Consider the following statements and identify the actress: She is a renowned film actress, director and producer, and an accomplished Indian classical dancer. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 1992 and has served as the Head of Central Board for Film Certification from 1998 to 2001. In recognition to her exemplary lifetime contribution to Indian Cinema, she was honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
- (a)Vyjayanthimala
- (b)Waheeda Rehman
- (c)Mala Sinha
- (d)Asha Parekh
Correct — D, Asha Parekh. Every clause in the description belongs to her. She was given the Padma Shri in 1992. Between 1998 and 2001 she headed the Central Board of Film Certification, the first woman to hold that post. She trained in Kathak from childhood and was a working dancer before she was a leading lady. She directed for television and produced through her own company, Akruti, which made serials such as Jyoti and Kora Kagaz. And she was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2020, presented to her in 2022 — a few months before this paper was set, which is why the question was asked at all.
- (a)Vyjayanthimala — A Bharatanatyam dancer of the first rank and a great star, so the dance clause fits her, but the rest does not. She has not headed the censor board, and her Dadasaheb Phalke Award came much later than the description implies.
- (b)Waheeda Rehman — The strongest rival, and worth reading carefully. On the day of this exam she had neither the 1992 Padma Shri — hers came in 1972, with the Padma Bhushan in 2011 — nor the censor board chairmanship, and she had not yet received the Phalke. Six months after the paper, in 2023, she was given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2021, so today the award clause on its own would no longer separate the two names. The Padma Shri year and the 1998 to 2001 term at the board still do.
- (c)Mala Sinha — A major leading lady of the same era, but the description's specific offices and honours are not hers. She held no censor board post and did not receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest honour in cinema, conferred by the Government of India for lifetime contribution and presented by the President at the National Film Awards ceremony. Because the ceremonies for 2020 and 2021 ran late, the award years and the presentation years came apart: Asha Parekh's award is for 2020 but was handed over in 2022, and Waheeda Rehman's is for 2021 but was presented in 2023.
This is a description question, so the method is to find the clause that only one name can satisfy rather than the one that sounds most familiar. Three of the four options are celebrated actresses and at least two of them are trained classical dancers, so 'accomplished Indian classical dancer' narrows nothing. The clause that does the work is the censor board term, because a named span of years in a named office belongs to exactly one person. The Padma Shri year is the second such clause. Anyone reasoning only from the Phalke line has a harder time now than a candidate did in April 2023, which is a useful reminder that current-affairs descriptions age.
- Asha Parekh received the Padma Shri in 1992.
- She chaired the Central Board of Film Certification from 1998 to 2001, the first woman to do so.
- She trained in Kathak and worked as a dancer before her film career.
- She produced and directed for television through her company Akruti, whose serials included Jyoti and Kora Kagaz.
- Her Dadasaheb Phalke Award is for the year 2020 and was presented in 2022; Waheeda Rehman's, for 2021, followed in 2023.
- Choosing on the dance clue alone, which fits more than one of the options.
- Assuming the award year and the year of presentation are the same. For 2020 and 2021 they were not.
- Carrying a current-affairs description forward without checking whether the position has moved since the exam.
As an identify-the-person description built from awards and offices, or as a straight question on who received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for a given year.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Who was the first woman to be appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification?
- (a)Vyjayanthimala
- (b)Asha Parekh
- (c)Sharmila Tagore
- (d)Waheeda Rehman
Answer(b) Asha Parekh — she held the post from 1998 to 2001.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is conferred for
- (a)the best feature film of the year
- (b)lifetime contribution to Indian cinema
- (c)the best debut direction
- (d)the best film on national integration
Answer(b) lifetime contribution to Indian cinema — it is India's highest honour in the field and is presented at the National Film Awards.