The Hippy Hipster Shake

Submitted by traderbeck on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 15:31

The new Bollywood-inspired Devendra Banhart video starring his gf Natalie Portman.  Litlgrey, have at it! 

Comments

Submitted by traderbeck on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 19:22

Bolly Folly

 Actually, as Luxuria's resident Bollywoodologist, I was hoping you might give this video your critique for authenticity, style, appropriate level of goofiness, genre-hopping, hamminess, etc. :)
Submitted by litlgrey on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 09:43

Criteek!

Actually, the costumes are pretty elaborate, and there is an attempt at approaching the dance styles which is admirable under the circumstances.

Clearly they weren't trying to match authenticity in the South Indian Blue Goddess flicks (there are thousands of them, and they all seem identical). It's not Bollywood at all. In the films from Mumbai you don't see Ganesh and the Blue Goddess.

Banhart was clearly going for a hodgepodge homage and at that he did pretty well. It's kind of a cross between MTV Asia and Pop-Up Videos. The goofiness and hamminess are right where they should be! If anyone involved had taken the project seriously, it would have become a pompous, overpriced Moby vid, and it would have collapsed under its own weight.

__________________________________________________
Filthy HIPPIES are to be HUNG... with ROHHPE!

Submitted by litlgrey on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 18:25

Carmensita!

The wonder is not that Natalie Portman would appear in this offbeat video - she seems to have enjoyed herself by the video evidence.  And anyway, Portman and Banhart are pretzelly entwined anyway.

But who's that playing Rajah... and why does he look like Jeffrey Tambor?

_______________________________________
Filthy HIPPIES are to be HUNG... with ROHHPE!