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About 5 years ago, I managed to con my employer into sending me on a culinary tour of Mexico with celebrity chefs. I falsely thought that this was my talent. I could convince people to finance my whims, with a subsequent ill-advised foray into filmmaking.

During that tour, I sampled a lot of dishes whose complexity boggled and left me with a perpetual “wow” reaction which could only be cleared with some fine mezcal. And then I tried something that defined artistic perfection. I hailed it as the best thing ever.

Why?

Because I understood it.

It was butter, served with bread while the appetizer was being pulled out of the aquarium. I applied a chunk of the butter to a crusty baguette, and the following happened in bullet time –

A readily accessible caramelized sweetness that slowly built in intensity, surrounded by a refreshing citrus bloom with occasional flavor bursts, …

Here are some questions from the Film Quiz that I conducted at Starmark (the erstwhile Landmark) here in Calcutta some time back. Thought it would be a good idea to post them here. Write in with your answers and try not to google. Will put up the answers — and the names of the people who got a particular answer right for the first time — at the end of the post before this post logs out of the PFC home page. Best of luck.

1. In Sholay, Hema Malini’s character was Basanti. In which film was Amitabh’s taxi called Basanti?

2. A film called Miss India released the same year as Mother India. Who played the title role?

3. Two more versions of Devdas are being made in Bollywood. Shiney Ahuja is playing Devdas in Sudhir Mishra’s Aur Devdas. Who is playing Devdas in Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D?

4. Karan Johar is …