Episode 126 - Two Thousand Twenty Five

AFC collaborated with an Australian brand founded by Nick Murkovich and Alex Tomich to create a unique product inspired by KFC's iconic 11 herbs and spices. The product was described as biting into a hot, juicy piece of KFC Original Recipe chicken, and it was marketed as full on Flavour Takeover. Originally conceived as an April Fool's prank for 2025, the real version of the product was priced at $13 per item and quickly sold out after its release. What product am I talking about?

That is the audience question for today's episode, which we will answer at the end of it. So stay tuned to the very end to know what the answer to this question was. This is Are You Quizzing Me, your favorite quizzing and trivia podcast show. And this is episode #126 our year ender for the year 2025. Queue the music. Welcome to our you quizzing me. I am Vineet Nair with my Co host Aditya Kashyap. This is a quizzing trivia

podcast show. Join us as we dive deep into history, science, pop culture and so much more. Let's get quizzing. OK, Aditya, let's start off this episode by spouting some inane conspiracy theory. I was thinking of some kind of connection between 126 and 2025 or 2026. Do you know what I came up with? The number 20. 60, no, that's it. But it's 126 and 12026. We're going deeper, you know, into the conspiracy of numerology. Basically, we're going into numerology.

Do you know what do you get when you add 1 + 2 + 626? You get 9. And how much is 2025 when you add up all those? 9. Coincidence. I think not. OK, moving on. OK. So as we mentioned, this is our third year running. We are going to do a 2025 snapshot show. All of the questions will be on snapshots from each month of the year and we will have 12 questions. So this will be a longer episode so trap in and enjoy the show.

So let's start off with January. OK, so like you and I were discussing before we started recording that this year has had Oh my God, so much terrible, just sad, sad news, terrible news. It has been death, destruction, trauma of wars, natural disasters, just so much of that. And our entire episode is going to focus on a sort of like, let's say, rewind, recap, snapshot, whatever of 2025. In no way are we minimizing the pain of the people who have

suffered this year. Yeah. The point is to find maybe some silver lining in the otherwise cloudy year that was 2025 and celebrate those things. So all the news, all the trivia, all the fun little things that happened here and then it splattered in between is a reason to sort of look back and smile. Hopefully that's what you are doing at the end of this episode. OK, disclaimer out of the way.

What better way to start January or this podcast episode than to do it smiling with all the best comedies ever. Vineet, have you watched Dumb and Dumber? The original yes, many, many years ago. Jeff Bridges and Jim Carrey. Perfect. The 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber has a scene where Lloyd Christmas, which is the name of the character played by Jim Carrey. He asks his love interest what the chances are that she would go out with him. She replies and I'm quoting one in a million.

OK, what was Jim Carrey's response? Oh dude I saw the movie. Like the last time I saw that movie was like 15 years ago, 1520 years ago. Sure. So in 2025, did he say something like that? OK. So a lot of my questions are basically going to connect obviously to something that happened in this year and in this case happened in January of 2025. We'll get to that. But just I know it's been a while and it's a movie more than 30 years ago.

So in in case you don't remember, nothing against you, but let's say take a wild guess as to what he could have responded. He was obviously a dib witted character, somebody who who was not very smart and intelligent. So what do you think he would have responded when his girlfriend or the girl he liked rather said that chances of her getting together with him were one in a million? So I'm guessing because it's 1994, he was he. And you're talking about January 2025.

I'm guessing when Donald Trump becomes president for the second time or when Donald Trump becomes the president. Oh, that would be really funny. No, it wasn't. It wasn't anything to do with Donald Trump, OK? It wasn't OK. He says something which you would consider a ridiculous response in this scenario. Yeah, something. Somebody Really clueless would say that's that's the best hint I would give something clueless. Somebody, some clueless, would say one in a million, right?

So I'm guessing he's going to not know how much millionaires and going to make something of that sort. It's more of the fact that he says there's one in a million chance so. Dude, I do not remember this movie that much. I cannot for the life of me remember what this could be. OK, you know, this is this is this is a very unfair question asking you to quote a movie which is not even probably one of a favorite movies. OK, I'll just tell you the answer, he says.

So you're telling me there's a chance that's his response? OK. Oh, OK. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, yeah. That that's from video that seems to. Video. Yeah, it's a very commonly memed instance from a film, in this case number number Jim Carrey and his Lloyd Christmas look saying. So you're telling me there's a chance for something which absolutely has basically no chance? Yeah, I do remember this now, yeah. Connect this to something that happened on January of 16th, 2025.

OK, There is a January of 16th, yeah. 16th of January. 16th of January, 2025. OK, so you want me to connect the Jim Carrey dialogue? So is it the dialogue itself? Is the line itself? Is it like a meme thing? It's very specifically the line. So you're telling me there's a chance? OK, So what is the connection between? So you're telling me what is the chance? And so there is a chance and something that happened on January 16th and 2025, correct?

What could be the connect? I you'll have to give me a clue here. I'm not OK. I gave you the date January of 16th 2025. January 16th, 2025. I'll give you a specific time, 7 O 373 AM. 73 AM. 3 minutes past 7:00 in the morning. What happened on 73 AM on January 16th, 2025? Let's finish that hint actually 3 minutes past seven in the morning Eastern Time. So it's. 3 minutes past seven in the morning Eastern Time on January 16, 2025 and something

happened. Eastern Time, in case somebody is unfamiliar, is the time zone on the East Coast of the US. You're giving me a very specific time. 703. Like nothing happens that early in the morning. I'm telling you a very specific time and I'm telling you a time

zone also. So it's not even something that happened across the world, technically, it was specifically that location, the eastern coast of the United States, of the continental United States. OK, is it something to do with Donald Trump and his treating it odd hours? No, nothing at all to do with Donald Trump. I am telling you I have stuck to mostly feel good stories and most of Donald Trump's tweets aren't exactly feel good, so no. Yeah, OK. No, I don't know.

I don't know this. I have no clue. OK, this is a big hint they should take you there. The location specifically was Florida, more specifically Cape Canaveral. To the Space Flight, correct? This is the Falcon 9. Oh, OK, maybe maybe you missed this particular thing, but this was Blue Origin, basically their launch of New Glen. OK, New Glen is a heavy lift launch vehicle and it's a family of vehicles and the one that was launched on January of 16th. What do you keep saying January

of 16th? January 16th. Of January 2025 was nicknamed So you're telling me there's a chance? Oh, OK. Because it was the first time ever that they were sending one out and they were hoping to planning to aiming to land it back. Basically the the launcher, they wanted to kind of get it back to Earth. OK, nice. In the case of January 16th launch, it didn't happen, it didn't go through. But this is what the CEO had to say when he was asked about why.

Why this particular name? So the name of the CEO is Dave Lim and he said no one has landed a reusable booster on the first try yet. We are going for it. So the nickname for the booster was. So you did think this is? A base of this particular Jim Carrey meme. Blue Origin, Not bad. Yeah, very bad choices in rocket shapes, but otherwise not bad.

A company and somewhat regrettable choices in who this end up I remember Katy Perry went up and became all philosophical she was waxing philosophical about becoming, you know, seeing the earth from. There, I think there were a lot of memes about that as well. Yeah, I think what they did recently take up a paraplegic woman to space. I think that she became the first paraplegic person to go to space. So good for that Lady.

Yes, so like yourself, I too was horribly depressed while trying to make questions for this episode because everything was quite depressing this year. So I have tried to find Nuggets of at least feel good and if not just outright sad, you know, bittersweet or something like that, or trying to find the silver lining. So this is one of those questions. Right.

In early 2025, most specifically somewhere in early February, Shafiq Hashem, an Indian content creator, turned something most people try to conceal into a short term commercial asset, pricing it not per view or per click, but per surface area and time. The idea involved no costumes, no props and no post production tricks, only a permanent camera facing feature that could not be skipped, blocked or

algorithmically downgraded. What began as a joke online became credible when a company from an industry directly linked to the trade itself formalize the agree arrangement, opting for visibility over irony. What unusual advertising medium did this Kerala based based Blogger offer for rent? Oh, interesting. Yeah, some way of advertising that he offered that was surface area and time related. Yes, surface area and time. Surface area and time.

Maybe because I'm still thinking about the spacecraft. My first thought was the moon. But then there is no company associated to the moon, no. And I think the deal he got would have been much more lucrative to the moon. He got around ₹50,000 for three months. OK, that's not the most lucrative deal in history, but hey, good for him. Yeah, surface area and time. And you said something about being unskipable as well.

You can't skip it, it cannot be algorithmically downloaded and you can't block it like obviously somebody can block a video, but. So this was a video of sorts or? Yeah, so he no. So basically he's a content creator, he's a Blogger, a YouTube Blogger. OK, some way that you have to compulsorily see it. Yeah, you can't avoid seeing it. Brain goes to like a safety video in a plane. No, no, no. OK, focus one point that probably may give you a clue or at least two points from the question.

