The US Embassy, on 28 September, released a video of its officers acting out portions of famous Hindi films.
Titled Bollywood Dreams, the pretend audition reel has embassy officials performing famous scenes from iconic Bollywood films. Opening with the famous “Kitne aadmi the?” dialogue from Sholay, the video pays tribute to Deepika Padukone’s “Ek Chutki Sindoor” monologue from ‘Om Shanti Om’, Shashi Kapoor’s “Mere Paas Maa Hai” diatribe from ‘Deewar’, and Amitabh Bachchan’s famous one-liner from ‘Shahenshah’ (no points for guessing which one), among others.
The video was uploaded on Twitter with the hashtag #USIndiaDosti, which leaves little room as to the purpose of the video.
Twitter users responded favourably to the video, with many praising the officers for their effort.
The attempt is reminiscent of the German diplomat Michael Steiner’s attempt to re-invent ties with India in 2015, when he, along with his wife and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, reworked the music video of the title song of ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’.
Steiner’s copy was, in fact, the copy of a copy. It parodies an earlier video made by SRK’s German fans.
What do you think of the officers’ performance? Let us (and the US Embassy) know.
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