” informs Rupali.
“Schooldays are the best days. Quiz questions those days were trivia, not at all difficult. Today the IQ level of students has gone up. Watching TV is information dissemination at all levels. I enhance my knowledge by intensive reading, whether it’s fiction or non fiction. My favourite is Tagore and P L Deshpande in mother tongue Marathi.” Rupali also reads Assamese.
Talking of serials and whether they truly reflect the woman of today, she says everything boils down to business. The more the tears, the more is the TRP. Ejaz Khan wound up his day’s shooting for the serial Kavyanjali to come and conduct a celebrity round and encourage the children. “Rotary has provided an excellent platform for so many schools to come together and test their quizzing skills,” he said.
Smt Sulochana Devi Singhania School, Thane, with Pranav Kannan, Abhishek Padmanabhan, Saurabh Sirjoshi teaming together edged past Don Bosco High School to clinch the finals in their favour. Lilavati Podar Senior Secondary School, a first time entrant stood third.
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