The YouTube channel Tadpatri Talkies promises “Immersive audio/visual entertainment guaranteed to give you ecstatic nosebleeds.” For once, here is somebody who is not faking it.
Short satirical videos, featuring the collective’s writers and actors in deadpan mode, offer twisted versions of contemporary issues, including coral bleaching and the Great Barrier Reef, Pakistani artists being banned in India and the kidney racket at Hiranandani Hospital in Mumbai.
The fake news broadcasts are “a postmodernist reportage of stories that affect us, through the medium of performance art”. They include an entertaining take on folk singer Ila Arun’s unique performance style.
The repeated close-ups are designed to throw off viewers, and the jarring audio and deliberately shaky visuals are meant to assault the senses. Mission accomplished.
