Chosen One of the Day: Dard-e-Disco from Om Shanti Om

Hello, it’s me, your resident Bollywood nerd to bring some international flavor to our Chosen Ones of the Day and today, we’re going to take a trip down memory lane to 2008. In that most blessed of years, Shahrukh Khan (possibly the most famous person in the world) did a little movie called Om Shanti Om in which he plays a struggling actor in the Bollywood of yore who dies in a horrible car accident after failing to save the woman he loves from a murderous husband, and then gets reborn in current times to become a very famous actor in the Bollywood of today (again, 2008) in order to exact revenge against the murderer. Truly, it’s great. 

Now, today-today (2020, not 2008), I’d like to celebrate the song that current-day (2008) famous actor Shahrukh gets to dance to in his movie-within-a-movie. It’s called "Dard-E-Disco" (Disco Like Pain) and it is just a wonderful piece of musical expression that was clearly created as a send up of the more exorbitant (read as: absurd) pieces of Bollywood movies. 

What’s the best part, do we think? Is it the inexplicable 1970s part at the beginning? Maybe it’s the Arabian Nights bit? Maybe it’s the part where SRK is dancing shirtless in front of three Celtic cross (???) banners?

Credit: T-Series

Photo: Credit: T-Series

Or perhaps it’s the 10-second break where we’re just lookin’ at SRK’s bod, afterward I think they are meant to be outer space maybe? 

Credit: T-Series

Photo: Credit: T-Series

No wait, it’s this: 

Credit: T-Series

Photo: Credit: T-Series

It’s a weird and great video that ends on a construction site of some kind? (But one where no one is wearing nearly enough protective gear.)

Credit: T-Series

Photo: Credit: T-Series

Anyway, this video puts the pain of disco in my heart, but in the best possible way.