Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 2 Friday, September 22, 2006
We’re talking about a dance video from Dorairaj Bhagawan’s 1978 Kannada film Operation Diamond Rocket.
It opens on a dance floor with flashing lights and rotating chandeliers. Girls thrash about to braying trumpets and jazzy beats. Enter Kannada superstar Rajkumar in white bellbottoms, waistcoat and red bowtie. He sings: “If you come today, it’s too early. If you come tomorrow, it’s too late. You pick the time. Tick tick tick tick tick tick.”
As he croons, Rajkumar flirts with the ladies present and displays some fancy footwork on a mirrored floor. After watching the video on repeat for about 50 times, you begin to wonder what lyricist C Udayashankar was thinking when he wrote the song.
The video has staggered a vast number of internet users. It jumped from inbox to inbox faster than a virus and has been viewed close to 9,000 times on the popular video sharing site youtube.com. The folks at Channel V were so tickled by it, they tracked down a tape of the film so they could air the video. In fact, the music channel declared the first of April this year World Tick Tick Day and played the video close to 30 times. Said Channel V programming head Luke Kenny: “It’s not everyday you get to see something as quirky, a ’60s kitsch kind of look.” The video can cause harmful side effects such as painful stitches on the side and breathing difficulties. So be careful and don’t eat while you’re watching it.