He turned something that most people try to conceal into a short term commercial asset and he priced it per surface area. What do people try to conceal? Something intimate? Something private. No, this is not something intimate or private. Them sinking in the bathroom. No, no. It's a video, right? Like you're saying, it's some sort of video on some. No. So this happened. This happened across multiple videos. OK. Which is why he was paid 50,000

for three months. Yeah, this is a bunch of interesting clues without really giving me too much right now. No, I'll need something more. See if this helps you out. The company is called LA Density. Yeah, no, never heard of it. What kind of company will be the last clue that I give you? Something that he was showing on his video. But again, it's unskippable. So it can't be like on a regular YouTube video. It can't be like an Instagram ad.

I guess TV, but then TV ads. Also, technically you can just change the channel I suppose. Like I mentioned, people try to usually conceal this. He also thought of concealing it, but then he decided instead of hiding it that he decided to monetize it. No, I have no idea right now. This is completely clueless. OK. So I'm going to tell you what the company is and you can probably then guess from that. So this is a practically A

giveaway. The company that inked the deal with him was LA Density, a Cochin based hair transplant company. His forehead. I was genuinely going to say forehead space when you started this question, but OK. Some space on his head, some bald spot, some forehead. He's he's a bald guy. OK, so his entire head. He shaved off whatever little hair he had, and he rented out his bald head for

advertisements. The deal was for ₹50,000 for three months, with companies getting prime placement on his head while he records his YouTube content. Oh my God. When he offered this, many people laughed. But then LA Density came and became the first to drink in a contract with him. Their advertisement is now temporarily tattooed on Shafiq's

head. So basically it was temporarily tattooed on his head for the duration that he was paid for, ensuring brand visibility in every frame of his videos. So you cannot, technically, if you're watching his video, you are forced to see that ad. You cannot skip it. It cannot be downgraded because there's an ad. Yeah. And this unusual idea was born when Shafiq himself considered getting a hair transplant.

But instead of hiding his baldness, he decided to monetize it. When you first said this, like, generally, And I was like, you know what, Let's not say it because it's going to sound stupid. And I don't want to increase the runtime of this episode unnecessarily. This is a joke that has been going around because I am a guy with a big forehead.

And this is a joke that has been going around since college days where people have just been like, oh, why don't you rent out your forehead as a billboard like I have. The number of times I've heard this joke is just, yeah, way too many. And. I. Swear, when you said it, I was like, but OK, let's not say it. And it turns out that was my first instinct. It's usually it was a balding man's problem. I see it. I feel you. I feel you, Shafi.

I'm also probably going to have to use that in a few years, you know, help people to get some real estate. Let's not, let's not do this, OK? We are, we are targeting, we are targeting a younger demographic. Let's not do these mid 30s forties problems right now. Let's let's be young and let's be excited, OK? Yeah, yeah. So it's all about 6-7. What the hell is that? I still don't understand what 6-7 is honestly. Speaking. I read some explanations but the explanations did no sense.

That's because you're old. It's because you aren't young. Yeah. You need to feel it. Be 6-7 in your heart I guess. Yeah. All right. Me. Yeah. You were talking about somebody who is South Indian, I guess. Yeah. Well, I this particular guy is not South Indian, but he is Indian. No, he came from India. Deepak Pandya was an Indian American neuroanatomist best known for his contributions to the understanding of cortical and subcortical brain connectivity in the Maki monkey.

Mackie Mackay, Mackay Monkey. The monkey, the. Mackay. Mackay. I think that's us, yeah. He was born in Gujarat and then eventually settled in Massachusetts. He passed away a couple of years ago. OK, on 16th. April or April of 16th I guess. On 16th April 2007, his youngest child entered the Boston Marathon and completed it in four hours and 24 minutes. OK. Why was this historic? Just guessing. His youngest child as in his actual child or somebody he considered a child?

Not a monkey. No, no, no. OK, that's what I was going to ask. Maybe a fast monkey though. 4 hours and 24 minutes for a marathon is very fast for a monkey. Yeah, but no, this was a human child person. OK, what is his name again? What is the scientist name? The neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya. So Deepak Pandya's youngest child ran the Boston Marathon, correct in 2007. April 16th to answer, we haven't

gotten to the 2025 Connect yet. Oh, OK, OK, yes, youngest child, was it like it's not the fastest, right? 4 hours? No, no, not even close. They're obviously not the youngest person. I don't think they'll be the youngest. Not even at all. OK. Can you try connecting it to 2025 so that I can probably kind of reverse engineer the answer? That was the intention. But before we get there, just to tell you that this was historic because it was a historic first, OK?

And since then it has been done one more time, OK? So this particular achievement has been achieved twice only so far, OK. Now the connection to 2025 is not nothing to do with that, with that historic record, the historic first. It has got nothing to do with that, but it has got to do with the youngest child. And I'll again go with the hint of the date first. OK, the date is March 18th, 2025, or by the way, March of 18th, 1 + 8. Also nine my.

God, something is a coincidence. March is also the third month. 3 ^2 is also nine. OK, never mind. The March 18th, 2025 event happened in Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, FL. OK. Or Gulf of America, I guess, for our American friends. No, I refuse to call it the Gulf of America. I refuse to call it the Gulf of America. Something happened in the Gulf of Mexico, Yes, on March 18th, 2025. And it somehow links to something that happened on March 16th of 2007, Yes.

Any other clues that you could possibly give me? Ideally, March 18th, 2025 shouldn't have been. March 18th, 2025. It should have been somewhere in August of 2024. It was delayed massively. Oh, this is this is a Boeing screwed up. And Sunita Williams was in. Well, this is Sunita Williams. Sunita Williams was in space. Longest thing ever. And then she splashed down finally, after, you know, months overdue in the industrial picture.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. This is Sunita Williams. Perfect, perfect. You got that right. Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, the two astronauts who were stuck way beyond their mission parameters, were, which is initially supposed to be only 8 days. They went up in 24. They came back nine months later. March of March of. What is wrong with the 18th March 2025? OK, OK.

To the audience, I think the reason that Aditya has been, you know, butchering dates this way is I am fairly confident he's been reading George RR Martin, who also suffers from the same disease. For him, everything is of the something, the hand of the king. Great. It's never anything else. It's the hand of the King, the this thing off, the something else and whatnot. Which probably means that this episode will never end. It'll keep going on for four hours or five hours.

So yeah. OK, cool. Coming back to the coming back to the piece of trivia, can you connect it now? I hope it'll be easy to connect it to the piece of trivia that I mentioned about the marathon. Yeah, so she she's his daughter. So she would have been the youngest child. So she's the first astronaut to win the Boston Marathon. She didn't win. 4 hours 24 minutes is not winning in that time. Yeah, not a great time, but then she must have first astronaut to

complete. No. The Boston Marathon. Not precisely. OK, take another guess. You said it's it's happened once before, right? Once after that. OK. That was the first time it happened. That was a Boston Marathon. The second time it happened was a few years later. It was a London Marathon. OK. What do you think was that? Did she immediately go to space the next day? So close, so close, so close. She didn't go to space the next day. She was. She was already in space.

She ran this aboard the ISS. She was part of the Boston Marathon aboard the ISS. Oh, she ran it up. OK. Hey, that's cheating. You can't call it the Boston Marathon. That's just a marathon. Sunita Williams was listed as an entrant for the 2007 Boston Marathon. No, no, no. I. Was given a completion time of four hours 24 minutes. No, this is this is just marketing bullshit. This is marketing BS. I will let the Boston Marathon

people know. You can't call it the Boston Marathon unless she's specifically on the Boston Marathon in Boston. If the ISS were in geosynchronous orbit, locked to the position of the Boston Matter of Boston like directly above, I could still consider it. But it's not, so I reject it. I reject your premise. That implies that Boston is a fixed point in space. Unfortunately, the frame of reference that you're referring to is very localized.

If you're outside of Earth, Boston is a continuously moving point in space, so who knows where Boston is technically. You know what? I'm just wasting time now. OK. So she was the first astronaut ever, the first person ever to have run that. OK, another man did it many years later, I'm forgetting the exact here, but he ran the London Marathon a few years later. And those are the only two people who have ever run a marathon.

I call bullshit. OK, so moving on to April of 2025, this is a little bittersweet. X was born on New Year's Eve and passed away on April 1st. Birth and death happened on notable dates. Death obviously happened on April 1st in 2025. So I'm going to give you a bunch of trivia about this person and you have to tell me who this person is. He grew up riding horses on a ranch once owned by Roy Rogers, which later became infamous at the site of the Manson Family

murders. He famously once broke his arm when he jumped into a crowd in an attempt to crowd surf. OK. Known as something of a Casanova, his list of alleged romantic partners included Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, Cindy Crawford, Daryl Hannah, Angelina Jolie, Ellen Barkin, Carly Simon, among others. He also dated actress Mayor Winningham. Fun fact, he once dreamed that she was cheating on him, kissing

someone else to be exact. After he woke up, he borrowed someone's car in order to drive at least 300 miles to find her. He found her at her swimming club kissing someone else. So it was a very prophetic dream. X also had a legendary feud with Marlon Brando, who was this legend of the 80s and 90s, who was Sean Spencer's idol and who passed away in April of 2025. That was a pretty impressive is not the politically correct word to use.

