Becoming a Crorepati: From Glocal TV Game to Grobal Fiction
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Nicola Pozza
Abstract
Numerous studies have dealt with the process of globalization and its various cultural products. Three such cultural products illustrate this process: Vikas Swarup’s novel Q and A (2005), the TV quiz show Kaun banega crorepati? (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?), and Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). The novel, the TV show and the film have so far been studied separately. Juxtaposing and comparing Q and A, Kaun banega crorepati, and Slumdog Millionaire provides an effective means to shed light on the dialogic and interactive nature of the process of globalization. It is argued through this case study that an analysis of their place of production, language and content, helps clarify the derivative concepts of “glocalization” and “grobalization” with regard to the way(s) contemporary cultural products respond to globalization.
Annexe: List of questions in KBC, Q&A, and SDM (right answer given after the →)
| KBC (12th Oct. 2013, 2nd contestant) | Q&A | SDM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Which of these ingredients must be present in ‘lassi’, ‘mattha’ and ‘chaach’? →dahi | In which film did Armaan Ali star with Priya Kapoor for the very first time? →Betrayal | Who was the star in the 1973 hit film ‘Zanjeer’? →Amitabh Bachchan |
| 2. | On Facebook, which of these buttons is denoted by a ‘thumbs up’ symbol? →like | What is the sequence of letters normally inscribed on a cross? →INRI (RMT was allowed to choose the question) | What is written underneath the 3 lions in the national emblem? → [Truth alone triumphs] |
| 3. | Ram Charan Teja, who made his film debut with ‘Zanjeer’, is the son of which actor? →Chiranjeevi | Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? →Pluto | What is God Rama famously holding in his right hand? →A bow & arrow |
| 4. | Identify the speaker from this audio clip. →N. Modi | Surdas, the blind poet, was a devotee of which god? →Krishna | The song ‘Darshan Do Ghanshyam’ was written by which famous Indian Poet? →Surdas |
| 5. | Presidency Univ., Kolkata, will introduce a new course from 2014 on which of these subjects? →[uses the lifeline “phone a friend”, and then the lifeline “flip the question”]a | When a government declares a foreign diplomat persona non grata, what does it mean? →diplomat is not acceptable | On a 100 USD bill, there is the portrait of which American statesman →Benjamin Franklin |
| 6. | Which river, a headstream of Ganga, flows by the Badrinath shrine? →Alakananda | What is the capital of Papua New Guinea? →Port Moresby | … not shown … |
| 7. | How do we better know Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who came to prominence in March 2013? →Pope Francis | Who invented the revolver? →Samuel Colt | |
| 8. | Who gave the title ‘Flying Sikh’ to the great athlete Milkha Singh? →Gen Ayub Khan | Which is the highest award for gallantry given to the Indian armed forces? →Param Vir Chakra | |
| 9. | According to the Rigveda, to which god does the sun hand over his effulgence in the evening and take it back in the morning? →Agni | How many Test centuries has India’s greatest batsman Sachin Malvankar scored? →36 | Who invented the revolver? →Samuel Colt |
| 10. | Who was the first child in the world to be born via the IVF method? →Louise Brown | Neelima Kumari, the Tragedy Queen, won the National Award in which year? →1985b | Cambridge Circus is in which UK city? →London |
| 11. | In which of these states have both father and daughter served as chief minister? → [Goa] Quits | In which play by Shakespeare do we find the character Costard? →Love’s Labour’s Lost (lifeline: help from the Eng. teacher) | Which cricketer has scored the most 1st class centuries in history? →Jack Hobbs |
| 12a. | What was the name of Mumtaz Mahal’s father? →Asaf Jah | In ‘The Three Musketeers’, what was the name of the third Musketeer? →AramisWins | |
| 12b. | →change: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata N° 29, Opus 106, is in which key? → threat by Ram → answer → coin →B flat majorWins |
aNew question: “A species of which of these birds is the fastest while swimming underwater?” →penguin.
bDuring the preceding break, however, Prem Kumar made him believe that the question would be on the length of the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, and gave him the answer.
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Inhaltsverzeichnis – Table des Matières – Contents
- Natural Constraints to Cultural Relativism Example: Ricci’s Pacific-Centered World Maps
- It Is Only Gazouz: Muslims and Champagne in the Colonial Maghreb
- Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784–1817) – der Basler Orientreisende malgré lui und sein Besuch bei den Drusen im Gebiet des Mont-Liban
- Unfertige Studien 6: Der Brudermord des Kain aus theologischer Sicht
- Glocalization Narratives in Indian Literature and Cinema: An Introduction
- Becoming a Crorepati: From Glocal TV Game to Grobal Fiction
- Early ‘Glocalization’ in Indian Cinema: An Analysis of Films of Dada Saheb Phalke and Himanshu Rai
- Charulata 2011: Dramatizing the Glocal
- Seeing Kolkata: Globalization and the Changing Context of the Narrative of Bengali-ness in Two Contemporary Films
- A Queer Lack of Success. Discourses on Same-sex Love and Neoliberalism in the Hindi Novel Paṃkhvālī Nāv by Paṃkaj Biṣṭ
- Modern Durgas Fighting against the Demons of Globalization
- From Topophilia to Despair. Kashinath Singh’s Banaras Trilogy
- Book Reviews – Buchbesprechungen – Comptes Rendus
- Robyn Creswell: City of Beginnings: Poetic Modernism in Beirut
- Ebrey, Patricia Buckley and Huang, Shih-shan Susan: Visual and Material Cultures in Middle Period China
- Zaman, Muhammad Qasim: Islam in Pakistan: A History
- Ahrens, Tobias: Kampō. Einführung in die japanische Pflanzenheilkunde in 25 Fragen und Antworten
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Inhaltsverzeichnis – Table des Matières – Contents
- Natural Constraints to Cultural Relativism Example: Ricci’s Pacific-Centered World Maps
- It Is Only Gazouz: Muslims and Champagne in the Colonial Maghreb
- Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784–1817) – der Basler Orientreisende malgré lui und sein Besuch bei den Drusen im Gebiet des Mont-Liban
- Unfertige Studien 6: Der Brudermord des Kain aus theologischer Sicht
- Glocalization Narratives in Indian Literature and Cinema: An Introduction
- Becoming a Crorepati: From Glocal TV Game to Grobal Fiction
- Early ‘Glocalization’ in Indian Cinema: An Analysis of Films of Dada Saheb Phalke and Himanshu Rai
- Charulata 2011: Dramatizing the Glocal
- Seeing Kolkata: Globalization and the Changing Context of the Narrative of Bengali-ness in Two Contemporary Films
- A Queer Lack of Success. Discourses on Same-sex Love and Neoliberalism in the Hindi Novel Paṃkhvālī Nāv by Paṃkaj Biṣṭ
- Modern Durgas Fighting against the Demons of Globalization
- From Topophilia to Despair. Kashinath Singh’s Banaras Trilogy
- Book Reviews – Buchbesprechungen – Comptes Rendus
- Robyn Creswell: City of Beginnings: Poetic Modernism in Beirut
- Ebrey, Patricia Buckley and Huang, Shih-shan Susan: Visual and Material Cultures in Middle Period China
- Zaman, Muhammad Qasim: Islam in Pakistan: A History
- Ahrens, Tobias: Kampō. Einführung in die japanische Pflanzenheilkunde in 25 Fragen und Antworten
