Antakshari

This item is not in the library — it is a part of: Karaoke.

Antakshari is a musical "word-chain" parlor game, where each player (possibly a team) sings the first verse of a commonly known song starting with the letter or syllable that ended the verse delivered by the previous opponent.

The game is popular in India, played often with Bollywood songs, made its way to a few movie scenes, and was a basis for a TV show and online activities. Naturally, the faster you come up with your part, the more appreciated might be your skill. You may sing the whole song, or just the first verse, the quicker, more collage-like approach would fit the scope of our wiki the most.


The game of unknown origin has a long tradition. The same chaining poetic structure was used also in Ramayana for songs of the sages (it understandably gets lost in translation).

A very similar activity is also known in Urdu as Bait Bazi (بیت بازی).

In general Pratimālā (प्रतिमाला) was a more ancient activity of "reciting verses as a trial of memory" and is considered a precursor to Antakshari (अंताक्षरी).



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