Somebody use some other word. There's a pretty notable list of people that he has dated. I know Warren BT has a pretty impressive list of dating history as well. Yeah, you couldn't go by just the list because, you know, there are a lot of people. Leonardo DiCaprio comes to mind. And BT is, as far as I know, he's alive. So yeah, somebody from the 70s and 80s who passed away this year. I would ask you to focus on the 80s and 90s. They became famous in the 80s

and the 90s. OK, so he was also at some point attempting to crowd surf, you said yes, broken arm. Yes. Crowd surfing makes me think of some sort of rock star, some sort of musician. No. So then the other alternative is an actor who dabbled in music, I guess. Actually, I should clarify, Is it an actor? Am I supposed to be looking at the acting? Yes, it is an actor. It is an actor. An actor, what do you say is also the inspiration for Sean? Who? No. No, he was Sean Spencer's idol. Okay.

That's a deep cut clue, you know. If you know you don't, it doesn't mean anything to you. Yeah, no, that that meant absolutely nothing to me. Those who are who those who knows for Sean Spencer have immediately blurted out the answer while listening to this podcast, which is probably an audience of maybe like. Two, you underestimate no. No, I even though I've recommended the show multiple times on this podcast over the past 125 something on episodes. I don't think many people have.

Actually gone and watched it so well. People will take. Note after this question, you said Sean Spencer, and the only person I could think of was Sean Spicer, who was I think the the spokesperson for Trump in his first term. Funny guy, but OK. No, that's not who Sean Spencer obviously refers to. Sean Spencer. OK, you know what? Never mind that that rule doesn't lead me anywhere. An actor from the 80s and 90s, Yeah. You mean maybe something else? Maybe.

A genre of films or something? OK, so no. He's who whose genre is wide and varied. Oh wow. OK, so. Let me just tell you this. The The incident where he broke his arm while trying to crowd surf was because he was playing a famous musician playing a famous. Musician, yes. To the famous. Musician and this I'm assuming. A biopic that I would have heard of if not seen. You may not have seen the.

Biopic, but you definitely know who this is the actor and the musician that he was portrayed got it he. Broke his arm because he. Jumped into the crowd to crowd surf but nobody caught him. This. This is I think this is a scene. That Oh yeah, this is a Jack Black seed in School of Rock. In the reopening of the film, he does that. X had a legendary. Feud with Marlon Brando, who once told X that his problem is that he confuses his talent with the size of his paycheck.

Marlon Brando was. Not known to be the nicest of or the kindest of people, at least in his later years. Yeah. Did a musician. OK, I'll give you a few other other. Roles that he has played He has played a DC superhero, he has played a multi actor franchise James Bond like character who was once featured on a question in this podcast. He has played a very one of the giants of music, and he was also 1/2 of the. Duo. That defined 80s masculinity. It is.

Masculinity is. Sylvester Stallone and Schwarzenegger both are very much alive. No, no, not, not. OK, no, I maybe that was a little overreaching too much. You can. Say there's. This robust kind of masculinity that was defined by Stallone and Schwarzenegger. And then there's the kind of, you know, macho, lean, mean, machine kind of masculinity. Very. Specific. Shirtless scenes. Jean Claude Van. Damme is alive. No, no. OK, so this.

Scene. I mean like there is a very specific scene that the reason I'm talking about this very specific scene in a very famous movie. This is a shirtless scene. Oh my God, you're talking about Val Kilmer. Oh God, so you meant homoerotic masculinity is what you meant in that yes. What Top Gun was entirely yes, but then. See. Come on, it's not. Just that I mean, like it's it was a fantastic movie and very memorable scene. Oh no, no, 100%. I'm I I'm I like Top Gun. I like the sequel also.

And I loved the way they brought Val Kilber back also. Yeah. So this is. Val Kilber let me just put everything together. The Casanova part doesn't need further explanation. He basically played Jim Morrison in the Doors biopic. The Doors film, yes. He played Batman. In Batman Forever in DC, yeah, you mentioned OK. DC superhero. And he played Simon Templar, the Saint who was featured in a question in this podcast before. Oh, yeah, yeah. I. Remember his name coming up in that context?

Oh my God, I've forgotten again. Yeah, yes, and. He has also he acted with Marlon Brando, the island of Doctor Morrow, just where he had this big kerfuffle with him. And Sean Spencer is the protagonist of the show Psych, which I have mentioned a million times on the show. OK. Val Kilmer is 1. Of Sean Spencer's idols, he brings up Val Kilmer like 100 times throughout the series. During the series finale, Val Kilmer makes like a blink and you miss it cameo.

OK, so yeah, so this was Val Kilmer. He passed away quite tragically too early actually. He was in his late 60s on April 1st. And it was not an April Fool's joke, unfortunately. Joke on us, I guess. Taking away a very talented man. The first movie that I remember him from is none of these classics, none of these these famous ones. I remember him from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. One of my absolute favorite films. Oh yeah, yes. But that's that's his 2000s.

That's after he kind of lost his motive prime. He's not He's. Not in his leading man day anymore. And yet, my God, he's so good because Robert Downey Junior again, fantastic. Not yet the. Iron. Man fame, he's still kind of just come back from his recovery from, from addiction and, you know, kind of making his comeback and he's phenomenal in the film. I I love RDJ in that film, but Valconvar is such a good, good, just integral part of the film. I know you like the film as

well. Yeah. And then of course, I went and saw the other films. I saw your top guy and then whatnot. So yeah, he's, he's quite the actor, actually. New York Times did a lovely tribute to him when he passed away and they were talking about his spiritual journey and stuff. And he just sounded like a very interesting man to the point where he was like, I think everything in life is good for. You even this. Cancer is good for me or

something like that. Like he had a very interesting philosophy on life, of course took a lot away from him the. Obituary. That New York Times ran was about talking about how he was very good looking and so people typecast him as that, just a good looking guy. But then he wanted to do serious roles. So he was trying to fight that also at all points of time, also trying to do these crazy indie films and some of them worked, some of them didn't work. But he was obviously very

talented as an actor. Like genuinely. Top Gun, yes, 100%. Tom Cruise, my God, amazing. But Val Kilmer, when he's facing off against him in that scene, when they're in the changing room and they're just standing and he does the bite. Oh, God. Like I, I get it. Two men, very hot men. Just like this is a sexual tension between that. I love it, okay? And just a pop culture recommendation, I believe you watched Airplane, right?

I have, I have. There was a team of directors, Jim Abrams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, who made multiple such very kind of slapstick movies through the 70s and the 80s. There's included Airplane, the Kentucky Fried Movie, Naked Gun was them. Hotshots which featured Charlie Sheen, of course. So these are the kind of ones that. Are more famous. What many people don't know is there's a movie they did with Val Kilmer called Top Secret The Writer. Which is also.

Very funny. It spoofs mostly World War Two kind of movies. OK, I. Would definitely recommend. Go watch Top Secret, which start very, very young. Val Kilmer. Interesting. Yeah. And generally the Top Gun Maverick, The cameo that he played props to Tom Cruise or whoever the writer or director were there was a creative person behind that choice was just the perfect way to bring back that character and sort of give him the the rightful space that he his his character deserved in

the sequel. That was very well done. I really like that. Very well done. Yes, I. Agree. OK, on to you for I believe it is may we are in. May, and specifically I'm going to give you the date to begin itself, May of third, OK, it's the 3rd May. On 3rd May. Lady Gaga hosted the biggest ever concert that has ever been attended by a female artist. 2.1 million. There were some numbers which suggested 2.5 as well, but let's go with the lower end of it. 2.1 million people were in attendance.

The question is very simple, where was this concert? So. Lady. Gaga's concert on May 3rd attended by 2.1 million people. Where was this concert and the record being? That's the biggest of a concert, the largest of our audience, by a female artist I remember. Something about this but I can't remember the location give me. A clue I'll. Probably kind of. It will kind of jog my memory. OK, so let. Me give you some some related

information. OK, the record is for the highest number of concert attendees by the number. You would have imagined that this is a free concert, ticketed concert. The number is is much lower. It's 485,000. So it's the fraction of the 2.1 million number. OK. And that also, by the way, happened this year, 5th of July 2025. Yeah, but in this case, it's a free concert. It is the highest ever

attendance by a female artist. This was on 3rd of May 2025 by Lady Gaga. I have asked you what the location is. The reason I mentioned that it's a free concert is for a few reasons. OK, Firstly, this place would be a little difficult to have a ticketed concert at. I couldn't find any obviously any source which said that no, definitively there has never

been a ticketed concert here. But I imagine that there has probably been very few ticketed concerts, if at all, and it would be very difficult to have a large ticketed concert at a location like this. OK. Next that I'm going to give you. Is that out of the top? Five most attended. Concerts and all of these are the free concerts or the top five most attended concerts. This location has been featured 3 times on that list.

OK out of the top ten, this location has been featured five times on that list and every other location is featured only once. So you can imagine just how popular this this location is for for concerts I guess. Can you tell me who are the other? Artists who are featured at the same location, sure. So the. Highest ever attendance recorded is apparently a tie between the two, but whatever. Take a pick Rod Stewart at the same location and this is number one spot is 3.5 million attendees.

