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November 21, 2011 10:13 AM   Subscribe

Indian talent show Warriors of Goja SLYT
posted by fearfulsymmetry (31 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
She was basically saying that they are warriors of India, and they've won everyone over, and then she announced that they were getting 3 lakhs rupees.
posted by dhruva at 10:32 AM on November 21, 2011


Meh, they're just a big bunch of fakirs!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:32 AM on November 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


I never knew I wanted to see somebody be run over by a motorcycle while also being run over by a car until today. But I definitely, definitely did.
posted by penduluum at 10:32 AM on November 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


What is "mercury" to Warriors.
posted by stbalbach at 10:32 AM on November 21, 2011


I would like to know at what point does one look at a ladder made of 20 fluorescent bulbs and think "Yeah, I'll chest-dive through that. After I get run over by a motorcycle and a car simultaneously. That'll work?"
posted by beaucoupkevin at 10:35 AM on November 21, 2011


The chest of the guy who got run over by the car looked pretty scraped up when he stood up. Somehow the trick is less impressive when it turns out not to be a trick, just really, really dumb.
posted by The Tensor at 10:37 AM on November 21, 2011


Why did the guy in the glasses look so bored/horrified/stunned? Was this significantly outside the realm of the usual acts they get? This wasn't an X-factor style audition they just took over, was it?

Any kind of context or background information available on this? Even the woman judge (is she the head judge or just got air time because of her great facial expressions?) seemed completely horrified by it all until the end.
posted by Brockles at 10:37 AM on November 21, 2011


Nothing proves the thesis that all humans have the same emotions (and ways of expressing them) more than that the judges faces and my face were mirror images.
posted by DU at 10:39 AM on November 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


I like to imagine the planning meeting: "Wait, wait! Then at the end we'll have a kid come and stand on me and wave a flag! Yes! Awesome!"
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:43 AM on November 21, 2011


Nope, I wasn't ready.
posted by chronkite at 10:44 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


I lasted longer in cadaver lab than I did with this youtube clip. Congratulations?
posted by The White Hat at 10:44 AM on November 21, 2011


I think they were expecting a song and dance show.
posted by dhruva at 10:44 AM on November 21, 2011


My people provide so much joy to the world. Thank you India.
posted by Fizz at 10:47 AM on November 21, 2011


I see India has discovered backyard professional wrestling... needs more barb-wire covered baseball bats and metal folding chairs, tho.

I was impressed by the weighted net display at the beginning, tho... a beautiful weapon when wielded that way, and shows impressive strength and co-ordination. I could have watched more of that.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:54 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


...

The Aristocrats!
posted by utsutsu at 10:57 AM on November 21, 2011 [9 favorites]


At the end the lady says, "You're not just Warriors of Goja, you're warriors of INDIA!" Then she says we're going to give you 3 Lakh (a Lakh Rupee is one hundred thousand rupees)which I beleive is around 5808.08 US Dollars. Though I may be off on the math there.
posted by Fizz at 10:59 AM on November 21, 2011


The eating thing is making me realize that Western crazy-ass talent-show breaker people aren't innovating anymore.

I want to see somebody take out a flourescent tube, break it over their chest, eat it, install the broken end in a socketed bed, lay down on the bed, have a concrete block broken over their chest with a sledgehammer, eat the concrete block, eat the sledgehammer, eat the bed. Then get run over by a flourescent tube delivery truck being pulled on chains by somebody else's teeth (he then eats the chains). No waste! Every part of the show eventually gets eaten or runs over somebody.
posted by penduluum at 11:12 AM on November 21, 2011 [6 favorites]


penduluum:

In the '90s, we called that the Jim Rose Circus. It was a popular hobby with the piercings-and-dopamine slacker set.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:20 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'd forgotten about the Jim Rose Circus, but you're on to something.
posted by penduluum at 11:45 AM on November 21, 2011


In the '90s, we called that the Jim Rose Circus.

Paging #40978.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:56 AM on November 21, 2011


Googling around, the weighted net is called the Chakar, a weapon of the gatka martial art, practiced by the Sikhs. It's apparently made of chains and iron weights, painted in bright colors, and I could indeed watch more of that.
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:14 PM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Why did the guy in the glasses look so bored/horrified/stunned? Was this significantly outside the realm of the usual acts they get?

Well, strongmen and martial artists have been doing those stunty tricks for a long time know. So I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't already seen those stunts/tricks done at least a few times already. And, yeah, that dust out of the fluorescent bulbs would've made me scatter like it was an airborne outbreak of flesh eating disease.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:32 PM on November 21, 2011


In Canada, our government has taken huge hits for exporting asbestos to India while banning its use in this country, because supposedly there are no guarantees it will be handled safely by Indian workers. If I were the Harper government, I'd get this clip off to The Chrysotile Institute (a pro-asbestos lobby group) and have them work up some PR material that says, "So what, over there they eat mercury-filled lightbulbs, ride motorcycles back and forth over their heads and pound spikes into their chests -- for amusement. Asbestos? It's like Cheetos to them!"
posted by Mike D at 12:33 PM on November 21, 2011


I see India has discovered backyard professional wrestling
posted by infini at 3:32 PM on November 21, 2011


No, that's real rasslin... not enough folding tables strewn with thumbtacks and set on fire, or flourescent tube duels.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:40 PM on November 21, 2011


I see, you're looking for this?
posted by infini at 6:01 PM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Whatever happened to climbing up to the top of a rope suspended in mid-air and then disappearing?
posted by Twang at 6:16 PM on November 21, 2011


We rebooted the old economy?
posted by infini at 6:20 PM on November 21, 2011


Do note that this was on vernacular television; the group seems to have travelled from Punjab to Hyderabad to demonstrate this on ETV Telugu, the first TV channel by the folks who run the world's largest film studio. A European comparison would be for a Romanian group travelling to, I don't know, Britain, to perform in Britain's Got Talent or something, given the nature of markets and cultural penetration levels; they don't even broadcast ETV Telugu in the North, they do ETV - Gujarathi, Marathi, Jharkhand, what have you.

So you should be wondering why, particularly because the North Indian TV market is as developed as the south, and there are two Hindi-speaking Britain's Got Talent lookalikes serving a national audience anyway. The reason is simple: I don't think they were allowed on national television. Another group tried a similar act on India's Got Talent but got booted out when the first bricks started breaking.

The point of stunts is to look scary, without hurting the stuntmen/women; you've lost it if there's blood. Unfortunately, I think ETV got suckered into allowing this the first time, and now they're probably milking it for its spectacle. In many ways, and most other Indians don't necessarily fully appreciate this, Telugu television has gotten rather competitive and sensational to degrees more than national television; for one, there are more news channels in Telugu than in any other vernacular. In many ways, it's also scarier, because most channels, ETV Telugu including, aren't fully in the black, and are often cross-subsidized from other business streams; so there's this ruthless grab for eyeballs that would put known sleazeballs to shame. There are political and policy implications here, in that many channels are funded by political parties; virtually every political party has a news channel now, and all of them are expanding into entertainment as well.

So while this sensationalization isn't a first, but certainly is a new low.
posted by the cydonian at 9:57 PM on November 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


These guys would make for a great April Fool's joke on the American Idol judges.
posted by fnerg at 11:31 PM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


So their talent is... they didn't die?
posted by procrastinator at 5:22 AM on November 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


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