Antakshari

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Antakshari (अन्ताक्षरी) or more correctly Anthyaakshari 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 Popularity:
2 Example:
3 Typical rules:
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Popularity:

It started as a family passtime. Now there are several TV shows and competitions all over India based on it. The classic style is where two or more teams sing songs which start with last consonant letter of the song sung by previous team. When a team sings a song they earn points.

[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.

[edit] Typical rules:

The songs have to be started from the beginning.
Only songs from Indian 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 .