OK and. Tied with him also. At 3.5 I'm going off of Wikipedia by the way. Tied with him 3.5 million Jean Michael Jarre OK, who had. Not heard of but he's. A French composer, performer and record producer and his was at Moscow State University. OK, so that is 3.5 million as well. Then coming to #3 would be also same location. Jorge Ben, who is a. Brazilian Popular. Musician has been performing since the 1980s, also at the same location. 3 million people. This is in 1993 by the way.

Rod Stewart was 1994 same location. Jorge Ben 1993 same location. Lady Gaga I already mentioned, 3rd of May, same location 2.52 point 1,000,000 Somewhere there she broke the record of Madonna. Also same. Location. Almost exactly a year before that, which is the 4th of May 2020. Four 1.6 million. When I said the highest ever attendance for a female artist. Lady Gaga set the record this year. The previous record was held by Madonna, which was literally last year at 1.6 million, same

location. The Rolling Stones in 2006, 1.5 million, same location. I've told you 5 artists were performed at the same location. The Rolling Stones thing kind. Of rang a bell. So I'm going to go for it because I'm kind of also buoyed by the fact that you mentioned Jorge Ben, who's a Brazilian recording artist. Go for it. Go for. It crack it. Is it the? Copacabana beach on in Rio. Oh good. Lord, my man, he is on a roll. Copacabana. Yes, Copacabana Beach. Which I assume is a difficult

location for a ticketed concert. Yeah, I don't think. Any beach would be a difficult one. Yeah, as I read the most. Number of free concert or highest attended concert in the top ten list. It's insane. At #1 at #3, at #5 #7 at #9 and every other location is only featured once on that list, in the top 10. So to me this is just bonkers. The fact that Copacabana Beach has been so popular. I was going to give you more hints.

And Copacabana Beach has also been the most popular location of choice for a specific FIFA event. The. Belongo. No, no, no, literally. At what they call it the World Cup, but it used to be called a world championship before FIFA to Cova. It's basically beach, beach football. Oh, OK, OK, so. Copacabana Beach. Has been the most popular location that is just. Insane. Number of attendees for concerts 2.1 million people is. Just blows my mind I. Remember.

Vaguely that there was a like. After the Soviet. Union kind of reserved. There was a concert in Russia somewhere which was attended by like some 2 million people. It was, was it a Metallica or who? Who was that? So there is a 1.6. Million attendance by various artists. This was in Moscow. This was in Tuscino airfield. It was called the Monsters of Rock. This was September 28th, 1991, so I'm assuming that's the one you're talking about. Yeah. OK. OK, OK.

OK, so maybe the because I remember something about Metallica or somebody performing and maybe they were part of it. I'm not. Sure, but that's the other one in Moscow maybe. Yeah, no, just. Going through this Wikipedia. Page I was just surprised going to the ticketed concert list. Oh yes, I. Did not recognize. Anybody in the top five? And again, I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to music, but tell me if you know these people, OK, And I might be

messing up the names, OK? Marco Perkovic, Thompson. Prokovich. Probably a Prokovich. Have you heard of this person? No Croatian guy. OK. He performed in Zagreb with close to half a million. This is ticketed concerts. OK then. Vasco Rossi No. Italian singer-songwriter. And Poet 225,000 People Modena in Italy, Bhelo Dugeme, Bosnian rock band. This was in Belgrade, 220,000. Yeah. I'm just like, who are these? Like, it's so surprising to me. These are the highest ever added concerts.

Wait, isn't there a Michael? Jackson on the list or a Coldplay? I just came to number. Three OK be hello to game. The 4th 1 is Glee. Have you heard of Glee? Japanese rock band. This was in 1999. Two 100,000 people attended it. India Solari. Have you heard of India? Solari No. Argentinian musician. And singer, dear God. OK, so far there is not a. Single English musician, English singer, English. English band. Not not a single one in American or English. English.

I mean language, yeah, Then. Comes finally. Paul McCartney, One name I recognize. Ah, yes. Paul himself. Paul McCartney. Tina Turner, Frank Sinatra, there in order. These are at least three people I recognize the names of. I'm very surprised that. There isn't a Michael Jackson on this list. Let me just quickly. Read out the names. Luciano Ligabue, who is an Italian singer. Bruce Springsteen. Thank God. Know that name? American. OK, there's a Serbian singer by the name of Seka.

Keka. Seka. How do you pronounce it again? Marko Perovich. You too. You know that? Yes. Yes. You too. Yeah. Roger Waters, English. Musician Kiss also know them. American rock band. Yes, Yes, Robbie. Williams, you would know. That English singer-songwriter. Yes. Yes, let. Me entertain you, Queen. Features on this at #17 and there was at Sao Paulo in 1981, Helen Fisher, then Madonna.

Finally at #20 is The Rolling Stones, and #21 is Michael Jackson #21 and #22 both yeah, and #24 as well. There's the the Americans and the British singer. Songwriters and musicians come way down on the list frequently. But further down the list. Yeah, it perhaps. Has to do. With the fact that their fanbase is a lot more spread out, I guess I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't know what the reason is, but it's so surprising to the top five.

I had not even heard of these people and these are the most attended concerts ever. Mind blowing, frankly. Because I, I think it might be a cultural thing that, you know, maybe the Latin American or the non-english Romance speaking languages, people are more likely to go to concerts or something like that. Maybe I. Guess I don't know, but like, there is also a Japanese rock band in it. Yeah, in terms. Of Asian. Music.

I was more familiar with Korean or I've heard of a little bit of Chinese pop, but that's probably because I was in Singapore, so I was exposed to more of that. I did not know Japanese rock was this big a deal that it's #4 on the list. Do you want to know how you? Can beat this like easily. You tell me, bring down somebody. Like. Coldplay or the Backstreet Boys or you to to Goa and have a free concert on the beach.

Oh, hundred. Percent this is there that's not even going to but honestly, you know what? If anybody from Coldplay is listening, don't do it, OK, just just it's going to be a nightmare. You know, nightmare for everybody attending is going to nightmare for you. Just it's going to be the worst thing that has ever happened, So don't do it. But yes, and people will die of. Starvation while they wait for the traffic to clear from the Baga Beach Rd.

Let's not even go to the. The possible genuine risks of that, it's not even a joke at this point. The genuine human risks of doing it eventually. By the way, since that Coldplay. They are at #32 and 33, both at Narendra Modi Stadium, both in January of this year. Nice. Going on to a little more serious note, moving to the month of June. In a development that. Will go down in aviation history. An Air India flight from Delhi to Dubai witnessed A dramatic courtroom style execution.

With the official record. Stating the execution, it was by being hanged till death. Who was the offender who was executed? Somebody. Was hung to death. On a flight, yeah, Delhi to. Dubai. I'm assuming it's not a. Person. I'm assuming this is some. Some sort of? A creature because it's a person. I want to skip this question. I don't want to even answer this question. It's too depressing. Yes, you're right, it's. Not a person. This is Was there a snake on the

plane? Traumatic reenactment of the. Film. OK, so is it some sort of an animal, some sort of a creature? It is a creature, yes. But it was not a monkey fighting snakes on a Monday to Friday plane. Okay, it's not something in fiction, right? We're just talking, still talking about something that happened. No, this is real. This is real. This actually was reported in the Gulf News, but strangulation. Especially for an animal. Sounds rather gruesome. Yeah, the record says hang

tilted. Hang tilted sounds pretty gruesome. Yeah, the only animal that I'm OK imagining in that kind of situation is like maybe a cockroach, I guess. So I'm going to guess like to hang a cockroach that I don't know. I don't know. What part of a cockroach would you hang to death? Like which organ is supposed to be hung? OK, now that sounds. Really absurd. That sounds really absurd, but it's true. It is a cockroach. I love this piece of news. I love this piece of news.

OK, listen this, listen this so you know for every flight there is a cabin defect logbook. OK, now those are usually filled with boring notes about broken entertainment systems, flickering lights. But this time it turned into a true crime thriller when crew members recorded and I quote Cockroach Found alive by guest hyphen Cockroach hang till death. Passengers and netizens.

Alike were left equal parts horrified and entertained as the insect's brief but turbulent journey aboard Air India flight AI315 came to an abrupt, abrupt and legally binding end. According to a Gulf News report, the incident took place in 2025 when a traveler spotted a live cockroach mid flight. While pest sightings aren't unheard of, it's the airline's decisive response had made headlines.

