Bollywood Trivia
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99 free Bollywood trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
43 free Bollywood trivia questions with answers. Bollywood is the world's most prolific film industry, and this quiz treats its 110-year history with the respect it deserves. Forty-three questions run from India's first feature film in 1913 and the first talkie in 1931, through Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam and Sholay, to the era of the three Khans, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge's record-breaking run, Lagaan's Oscar nomination, Dangal's China success and the night Naatu Naatu won an Academy Award. There are questions on the stars (Amitabh, Madhuri, Deepika, Priyanka, Sridevi), the playback legends (Lata, Asha, Kishore), the composers, the studios and dynasties (Yash Raj, Dharma, the Kapoors), the Filmfare Awards and the words themselves, from the origin of 'Bollywood' to what an item number is. A few deliberately test whether you know which blockbusters are not Hindi films at all. Every answer was checked against the Wikipedia articles on the films, people and institutions involved, and each question carries its source. No recycled listicle errors.
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Q 01The word 'Bollywood' is a blend of 'Hollywood' and the former name of which Indian city?
Bombay
Bollywood blends Hollywood with Bombay, the Hindi film industry's home city; Bombay was officially renamed in 1995, but the portmanteau, in use since the 1970s, stuck.
Q 02Which 1913 silent film is regarded as India's first full-length feature?
Raja Harishchandra
Raja Harishchandra, a silent telling of a truthful king's ordeal, is counted as India's first full-length feature; its maker had gone to London in 1912 to study the craft at Cecil Hepworth's studio.
Q 03India's highest award in cinema is named after which pioneer?
Dadasaheb Phalke
Dadasaheb Phalke took up filmmaking after watching The Life of Christ and imagining Hindu gods on the screen instead; he is remembered as the father of Indian cinema.
Q 04Which 1931 film was India's first with sound?
Alam Ara
Alam Ara opened on 14 March 1931 as India's first talkie and gave Hindi cinema its first film songs; no print is known to survive, making the landmark a lost film.
Q 05Which 1943 film was Indian cinema's first 'blockbuster', crossing one crore rupees at the box office?
Kismet
Kismet (1943), with Ashok Kumar as a pickpocket, was the first Indian film to gross a crore of rupees, running over three years at Calcutta's Roxy cinema; its song 'Door Hato Ae Duniya Walo' slipped anti-British feeling past the censors.
Q 06Which 1957 Nargis epic was the first Bollywood film to earn an Oscar nomination?
Mother India
Mother India cast Nargis as the village matriarch Radha and lost its Oscar to Fellini's Nights of Cabiria; co-star Sunil Dutt, who played her son, is reported to have rescued her from a fire on set, and they married in 1958.
Q 07Mughal-e-Azam (1960) tells the love story of Prince Salim and which courtesan?
Anarkali
Anarkali, played by Madhubala, is the court dancer whose love for Prince Salim enrages Emperor Akbar; in the film's twist on the legend he secretly lets her escape into exile while Salim believes her dead.
Q 08Which 1951 Raj Kapoor film and its title song became a sensation in the Soviet Union?
Awaara
Awaara casts Raj Kapoor as a Chaplinesque thief who ends up on trial before a judge who is, unknown to both, his own father; in the Soviet Union it sold tens of millions of tickets.
Q 09Which 1959 Guru Dutt film, a flop now hailed as a classic, was India's first in CinemaScope?
Kaagaz Ke Phool
Kaagaz Ke Phool, about a film director's decline, bombed so badly that Guru Dutt never took a directing credit again, though he went on producing and acting until his death in 1964.
Q 10Which 1975 film's dacoit villain Gabbar Singh terrorises the village of Ramgarh?
Sholay
Sholay's makers first wanted Danny Denzongpa as Gabbar Singh, but he was committed to another film, so the part went to their second choice, Amjad Khan, and became his breakthrough.
Q 11Which 1972 Kamal Amrohi film starred Meena Kumari as the courtesan Sahibjaan, weeks before her death?
Pakeezah
Pakeezah was years in the making: work stalled when Meena Kumari and director Kamal Amrohi, her husband, separated in 1964, and she returned to finish it before dying of cirrhosis weeks after the 1972 premiere.
Q 12Which 1973 film established Amitabh Bachchan as Bollywood's 'angry young man'?
Zanjeer
Zanjeer (1973), directed by Prakash Mehra, cast Amitabh Bachchan as the brooding Inspector Vijay after a string of flops, and the 'angry young man' persona it created carried him through the 1970s.
Q 13Which TV show did Amitabh Bachchan begin hosting in 2000?
Kaun Banega Crorepati
Q 21Which 1989 film gave Salman Khan his breakthrough leading role?
