Why This Bhangra-Style Shape Of You Video Is Making Us Go *Balle Balle*

Written by Rachana C  • 

Just when you thought the Shape of You fever was beginning to fade away, this group of Funjabis has brought it back to the limelight – and Oh! What a comeback it is! The weekend’s arriving, and this video that the social media is going gaga over is the best thing you could can dance to. This version of the boys has a twist though – it has a zippy Bhangra touch to it.

So, this guy comes in with that typical retro-ish tape recorder in his hand, and before you start wondering what he is up to, The Shape of You with a hallmark Bhangra beats starts playing at the backdrop. Anyone who watches this, I bet you won’t stop singing and swinging along with these chaps in pink turbans. Did you think this was it? The video is brief but more eventful than you can guess. The real fun begins when this weird-looking bearded man sneaks in from nowhere and emphatically changes the radio station. And the video just gets funnier and funnier. The boys shoo the man away, and then I guess come to the ‘Ki-Farak-Painda-Hai’ waala conclusion and continue grooving to the changed song.

Like we add a bit of hing and a bit of aam choor over everything we eat, we Indians seem to be spreading our twist and flavor to everything from Chiness Noodals to Faasta with Tamaata Saas! And, of course, Chotu will always add extra chaat masala and dahi on your demand. And we didn’t stop this fusion ka funda with food. The trend is now Hollywood, maska maarke!

Look at our very own South Indian rockstar, Vidya Vox. She didn’t miss a chance to steal the hearts of millions with her fusions – be it Lean On clubbed with Jind Mahi or the Chainsmoker’s Closer mashed up with Kabira. And it wouldn’t be too long to hit the dance floors, b’cause people, we have all we want – Sia’s Cheap Thrills with the Vidya tadka. Justin, we are sorry, but we like the Sorry-Kandukondein salad of Vidya’s more.

Vidya’s
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Image: Youtube

The Bhangra video is for now on loop – who can have enough of this? I mean, when people text LMAO, ROFL, LOL with almost zero expression on their faces I was convinced that you could actually never go that crazy over anything and these lingos are just for the heck of it. There’s a huge BUT to that. This blue shirt-pink turban troop and its stupendous slapstick dance actually made me laugh my a** out. As if this Bhangra twist to a Hollywood song wasn’t hilarious enough, these Ashke Bhangra Academy boys also dished out the very famous Diljit Dosanjh’s Mitran De Junction Te – and you can obviously not miss out on the “FB status main single de bharte” line.

This mood changer mustered almost 7 lakh views on YouTube, to which I am sure I contributed to quite a lot. I made around 50 people watch this who traveled with me in the local train today before I reached office. That old man sitting next to me had a wide grin on his face, and I am sure he had no idea which language the song was in, but I was successful in getting a “how much can I buy this for” as a response to the video. It seems he wants to buy a phone like mine so that he can watch videos while he travels to work! I was tempted to ask him where he works. He told me even before I asked, “I work at Radhika Theatre.” No wonder he has a thing for these entertaining videos.

It set me thinking how powerful a tool media can be. It is too overwhelming to imagine an 60-year-old man at some obscure corner of the globe is shaking a leg to a song that he doesn’t even understand. If Indianizing and jugaad-making have these kinds of astounding effects, Bhangra guys and all those popularizing Hollywood songs with Indian mirch masala, you guys are nailing it! We’re not going to complain about “originality,” for, Ki Farak Painda Hai!

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