The maintenance engineer, evidently channelling both Sholay and CSI, recorded the incident with impeccable flair. The now viral entry declared that the case was conclusively closed, adding a dramatic flourish, class Dubai style. So the cockroach was. Doing the Dharander viral reel before it was good. First year spy. In the Middle East. Considering the amount. Of just depressing airline news from this year and from last year. And I'm glad you found something

which was lighthearted. Yeah. Well chosen. So well chosen. Thank you. Well, you gave me a perfect segue because you were talking about a flight. I'm going to talk about a flight as well. In my case, though, this flight is from 1983. OK. What is that with you today? And like, just giving me something from the extreme past. I love it. OK? On the one hand, I was struggling to find good interesting trivia, which is which is not related to sad

depressing news from this year. On the other hand, when you try hard enough, such interesting trivia shows up, and this is a perfect example. So cut 2. OK, 1983 Air France flight from Charlotte. There was a woman, Jane, on it, but Jane had a bunch of things she was carrying, including diapers for her one year old daughter, Lou Dolo. Lou Dolo, Lou Dolo just. As a reference, Lou. Dolo is famous in and of her own regard. She is now known as a French

British singer and actress. Yes. But coming back to. The 1983 flight, so Jane was with her daughter carrying a bunch of things, was annoyed at the kind of mess that she had. She was also famously known to carry a Wicker basket with her wherever she went, so in this case, she was carrying her stuff in her Wicker basket. However, there was too much of it, including the diapers, and

it was almost spilling out. It spilled out onto the passenger sitting next to her next to Jane, and at that point she started ranting to this person sitting next to her. She mentioned how her favorite brand doesn't make bags, which would be the right size for her. Either they're very small or or they're extremely big. They're not the right size for a woman like her, a mother, young mother like her and the needs and and the kind of things that you'd be carrying. Yeah. What did this?

Encounter and I feel like you've cracked this like 5 sentences ago. What did this encounter lead to? OK, so. The person in question that you're talking about is Jane Birkin. And when she was ranting to the person right next to her, she was like, I will carry a bag when Hermes makes 1. And that's when the gentleman sitting right there, Madam, I am Hermes and that. Was. The origin story behind the Hermes Birkin the bag. Perfect. You got it absolutely right.

There are versions of the story, obviously this is the my preferred version, but apparently, and this is based off of what she has said in interviews, she knew she had kind of figured out who this person was next to her and that's why she was ranting to him specifically. It wasn't like I'm just going to rant about her mess to this rant of stranger, but as I prefer the version where she was ranting about her mess to the CEO. And the CEO's name is Joe Louis Duma. Yeah.

And he was the CEO of the luxury band A mess. A mess used to make a smaller bag and that was not obviously enough for needs. And then Hermes had bigger suitcases and stuff and she was like, why does Hermes not make this right bag size? So the CEO, the legend goes, asked her to show him what the bag would look like.

So she took out one of those those vomit bags in the plane and she drew it on it. She drew a prototype of what she wanted and 1985. Two years later, Miss presented Birkin with the prototype of her ideal bag as a gift. But there was one request that the bag should bear her name. She graciously agreed. And Birkin bags, For any fan of luxury goods and fashion goods would know, Birkin bags are very valuable are collectors items also. And this was the first ever Birkin bag.

Now, keen listeners might realize that I have not really mentioned 2025 yet. Vineet, you want to tell us how is related to 2025? I have no clue you'll. Have to give me a question to answer. I have actually. Mentioned the link already in my explanation just now. It's a collector. 'S item. Well, yes, yes it is. A collector's item did a Birkin bag. Sell for an outrageously high price in 2025 a Birkin. Bag was auctioned for the most expensive handbag ever auction.

I guess whoever is keeping record though, specifically the original Birkin bag that was given to Jane Birkin was auctioned on 10th July 2025 for a cool €8.6 million or $10.1 million. Oh, 10. Million. Dollar handbag, do you know? What the name? Of that bag was please help me it was. Bag worthy. It is the original. Bagwati. That is the original Bagwati. Yeah, Yeah, but you got. That very, very accurately and just to kind of tie it with a

bow on top. Jane Birkin was the name and she was an English actress, singer and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress but was mostly in French films. So maybe most of her English speaking audience has not seen her work. She passed away in 2023, so not that long ago and first ever Birkin bag that was given to her was auctioned off. She actually gave it off to charity many many years ago. So it's probably been passed from person to person over the

years. And recently was part of an auction where there was apparently a very heated ten way bidding war. Like there are multiple people interested and it went finally for 10.1 million U.S. dollars. On 10th of July 2020. 5 that's that's. A lot of money. That's a lot of money. Hey, we finally did. 6-7 We are done with June. July. Oh God, you were. Waiting to say. That oh, OK, Moving on to 8. This is August. OK, this is a.

Very easy question. Frankly speaking, because I couldn't find anything good in August. So Aditya, you're going to track this fairly quickly. I'm far confident, but I'm going to ask it anyway because we have to get through to August to get together once. OK, this was. The first. Netflix film to open at #1 at the box office, earning $18 million, it also. Became the.

Most watched movie on Netflix, and this was the first film soundtrack in history to have 4 songs in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing Saturday Night Fever and Waiting to Exhale, each of which had three songs in the top 10 simultaneously. So which movie? Wow, that is. Actually something I don't know, I thought this will be cracked in like. 2 seconds flat Netflix film. That was the biggest opening ever, became the most watched. Movie on Netflix.

The previous record was held by Red Notice, which got 231 million views in the 1st 90 days of release. 231 million views. This movie got 325 million views within the 1st 90 days. That's a big number. Yeah, I wonder how Netflix. Calculates. Its views by the way. I'm curious like do they count it like you have to finish it till the credits or something or like the 1st 10 minute or rather

maybe they'll just count. The entire viewing time of this and then divide it by the length of the movie and they'll be like, oh there's many views. I would be surprised. If that is the case, I I I don't think because again based off of what other social media platforms do like YouTube, you're counted as view. If you have seen like the 1st 10 seconds of the video, some some serious number, yeah, that could be an hour long video doesn't matter 10 seconds you've seen

it, you're a view. OK, anyways, for this biggest film ever, I I definitely would know of it, even if I haven't seen it. You would have heard of it. You would have. Definitely heard of it, but I think the reason it may not immediately pop to mind is because you though you claim to run in a younger crowd, you don't actually run with the same demographic as which kind of, you know, this movie targets. Ouch. I do. Not appreciate that. That was very. Made of you.

Dude stop it man you you can't speak the Janafa lingo. Maybe just embarrassing assaults. Yeah. Yeah, OK. Move on. This feels. Like I know this. Because I remember reading that it has surpassed the Red Notice. I was also surprised at the fact that Red Notice was the previous record holder because I remember thinking that that's a pretty bad movie. Oh yeah. It's a bad movie. No, Give me something else. OK, so I will. Give you a couple of names from the cast list.

So that will probably maybe help you. So there is Ken Jeong. Daniel Day Kim. OK, Lisa. Koshi. OK. Those are probably the only names. You'd recognize on this list. Wait, these are the. Most famous names on that cast. I know the the. I think there are much more famous people, but not people that we have heard of. They have, they've been seen. There are a lot of famous people that we've not heard of. Wow, no completely blank right of. Kenji. No. Wow, no idea at all.

It's a musical. Like I mentioned the soundtrack, 4 songs in the top 100, something that's not been done by any movie. I was going to say like some. BTS film you, you said. BTS so think along the same lines. Oh my God, it's. K pop demon hunters. Oh, of course, yes. I'm trying to picture these. People I'm trying to picture oh God, this is my problem like every time you say film I'm like what's the visual of the OK makes sense because anime very popular. I did not watch it, but I heard

good things. I definitely heard great things about the soundtrack. The soundtrack was decent, Yeah. I couldn't escape the. Soundtrack. OK, my neighbor has twin. Girls and they are obsessed with K pop demon hunters. No, I I like the soundtrack. I. I was a final soundtrack. I like some of this. I don't. I think I heard like 2 of them. I like both of them but I didn't watch the film. I have no idea what the film was

like, but I think brief period. Of time, anytime you open social media or anything else, there'll be something related to these songs, something related to this. And then I've, I've seen the craze around like in kids my son's age and slightly older, you know, they want everything and anything related to K pop demon hunters. It's hugely, hugely popular. I mean, it was no. Nadania. Why? Why would you do this? Why would you do this? That's no, yeah. No, no, move on, Move on

quickly. Quickly before you get cancelled. Cancel for mentioning Nadania. Yes, you ought to be. Speaking of Indian. Things. Let's come back to India for my September question. Oh my God, we are at 9 Vineet 9. Yes, yes. 99. 99. Don't. No, don't do that. German Nazi. Joke. Forget it. No, no Nazi jokes. You're. Keeping it light. OK, so I'm going to mention a person. Chandrapuram. Please tell me you've not cracked that question. As soon as I've said the name, that's a person, OK?

Thank God. I was worried. You'll crack it immediately. OK? Chandrapuram was born on 4th May 1957. Yet again, we go back to history. Yes, 4th May 1950. Seven 4 + 5 is 9 again. Chandrapuram. Was born on 4th May 1957 in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. OK, The story goes that he was currently named after X OK X was very soon thereafter reelected to a prestigious position. This happened on 13th May, literally 9 days later, right? 4th May 1957.

Chandrapuram was born. 13th May X got that prestigious position 12th September 2025, quickly connecting it to 2025. Twelfth September 2025. Chandrapuram would go on to achieve the same thing as X. What am I talking about? South. I'm guessing Chandrapuram is. Not his full name. That's not his first name. I'm guessing that's your abbreviating his name somehow. So Chandrapuram. Is his, Yeah. First part. Of his name, the being named after X part. Obviously I'm not giving you the

name, OK? So someone named Chandrapuram was elected to a prestigious position on 12th of September this year, correct? No, you'll have to give me some other clue. Well, interestingly. There is a very strong connect to this person on another date in September. You do realize that when? People name certain people, especially in South India, the initials are not always named. You tell me. What the answer is don't, don't, don't give me all this random

stuff. Give me the answer you're talking about Sarvepulli. Radhakrishnan. Yes. Oh God. My God, man. Chandrapuram isn't is not his name Chandrapuram. Listen, listen, listen. Chandrapuram Ponnusamy. Radhakrishnan is his full name. And of course, Chandrapuram is not his first given name. He says that I can't give you Radhakrishnan now I can't give you Radhakrishnan. It'll be too easy. No, you could have given me Ponnusamy. Oh, OK. Ponnusamy.

