Antakshari

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Antakshari (अन्ताक्षरी) is a musical game played in South Asia, particularly in India and Pakistan.

The word is derived from two Hindi (with Sanskrit origins) roots:

Ant (अन्त) meaning End
Akshar (अक्षर) meaning letter of the alphabet

The idea of the game is to start singing the first two lines of a Hindi film song (usually from Bollywood movies).

The game can be played by two or more people and is particularly popular as a group activity during commutes, bus rides etc. The singer has to sing two complete lines and then s/he may stop at the end of those or following lines. The last Hindi letter of the last word sung is then used by the next singer to sing another song, starting with that letter.

1 Example:
2 Typical rules:
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Example:

आ चल के तुझे, मैं ले के चलूं इक ऐसे गगन के तले
जहां ग़म भी न हो, आँसू भी न हो बस प्यार ही प्यार पले

(aa chal ke tujhe, mai.n le ke chaluu.n ik aise gagan ke tale
jahaa.n Gam bhii na ho, aa. Nsuu bhii na ho bas pyaar hii pyaar pale)

ends with ले (le). Thus can be followed by

लग जा गले कि फिर ये हसीन रात हो न हो
शायद फिर इस जनम में मुलाक़ात हो न हो

(lag jaa gale ki phir ye hasiin raat ho na ho
shaayad phir is janam me.n mulaaqaat ho na ho)

Note that we consider the consonant and not the vowel.

This game may be played for hours depending on the number of songs known. The game only stops when one of the singers is unable to sing a song starting with the alphabet s/he was provided.

A popular Indian television program by the same name has run successfully on Zee TV for over 10 years. Comperes on the show have included Annu Kapoor, Durga Jasraj, Renuka Shahane, Shefali, Rajeshwari Sachdev & Richa Sharma . Contestants have ranged from school and college-goers to housewives, professionals and celebrities.

[edit] Typical rules:

The songs have be started from the beginning
Only songs from Hindi movies are allowed (default). Songs from other languages can be allowed with prior agreement if most people in the group know that language.
At least the first two lines of the song, have to be sung.
No song can be repeated again in the same round.
Some flexibility is allowed for unusual endings. For example ई and य are considered equivalent, ड़ equals ड .