Maine Pyar Kiya
Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Sooraj Barjatya's romance with Bhagyashree, was Salman Khan's first lead after a supporting part in Biwi Ho To Aisi; its success saved the producers, Rajshri, who had been about to sell their office to pay debts.
Q 22Which reality show did Salman Khan begin hosting in 2010?
Bigg Boss
Bigg Boss, India's version of Big Brother, got Salman Khan as host from its fourth season in 2010; season two had been fronted by Shilpa Shetty, fresh from winning Britain's Celebrity Big Brother.
Q 23Which honour did Lata Mangeshkar receive in 2001, only the second singer so recognised?
Bharat Ratna
Kaun Banega Crorepati premiered in July 2000 with Amitabh Bachchan as host at a low point, after his company ABCL had gone bankrupt and creditors were pursuing him; the show's success helped revive his career.
Q 14Which theatre became famous for running Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge for over twenty years?
Maratha Mandir, Mumbai
Maratha Mandir in Mumbai has screened the film since October 1995; in February 2015 it announced the run would end after 1,009 weeks, then agreed with the producers days later to keep it going.
Q 15Which pair of characters do Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol play in DDLJ?
Raj and Simran
Shah Rukh Khan plays Raj Malhotra and Kajol plays Simran Singh in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a romance between two NRIs who meet on a European rail trip before Raj follows her to Punjab to win her father over.
Q 16Which sport is at the centre of Lagaan (2001)?
Cricket
In Lagaan, villagers led by Aamir Khan's Bhuvan stake three years' land tax on a cricket match against the British garrison in 1893; Aamir Khan was initially sceptical about starring in a sports film.
Q 17Lagaan was nominated for which Oscar?
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Foreign Language Film was the category: Lagaan was only the third Indian film to make its final five, and there was open disappointment in India when it lost to Bosnia's No Man's Land.
Q 18Which nickname does the media give Aamir Khan?
Mr. Perfectionist
Mr. Perfectionist is the media's tag for Aamir Khan's dedication to his roles, such as the year he spent in the gym building his physique for Ghajini; the 'King of Bollywood' is Shah Rukh Khan and the 'Tragedy King' was Dilip Kumar.
Q 19Which two 1993 hits brought Shah Rukh Khan early acclaim for playing the villain?
Baazigar and Darr
Baazigar and Darr cast Shah Rukh Khan as a murderer and an obsessive stalker; Baazigar's producer had first approached established stars, who refused to risk their heroic image on a killer.
Q 20Which IPL team has Shah Rukh Khan co-owned since the league began in 2008?
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders are owned by Shah Rukh Khan with Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta; in 2012 he was banned from Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium for five years after a row with security staff following a KKR match.
Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, went to Lata Mangeshkar three years after M. S. Subbulakshmi became the first musician to receive it; her 'Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo' is said to have moved Prime Minister Nehru to tears.
Q 24Which playback singer replaced her older sister Lata as Guinness's most recorded artist?
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle was recognised by Guinness in 2011 as the most recorded artist in music history; at 16 she had eloped with Ganpatrao Bhosle, Lata's secretary, and her family cast her out.
Q 25A. R. Rahman won two Academy Awards for the music of which 2008 film?
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire won A. R. Rahman Oscars for Best Original Score and, with lyricist Gulzar, Best Original Song for 'Jai Ho', a tune first written for another film, Yuvvraaj, whose director passed on it.
Q 26Which Bollywood star played the host in Danny Boyle's 2008 Mumbai-set film?
Anil Kapoor
Anil Kapoor played quiz master Prem Kumar after Shah Rukh Khan, who had hosted the real Indian show, turned the part down; it was Kapoor's first English-language film.
Q 27Which Bollywood awards were first presented in 1954 as the Clares, after a film critic?
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards began as the Clares in memory of the late critic Clare Mendonça; Gregory Peck, flying in from a shoot in Ceylon, was due as guest of honour but arrived too late for the ceremony.
Q 28Which 1988 film, with the song 'Ek Do Teen', made Madhuri Dixit a star?
Tezaab
Tezaab (1988), N. Chandra's action drama, casts her as Mohini, a young woman made to dance to pay off her drunken father's debts; 'Ek Do Teen', choreographed by Saroj Khan, became the film's signature hit.
Q 29Deepika Padukone is the daughter of a champion in which sport?
Badminton
Badminton made Prakash Padukone the first Indian to win the All England title, in 1980; his daughter Deepika played at national level as a teenager before giving it up for modelling and films.
Q 30Which beauty pageant did Priyanka Chopra win in 2000 before entering films?
Miss World
Miss World 2000 was decided in London; Priyanka Chopra had only finished second at Femina Miss India, a contest her mother entered her in, yet took the global crown in the year Lara Dutta won Miss Universe.