Is his first. Name Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan would literally mean Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan from Chandrapuram. That makes more sense, yeah. That makes a lot more sense. My bad. Hey, listen, you don't have been targeted by by my South Indian friends a little bit recently and very justifiably. This is another black mark on my record. Yeah, if. CP Radhakrishnan was. Filling out a form which said usually it says first name, middle name, last name, right? A first name, middle name,

surname. What would he put? Vendor put Pulusami as the first. Name. OK, OK. And Radhakrishnan C would be put as the last name. Radhakrishnan C Yeah, so C would be part of his. Last name so I'm correct. I mean, OK, fine, OK. It's not his. Name I'm not trying to explain. Explains how the name conditions to a Mallu person. I'm just saying for. A. Broader understanding it for broader understanding. Let me just clarify this. Right now in South India, we

have this thing of appending. Basically, we're just attaching the name of the place or the name of the family or whatever. Basically, those don't technically count as your name. You can't categorize them as your first or last name. They're initials, sure. When my dad went to. Bahrain for the first time. When he went to Bahrain for the first time, his boss Muhammad Ali was an out and out Arab who said that I cannot pronounce your name.

He's like, I cannot pronounce pronounce the first three names, so I'm going to call you by the last name. So he was like Nair. From then on, for 25 years he was known as Nair. Being called by a last name is not. Uncommon, but then you realize. That Nair is one of the most common surnames in Kerala. We like calling a. Chinese person Lee just because the last name is Lee. Yeah, exactly.

OK, we deviated. So hard, and I don't know how much of this will end up in the final cut, but coming back to the trivia. Chandrapuram Ponnuswamy. Radhakrishan is the name that is mentioned on Wikipedia. CEP Radhakrishan is the current Vice President of India. He was elected to that position on 12th of September 2025. Yes. The story goes that he was born. 4th May 1957 and when he was born, his parents CK Ponnuswami and K Janaki Janaki. My bad.

K Janaki. From Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, they decided that they're going to name them after S Radhakrishan Sarva Pele. Radhakrishan Sarva Pele. I'm going to be brutal to you now. I said with play Radhakrishan. S Radhakrishan, You can make my

life easier. The First Vice President of India, who was in that post for two consecutive terms, was in the position for two consecutive terms from 13th of May 1952 to 12th May 1962. The next day he became the President of India and he was in that position for five years. So one of the most illustrious people from the early

independent Indian history. And I mentioned as a hint that he's related to a day in September as Radhakrishnan's birthday obviously is also Teachers Day in India, celebrated as Teachers Day in their 5th September. Yeah, yeah, as. Radhakrishnan. Was the person that apparently CP Ravi Krishnan was named after and CP Ravi Krishnan got to be or well deserved to be or whatever he found his way to becoming the Vice President of India in September of this year. And that is the Long story short

of it all. That was a. Good question. I feel like I. Just was put through a lesson. I don't think that felt like a question anymore, you know? I appreciate being taught when I'm wrong, it's just I don't think I learnt much in the process. I'm still very confused. Yeah. OK. Let me move on. Move on.

Moving to October. In 2025, the same young performer, or let's say a young performer, became a case study in how social media, critical reception format and venue can completely invert commercial outcomes. In one instance she fronted a big budget studio film aimed at a global audience, heavily marketed, digitally saturated and tied to an iconic IP. Yet it collapsed theatrically, becoming shorthand for modern day box office.

Within months. She achieved the opposite result in a radically different medium, an old fashioned stage revival mounted in a single historic London theatre where demand was so high that performances sold out and ticket scarcity replaced

marketing spend. The production concluded it's run in September 2025, but it's cultural afterlife extended further when a live cast recording released weeks later in October unexpectedly topped the UK Singles Chart, a rarity for musical theatre in the streaming era. Taken. Together the 2. Outcomes sparked debate about star power, medium specificity and the power of social media. Which stage? Musical. Revival produced this chart topping success. And which actress am I talking

about? It can't be wicked. Because the film didn't do that badly. No, no, the film did very well. Wicked did very well and you mentioned the film did badly. Right in this case. Oh really? Really. Badly. And this is the same movie and. Rather from the same source material, right? No, the movie is a different. IP the but musical's a different IP. When was the movie? So the. Movie released on March 21st earlier. This year, some. Sort of a musical film that did badly, but again, let me

clarify. The musical theatre and this movie. Two different IPS I mentioned. That they're two different first materials? No idea at all. OK, so the lead. Actress The actress in question when it. Came to the movie. That we're talking about, which like I said, was a box office bomb. There were a lot of controversies associated with the movie way before it released, and one of it was caused by the lead actress herself. Like she said something or did. Something, this movie that we're

talking. About was a remake and the actress openly criticized the original movie, so her comments were condemned by many viewers who categorized her as shaming anyone who liked the original film, while others described her as a walking PR disaster. Very. Good with life fingers. It's a live action film. Was it animated film? Yes, it's a live action. Film live action. Was it? Was was that? The mermaid film you're on the right. Let's say tall house or the

right castle. Right Castle. OK, so it's a it's a Disney film. Yeah. I feel like I've completely lost track of Disney films. No, this was impossible. To miss, there were a lot of things in the Internet, OK, because I'll give you another clue. The Israel conflict also played a role in this movie bombing. Or was it some? Anti-Semitic or pro Palestinian or anti Palestinian? Sort of like I mentioned, there

were two. Major actresses in the movie 1 obviously made problematic comments about the previous movie on which it was based, and the other was roundly criticized for her. Views on the. Israel, Palestine, conflict. Well, to be honest. Literally, you could be on either side and you'll probably be criticized, especially in the US. Yes, yes. Yeah, but in this case it was because this person, and again this may be a giveaway, had actually served in the IDF. Gal Gadot.

Yes, Oh yes, this is. Did Snow White? Snow White? Was it Snow White? Yes, it's snow. White. Yes, yes. OK, so you've got Snow White out of the way now. You have to tell me who the. Actress was and which musical theatre performance are we talking about? I can I can picture her. Face, I can't remember her name. I'll give you the name. It's. Rachel Ziegler, of course. Yes. So which musical? Which went. Viral, I mean.

Like the IT was sold out almost throughout its run and later when it was released it topped the charts and whatnot. I'm. Pretty sure I don't have. No idea about this. You definitely know this. The Musical is a song through musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. OK.

Yeah, it began. As a rock opera concept album in 1976, it's success led to productions in London's West End. In 1978 it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical and on Broadway a year later where it was the first British musical to receive the Tony Award. OK. It's been followed. By a string of professional tours and worldwide productions, numerous cast albums, as well as a 1996 film adaptation, the musical was revived in London's West End in 2006, 2014, 2017 and 2025.

I don't know why the first name that came. To mind was Fiddler on the Roof. No, no it's not. Andrew Lloyd Webber, I probably heard. Of I've heard of it, but no I can't recall right now. OK, I'll give you another clue. It's based. On a real historical figure, Hamilton, of course. No, I'm. Kidding. No. No, no idea at all. One last chance I. Told you there was a 1996 movie adaptation. It won the Academy Award for

best original song. It won 3 Golden Globe Awards for more Best picture, Best picture comedy, Musical, Best original song, and Best Actress. OK. The actress. Was Madonna OK and the. Movie also. Starred Antonio Banderas oh. My God, yes, I know this. This is a Latin American, some South American person, right? That this based on a woman that it is based on? Yes, yes. Yes, yes. Is it Brazilian? Is it? Argentinian. Yes, it is. It is. Argentinian or the musical is Evita. Oh my God. OK.

It's too late in the night. How would I not get that? Yes, it is Evita. Evita. Based on the life of Eva Peron. Eva Peron, Yeah. Yes, yeah. I knew it took the Madonna. Thing yeah, that's that's Mike. I don't think I've seen the film or I know too much about the musical either, but I know of course, of the person and I know that Madonna and Oscar for that yeah. So it was sold out, Rachel.

Ziegler played the titular role of Eva Peron or Evita in the musical revival in 2025, and it was sold out. Like it was massive, massive crowds and massive performance, but. Her. Movie earlier in the year which she was partly responsible for bobbing, apparently. If you can trust social media and Reddit there. Were a lot of other factors there. Was the whole Israeli controversy with Gal Gadot? There was fact that there was a lot of controversy about not choosing.

I think little people is the people who dwarfism. Yeah, yeah, People who dwarfism. So instead of casting people into office and they went with CGI with regular sized people. Yeah, very problematic. Production, OK, now we move on to the penultimate month of November. OK, so. In the month of. November. I don't have an exact date for it, but somewhere in the month of November the United Nations they released a list of the most populated cities.

