Alien Humour

It’s nonsense. I don’t know what else to tell you,” says Vir Das about Tadka,a new music video released by his comedy rock band,Alien Chutney. And when he emerges in the video,wrapped in tight leather pants,a leopard print bandana and a brown feather boa around his neck,one is inclined to agree with him. If you find his ’80s-rocker look amusing,there are more surprises. He is surrounded by a thick curtain of hanging foliage,drooping heavily with vegetables. As he walks deeper into the verdure,he begins to croon a slow love ballad,ostensibly for his lady love. Later in the song,the mystery of hanging vegetables is explained as he sings,“When her sabzi tokri hits my floor,makes me ohhhh… Cause you’re my sexy sabziwaali,And I’m your tadka”.

“I thought,what if a boy was in love with his sabziwaali,would he buy extra vegetables? Would he fantasise about her? And that’s what the video is about — his fantasy about the sexy sabziwaali,” says Das. Tadka is Alien Chutney’s second video. “I thought of Tadka because of my dog,Dr Watson,who would always hang out with the sabziwaali. Every time he came back,he stole a vegetable from her,” he adds.

While the lyrics are peppered with innuendos and veer towards the outrageous,his rocker costume fits right in with the ’80s theme. “Because the lyrics and theme are so outrageous,I wanted the video to be visually outrageous as well,and couldn’t think of any period that was more visually outrageous than the ’80s,” says Das.

In the video,model and VJ Ramona plays the coy and alluring sabziwaali. Das says,“When I first asked Ramona to do it,she said ‘no’. Half the battle is getting people into the costume. Then the video just shoots itself,” says Das.

As for himself,he had no problems shooting the video at all — not with the outfit,or the dancing. “I work in Bollywood. Why would any of this be embarrassing or awkward for me?” he says.

Alien Chutney has already planned another video about Harry Potter that they will release within a few months. “Writing songs for Alien Chutney allows me to write things I can’t say in stand-up acts or in a film. I could never write these songs and get away with them anywhere else. We’re going to do more tours and more music videos every few months,” says Das.