SOME OF OUR YOUTUBE FAVES

#HoliBash

1Badri Ki Dulhania title track

It’s been five days since the release of the video to the title track of Badri Ki Dulhania. And it has already notched up 14,639,799 views! Holi has arrived early for director Shashank Khaitan as Varun Dhawan’s Badrinath and Alia Bhatt’s Vaidehi play with colour, sporting equally colourful ensembles. Alia dazzles in her yellow lehenga and pink number; Varun’s shirtless avatar is making girls go va-va-voom. Sung by Neha Kakkar, Dev Negi, Monali Thakur and Ikka, composed by Tanishk Bagchi and lyrics by Shabbir Ahmed, the 2.52-minute song is in the mould of Deepika-Ranbir’s Balam pichkari, complete with latka-jhatka. Until March 10, we are sure you will be singing Rani bana ke le jayenge, Badri ki dulhania on loop.

#WineDepp

2Trailer: Dead Men Tell No Tales

While reports of Johnny Depp no longer being able to sustain his $2m-a-month lifestyle (includes $30,000 a month on wine!) take over the Internet, the actor in the guise of Captain Jack Sparrow makes quite an entry with what looks like a bottle of wine in Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. If the first trailer, which arrived in October 2016, was all about Javier Bardem as the villainous Captain Salazar, this time it’s Jack’s time as he sets out to survive his nemesis in a 1.19-minute trailer full of blazing ships and supernatural forces, Johnny Cash’s Ain’t No Grave playing in the background. 4,264,489 cheers so far.

#IronGoT

3Trailer: Iron fist

Danny Rand, the rich heir (assumed dead in a plane crash with his parents) to Rand Enterprises, returns to New York City after 15 years to save his family’s business empire. Hooked? Netflix has released the first full trailer for their upcoming Marvel series Iron Fist, which has Finn Jones playing the lead. Yes, Finn Jones whom many of you know as Loras Tyrell from Game of Thrones. Jessica Henwick, who also has a small role in GoT, plays his martial arts partner. The 2.16-minute trailer shows him taking on antagonist Harold Meachum (David Wenham), who doesn’t want to give up control over the business. Rand uses his martial arts skills to kick enough butt to make viewers go woot-woot. Add to the pool of 2,990,734 woots!

#ChickChick

4Chicken Attack 

Move over Taher Shah, Chicken Attack is here! The four-minute video from the musical group Gregory Brothers (of Songify the News fame) takes 69-year-old Japanese yodeler Takeo Ischi and gives him the role of a martial arts master, throws in a ninja-chicken student and then tosses in the lyrics... Watch your back/ Before it fades to black/ They might look harmless but they will kick your non-chicken ass/ Go chicken go! 2,400,736 squawks and counting.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Gaga-batics: JOHN WAYNE

Holy moly, the wild side of Lady Gaga is back in full action in her video to her song John Wayne. It’s got all the Gaga elements — signature dance moves, acrobatics on a motorbike, getting hit on the head by a beer bottle and shooting bullets from a machine-gun-heeled boots! On a roll after her killer Super Bowl halftime performance, the 30-year-old gives her lyric Two lovers, headed for a dead end a touch of untamed Gaga. Available on Apple Music for a limited time, subscribe and watch. There can never be enough of Gaga!

#HashtagInTrouble

Will 2017 mark the end of the road for hashtags? During Super Bowl 2017, one of America’s biggest sporting events, hashtags featured in 20 of the 66 advertisements — a 30 per cent share — that aired nationally between kickoff and the end of the game. That’s 45 per cent less than last year and 50 per cent less than in 2015. The figures come from Marketing Land, a leading online publication specialising in the digital marketing industry.

Instead of hashtags, some companies carried their URL, a new strategy by corporations to bring more traffic to their websites, rather than just gain popularity on social media.

Are we talking of big companies here? Well, just the likes of Google, Coca Cola, Alfa Romeo, Budweiser, Intel... who didn’t use any hashtag in their ads. 

Also at the 51st Super Bowl, New England Patriots pulled off a stunning comeback to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 and Lady Gaga took the stage to give one of her best performances ever.

T2 RECOMMENDS

Dadagiri returns

While we grow tired of skipping ads before every video on YouTube, this is an ad we don’t mind watching on loop. The Tetley Super Green Tea ad has Sourav Ganguly taking some oh-so-cool stunning catches and oh-so-hot smashing sixes in para cricket matches. And what goes into the making of Super Sourav? Super Green Tea of course! Dada doesn’t speak a single word in this 35-second ad, but slays with his expressions. The ad also stars Tolly actress Nusrat Jahan.
Just like Sourav with the bat, the hits are coming in quick and fast. YouTube hits in a couple of days? 5,189,381!

#AceInTheFace

DENIS THE MENACE

Canada’s Denis Shapovalov probably became the most googled tennis player in history... for all the wrong reasons! The 17-year-old Canadian was already two sets down to Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund in a Davis Cup tie at Ottawa. After losing yet another serve, the Canadian smashed a ball in anger, which slammed full-force into the face of chair umpire Arnaud Gabas. Denis was disqualified but what’s worse? Unless he goes on to break Roger Federer’s Grand Slam tally, he will always be known as the kid who almost blinded an umpire! 

RADIO

Jimmy Tangree plays cupid

Oh love! Valentine’s week is knocking on our doors and a lot is happening on 91.9 Friends FM as we try to connect listeners from the city with their loved ones across the globe. To make things extra special, gratifications are on offer, courtesy Swissotel and Imagine Store. 

Talking about love, two years ago on Direct Dilse, a guy requested me to connect him to his girlfriend in Australia. She was “just” a friend but he was also totally in love with her. A week later, he got back to say his parents liked what they had heard on the radio. Today, they are married and have a baby boy.

Until next week, stay hooked and if you have a story to share buzz 44919919 or WhatsApp @8100919919.