No idea why they do this, what the reason we added it, but they said they apparently changed some of the parameters or how they kind of qualify and quantify populations in an urban area like a city. So there was some reordering of the ranking. Simple question. Tokyo was #1 Previously, which city has overtaken Tokyo as the most populated city as of 2025 November, based off of AUN study which. Is the most. Populated city according to the 2025 UN list, right? Correct. Tokyo.

Used to be this is based on density or total population. How? How are you looking at it? Just total population? Just. Total population, it's it's not Mumbai. It's not Mumbai or Delhi. I wouldn't say New York either because New York has a lesser population than Tokyo. Just because you said these? Names. I'm going to tell you very quickly, Delhi is at #4. Mumbai is at number. 12 and New York is at #22. So it's not the usual suspects. Tokyo is at #2 right now, in

fact. Yeah, I was just going to. Say Tokyo in fact has not even slipped #2 but it's gone to number 3. So which is number 2? Can you tell me #2 you want to take a guess? Oh well, actually you're still. Number one side out here, yeah #2 is a neighboring country, Dhaka, yeah. Dhaka is at #2. Right now. OK, wild. Guests, is it? Jakarta. You didn't even. Let me get to my good hint, Yar. Jakarta. OK, No, no, no. Now you can give me the hint. I will listen patiently and look like I'm.

No, I I want to. Move on. Even though that was a total. Guess I want to move on. I don't like. You anymore? No. OK, very well, yes. Jakarta has been ranked number one by the UN list as of November 2025, and the UN 2025 population estimate for Jakarta is 41 million, close to 42,000,000 Actually 42,000,000 people in the city of Jakarta. Well, I don't know how. Exactly they define it. Dhaka is at 36.5 million and Tokyo is at 33.4. Million. So they must have. Really changed the numbering

somehow because it has. I think there is geographical. Limits of the city? Probably. Probably. Administrative boundary and whatnot. And every country, every place defines it on their own. Do you want to take a guess as to more because you also mentioned, just as a sidebar, what is the most densely populated city? It used to be the. World City.

Of Kowloon, right, Hong Kong has been a. While, and again, I I guess I don't think if Kowloon specifically counts as a city anymore, I think Hong Kong will be counted as a city. OK, OK. And don't ask me. Specifics. OK, so is it Hong Kong this? Is a city that we know as a city. I'm not, I'm not asking about like a specific city within a city kind of situation. And it's not Hong Kong, no, OK, this. Is just side edition. Review No, no, I get it.

I get it. I. Get any clues Used in Hong Kong and I. Think I must have read that at some point, but I remember for the longest time I reading that Dhaka is number one in terms of population density. But but it's not Dhaka. At least as of 2025. Dhaka is number 2 in the case of density as well. OK, Dhaka is number. 2 is case of density both the population. Total and population density Dhaka number Southeast Asian. Southeast. Asian, yes. Bangkok. Is not that crowded over the density.

It's at #39 #39 yeah, no. But it is dense. But I don't think it's enough for the much like Indonesia. It is another archipelago nation, Philippines, Manila. That's right, Manila is at. 41,000 people per square kilometer. Talk about. Cans of sardines. Dhaka is at. 30,000 And Karachi is at #3 Indian cities #4 Kolkata #5 Mumbai. Mumbai, OK. Asia is leading. The pack, at least in this way, I think it's Mumbai.

Is more. Like you have concentrated areas where the density is like really high, which is kind of adding to the figure. But if you look at Mumbai as a whole, it's not like like, is it that dense? I mean if you ever been to Andheri. Station in the evening, it does feel like it's very late. No, I'm not going to. I'm not going to I'm.

Not going to argue the fact that we have a lot of people, but I think like maybe you have a very large number of people focused in certain areas like in Dharavi or in Matuga or something like that. So then those kind of help. Actually I would but. Technically Dharavi and stuff might not be that much compared to the high rises right? Just because of the number of people who are staying the same area. Vertical. Yeah, yeah, vertical. Is staying in the same?

Yes, a lot of skyscrapers. Which is why more people on the same square footage and my God. Every Mumbai who's listening can relate to this. There's just number of buildings that are under redevelopment. So older buildings which are, which have been taken over by builders and they're building like skyscrapers there. Yeah, the whole. City feels like. It's under siege at some point.

This is like no place to stay, OK, since you did not let me get there, but I wanted to. And the reason I wanted to do this was because I thought the etymology of Jakarta was kind of fun. Do you know where the name comes

from? I'm guessing it'll have some kind of. Sanskrit origin you are very correct in. Thinking that it has a few other names through history, but the most accepted theory of it Jakarta. The word Jakarta comes from it is derived from the word Jayakarta Jakarta rather which is Sanskrit. Jaya being victory and Kart being achieving. So achieving victory is the etymology of it and Victoria's deed. And this came from the Muslim rubes of Fathahila, OK, which

successfully defeated and. Drove the. Portuguese away from the city in 1527, OK, and they eventually renamed it to Jayakarta, Jayakarta, however you might pronounce it. And that over time evolved to Jakarta, OK. The name Jakarta. Comes from this very interesting. Piece of history that maybe. A lot of us are not aware of that was a. Really good piece of trivia. Jakarta, Manila. Who knew but Vineet because you very. Quickly cracked this. I'm not going to let you off the hook that easy.

OK, OK, I'm going to. Tie it back to my. First question, and I'm going to ask you, OK, in the movie Star Wars, OK, there's a. Very interesting scene. And you probably know Star Wars better than you know dumb and number. Very interesting scene where C3PO, yeah, the Droid is trying to warn our swashbuckling hero Han Solo about the near impossible chance of surviving an asteroid field. OK, what does? Han. Solo. Say in response, he mentions an. Odd odds, right in that look at

you you. Do know your Star Wars? I'll give it to you, he says. Never tell me. The odds, yes, yeah, yeah. Never tell me the odds, Vineet. How is? This connected to 2025 never. Tell me the odds. Trump has to be Trump. Nope, not Trump 13th, or rather November of 13th, 2025 at 8:55 PM Eastern Time. Ah, Vineet, take the most obvious guess, given that I told you that this is related to the first question, which was about a space rocket launch. So never tell. Me the odds again.

A Blue Origin nickname. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding. Correct. It is the name of the next rocket that was launched in the next New Glen family rocket that was launched. OK. The second stage made it to orbit in January, but the first stage was lost and it never landed back, which was the aim, right. So after that failed attempt in November, they managed to make that first stage land. That was a successful landing. And that was the nickname given in that case was never tell me the odds.

Tell me the odds. Yeah. So in both cases. Referring to a film meme. In the first case it was number number. The second case it was Star Wars. And I guess Star Wars Paid Off has never tell me the odds worked for them technically. That scene was very scientifically inaccurate because there are no asteroid fields which are so populated that a small freighter can't pass through it, interestingly. Enough if you actually look at asteroid fields, what they don't show you is the the topography

of an asteroid field. It's it's amazing. Like if you go watch videos, NASA videos I believe about Saturn's rings, there are like mountains in the rings. Like literally there are hundreds of meters, if not kilometer long mountains in the rings. And it's very tough to imagine it like this. So I would encourage you to go look at YouTube videos of it. But it's insane. How does it topography to rings? And that is the last question for me for November.

I have tied it back to January. I handed to you Bring us home with December. Boy, this is a long episode, OK? So. Barsat Ki Raat is a movie from 1960. OK. It was a defining romantic musical film directed by PL. Santoshi. Produced by R Chandra, the film starred Madhubala, Bharat Bhushan and Shyama. Barsat Ki Raat became a blockbuster success, ranking as the second highest running film of 1960 and the 20th highest earner of the 1960s in the Indian box office.

The soundtrack composed by Roshan Lal of the Roshan family was considered one of the finest in Indian cinema with particular critical and audience praise The song Zindagi Bhar Nahi Bhulengi from Say That Again. The song. Zindagi bhar nahi bhulengi again you. Non Hindi speaker try doing Hindi things right. I'm just going to embarrass myself. In this whole, yeah, let's go on. Let's see. The song Zindagi Bhar. Nahi Bhulegi was from the same film and it topped musical

charts that year. There is a beautiful qawwali in the movie, which was sung by a veritable powerhouse ensemble of singers Mohammad Rafi, Manna De Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra and SD Batish. Aditya is smiling, so he obviously knows the answer. But how did this song gain renewed relevance in December 2025? And since you're smiling, I want a very specific answer. Just like you my. Social media has also been flooded by Durander reels. We have spoken about the film.

You have watched it. I watched it, I also liked it. And do you get to him in just the promotion of this film that it was a trailer, it was a teaser and the high build and the word of mouth spread and it is done through insane amount of money at the box office right now. I. Believe the song. That you're referring to, which is the caravan to Karavan Ki Talash hai. That qawwali was featured in the trailer first is where I heard it, and of course it's in the

film also. Yeah, the music of the. Movie is. Phenomenal, yes. Shashat Sasdev. Has obviously done a phenomenal job, but he has used these old songs, he has, he has remixed them, he has made them funkier, made them more electronic or dance, whatever different genres that he has incorporated.

