Bollywood’s Sufi music connection

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Anchor Marco Werman introduces us to a new collection of music titled “Sufis at the Cinema.” It explores the connections between Pakistani Sufi music and Bollywood’s heavy reliance on those sounds for the past fifty years. Download MP3

Indian singer Sona Mohapatra

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Indian singer-songwriter Sona wanted her label, Sony, to record more of her songs. Sony said wait. Sona went to Nokia instead. The World’s Marco Werman tells us about Sona’s attempts to market her music differently in a country dominated by Bollywood. Download MP3
Video: Mohapatra’s jingle for Close-Up

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Largest outdoor laundry mat

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Today’s Geo Quiz is for all of you who take your laundry to a laundry mat. We are looking for a place where you will find the largest outdoor laundry mat in the world. Download MP3

An Indian state

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14 million people stand out in today’s Geo Quiz. 14 million is the approximate population of Mumbai. The Indian city is one of the most populous in the world. It’s also the capital of – well… that’s where you come in…

India’s Muslim community – part 3

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Mumbai is marking the first anniversary of coordinated terrorist attacks on the Indian city. On Thursday, a few big-name movie stars will join an inter-faith ceremony commemorating the dead. Mumbai dominated by Bollywood, and there are many Muslims both behind and in front of the camera. But the film industry rarely depicts their lives, in the final part of her series on India’s Muslim minority, Miranda Kennedy reports from Bollywood. Download MP3

• ‘India’s Muslim community’ series page
• BBC coverage of the Mumbai attacks
• Muslim star Emraan Hashmi (pictured) claims housing bias
• The series was funded by a grant from the International Reporting Project

Central Asia

We’re looking for the smallest nation in Central Asia, about 3,400 miles south west for today’s Geo Quiz destination. Like many of its neighbors, Afghanistan being one, this place has challenging terrain. More than ninety percent of it is mountainous…

Bollywood’s debt to Michael Jackson

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with choreographer, Longines Fernandes, the man who created the dance sequences for the movie Slumdog Millionaire, about Michael Jackson’s influence on Bollywood. Listen