Any behemoth industry has its lazy side. In Bollywood, proof of this has to be the "party song," a seemingly requisite scene in a certain kind of blockbuster, governed by a crude formula that audiences still, somehow, go wild for.
There's so much to satirize about the genre, from the requisite objectification of women (water must always meet clothing) to the reliable co-opting of black culture -- with an always sub par rap interlude, à la Rebecca Black's "Friday," that belies the culture's prejudices (against dark skin, and African-origin people, subservient in the insidious hierarchy that still lingers from colonial times).
Thankfully, India finally has satirists up to the task. In the long but worth it video above, the popular sketch comedy troupe All India Bakchod teams up with scene-stealer Irfan Khan -- you know his scene thefts from "Namesake," "Life Of Pi," and "Jurassic Park" -- for a parody that perfectly skewers Bollywood's particular hypocrisies.
Based on "Party All Night," a hit song from 2013, the satiric version calls out everything from censor boards (Bottles! Girls! Because this is a song, censors will let it go!) to cynical producers who know the music-leading structure of the industry means they can make a hefty salary off a movie with a single catchy song and little else of note. Even for those unfamiliar with Bollywood, the tropes should feel relevant, given that every American party anthem music video engages in parallel ones.
As a side benefit, it's fun to see Khan -- a hidden gem in Bollywood's thicket of Ken-doll clones -- playing diva, in the leisurely intro. "I don't want to brag about myself, but I ... can ... do ... anything."
Respectfully requesting a parody of Indian cable news next.
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