And with this particular Qawwali also, I like when you hear the original 1 which is in black and white and that's why I remember people posting reads about it. And these names is where what led me to the answer because I remember that they were all these famous people in the Qawwali and the vibe is so different but he has made that vibe fit so well for both the trailer and the movie. Just just props the man for very good marketing for his film or whoever did the marketing for,

funnily enough, the movie. Was criticized for not doing enough marketing and people were speculating that it was they had spent so much money on the movie itself that Jio Studios had refused to give them any money for marketing that props. To Jio Studio for not doing anything more than just that. Because I think that's the problem recently, I think everybody's just been doing the same thing into the marketing.

Just go up here or like a Kapil Sharma show or like do some, you know, some YouTube specials or whatever. Like it's just it's just become so predictable. Do a Curly Tales interview, like everybody's doing the same thing. And in this case, maybe because Ranveer Singh admittedly is a loose cannon, does some very, very few things. It is good to not let him. Come out in the front and lead the marketing charge. Let the movie and the art speak for itself.

It worked out for them. It's the highest grossing. Indian film of 2025 right now. Which is interesting that for an aerated. Film that. It's doing so well you can't even take your kids to the film. Yeah. So please come. Back to the trivia. So you answered it correctly. Yes, it is the NATO karva Ki talashe hai, nakoi humsaar ka

talashe hai. So this song is called Ishq Jalakar. That's the title of the song Ishq Jalakar. And the 2025 Dhurander adaptation by composer Shashwat Sachdev honors this legacy by integrating the lyrics of the original qawwali into a contemporary composition. Rather than merely recreating the classic, he recontextualized it into a modern musical narrative about a spy's emotional journey. Right, right, right. The soundtrack of Durander.

Features 11 Hindi songs and marks a historic achievement, Durander became the first Bollywood film to have every track from its soundtrack chart simultaneously within the Spotify Global Top 200. Oh wow. Global top 200 is impressive. Wow, OK, Global top 200 and. This basically is the first time a Bollywood movie is done that all 11 songs featuring simultaneously in the Spotify Global Top 200, which is a fantastic achievement but well deserve a. Great soundtrack, Sachdeva.

Has. Done a phenomenal job, yes, now coming back. To our audience question which I asked at the beginning of today's episode, which is also related to something that happened this year. KFC collaborated with an Australian brand founded by Nick Murkovich and Alex Tomic to create a unique product inspired by KF CS iconic 11 herbs and spices. The product was described as like biting into a hot, juicy piece of KFC Original Recipe chicken, and it is marketed as a

full on flavor takeover. Originally conceived as an April Fools prank, the real version of the product was priced at $13 per item and quickly sold. Out after it's. Release. What product am I talking about? You said it was. Initially not meant to be real, it was just just a marketing gimmick, I was supposed.

To make it a prank and then. Somebody was like, yeah, I think we actually can make this, and they ended up actually making it. Limited edition run priced at $13 with an optional $59 accessory. Was this in? Conjunction with another brand? Was this like a promotion for some other thing or was it just a KFC thing so they collaborated with another? Brand because they themselves couldn't produce this product.

So then they collaborated with another brand, which is the one I was talking about, founded by Nick Markovich and Alex Tomic. Do you want the name of that brand? So then that might help you get to the answer. Yes, please. The brand high. Smile also makes other products of the same type with flavors such as chocolate, blue Raspberry, cotton candy, mango sorbet. This can't be. Vapes, right? I don't think KFC will do that. That will be bad for its image. No, but.

AKFC. Flavored vape. Wow Labooboo. No, it's not labooboo. Edible Laboos. Edible. Boulez. No, never mind. OK, so I'll give you the answer. Believe it or not, this was AKFC flavored toothpaste. Smiles. OK, that makes sense. High smile. Yeah. OK. Toothpaste. High Smile is an Australian. Oral Care brand founded in 2014 by Nick Markovich and Alex Tomic, started as a teeth whitening kit company and then gained popularity through influencer marketing innovative

products. With the flavours I mentioned, the option of $59 accessory was an electric toothbrush. This company is known for. Collaborations with major brands like KFC and The Simpsons. OK, this happened in April. So this was KFC flavour toothpaste. Now tell me that doesn't sound like just imagine brushing your teeth and instead of all that mint you're just getting KFC flavour in your mouth, no. No, sorry, I don't know. I'm. Very curious about that. One yeah, no appeal for wear doubt so.

That's all the. Questions for this episode we are ending 2025 with a bang or maybe a whimper, depending upon whether you like the questions or not so. Aditya, what are your? Pop culture recommendations for this episode It's an interesting. Year there have been a lot of sad and depressing things so I'm going to recommend two things which were like you feel good.

I didn't plan it to be so, but it became that where Israel and being Jewish and the idea of Zionism and all of those things which are which are deeply, deeply political and and in some cases very controversial. On the other hand, these two shows which were so definitively Jewish, I thought were interesting representation of a culture which perhaps if nothing else is also misunderstood, right or are not very widely

understood. And these two shows I loved and these two shows I watched recently, perhaps a little too late. The first one probably a lot of people have heard is nobody wants this. I just saw both the seasons. Really good show, nice light watch I've seen. Comparisons to when. Harry Met Sally, and I get it. I get it. It has that vibe to it. It's two attractive people

falling in love. It's just in this case, one of the people happens to be a rabbi, The other person is, I think, an atheist or agnostic, and then she's trying to figure out if she fits. Into this. World and this culture. Interesting show. The other one I think so good. Long story short, same person who's made Bojack Horseman. It is just funny funny and it's by the way an animated series. It's so funny, so good.

The animation is also, it is reminiscent of, but it is different and has its own identity. If you loved. It you should definitely. Watch this show as well. And this is also about Jewish family and talks about being Jewish and and being I guess family in general, family drama in general. On both those counts, go watch these two shows. Perhaps a good way? For us to understand. About a culture we don't know too much about.

Great recommendations. Aditya, I am now going to recommend my list of Malayalam movies of 2025 which it's been a. Bumper year for. Malayalam movies. We've had some really, really amazing movies, many of which I have recommended in the podcast before, since Aditya claims to also have watched Malayalam movies. This could be a barometer we'll. Just see how many of these movies Adidas actually watched. OK so my top Malayalam movies of 2025.

First one I would recommend is Todarum which was basically a family drama which was celebrating Mohanlal the actor. So good. What a great. Film. Wow. Amazing. I just loved it. No, I haven't seen it. Yeah, you have it, obviously. A Loka Chapter 1 Chandra that became the highest grossing female led movie in India of all time. It's also one of the highest top ten highest grossing Indian movies of 2025. I missed it in.

The theatre that I did not want to watch it on my TV, so I'm waiting for maybe the second part to come and release of the first part. I'll watch it in the theatres. The third movie I would. Recommend. Is Rekha Chitram. It's a gripping investigative mystery thriller which blends both real events from a real product movie production in the 1980s with this fictional story and it's a it's an amazing, very well done blend.

Then there's a recently released movie called Avahedum, which is a dark comedy exploring voyeurism and you know, small town morality streaming right now so you can catch on streaming ending was a little weak, but it's still worth a watch. Dies array, which I've already recommended. It's a psychological horror thriller well worth watching because we don't rarely get movies of that week in India, Rome this I'm not mentioned, but I definitely it's one of the best police dramas.

But the ending is dark and when I mean dark, it is bleak and just dark. So don't go into it if you're not a fan of those kind of movies. But it's a very realistic police drama. Bunman again, I think I must have mentioned on it. It's about a comedy drama featuring a blistering performance by Basil Joseph Kalam Kaaval, which I recently watched December released. It's Mammuti the legend playing a serial killer and it's phenomenally acted.

Very well scripted movie, you can definitely check that out. And finally 2 movies, Naiveta which is again a social crime thriller and Eco with a mystery drama with a cracker of an ending. It's the same people who created Kishkinda Kante. Obviously there are much better or more art house movies and things which don't feature on my list or my best movies, but these are the ones I recommend because I really enjoyed all of these movies as movies themselves. I I will also.

Since we did recommend some things and I just remembered a book I had read recently and because I guess we were talking about these Jewish stories, it is a book. By a Palestinian. Author it's called enter ghost. It's it's a read that takes you through a journey and if you are interested in knowing about a perspective that you are perhaps again, similar to how I recommend the first two shows. This isn't light, obviously. But yeah, check out Enter Ghost.

This is by a very celebrated author. Her name is Isabella Hamad, Palestinian author. So yeah, cultures that we are not so well aware of in India and maybe other people who are listening to us. Go check out these different sources and learn more. Great. That's all the time we have for episode. Little bit of housekeeping for our regular listeners. We are posting quizzes every Thursday on our Reddit subreddit, so please go check

out there. You can check out the question, you can try answering it. I'll also be posting questions of the day, which are one question every day on our subreddit, so you can go and answer those questions as well. Sounds good. Follow us on Instagram Follow. Us on Spotify or wherever you listen to our podcast. You can reach out to us on our socials or on our subreddit or on our e-mail areyouquizzingme@gmail.com. That's all the for this episode. And that's all for 2025.

See you guys next year.