Meet the geniuses who gave us the desi version of Fast and the Furious 8

The Fast and the Furious movie franchise is one of the most successful in the world. The latest film, The Fate of the Furious, or The Fast and the Furious 8, scored the highest grossing opening weekend ever, reportedly crossing the half-a-billion dollar mark worldwide. Closer home, for a tiny fraction of the money it cost to make the movie, a video spoofing the film has been setting its own record. Social media views of the video by the comedic group Jordindian have so far crossed four million within days of its release.

Meet Vineeth “beep” Kumar and Naser Al Azzeh, the hilarious duo behind the video, titled Fast and Furious India, which shows the two narrowing their eyes at each other, ready to race… in a Maruti Zen and an auto-rickshaw. This race is neither fast nor furious, as their way is blocked by a cow, dancing children, and a policeman.

Kumar is a Banglore-based emcee, a beatboxer, and a TV host who has interviewed the likes of Salman Khan. Al Azzeh is a Jordanian national who was brought up in India. He is a break dancer and started Black Ice, one of India’s premier dance/beatbox crews. He also happens to be a freelance filmmaker. Together they formed Jordindian in 2016. In a conversation with HT City, they reveal how it all started.

On the beginning

“It all started about a year ago when we decided to come together and make just one video for our friends and family to enjoy, but the response was good, so we said, ‘Why not make another?’ and so on. We wanted our videos to go viral — who wouldn’t? And we are happy to see that it worked out.”

On the idea behind the spoof

“We always imagined what it would be like to actually have a fast and furious race on Indian roads. And we thought of all the obstacles that would get in the way, things we see in our daily life.”

On parodying East or West…

“Be it spoofing Hollywood or Bollywood, we try to get the best humour out of everything… as long as it stays relatable and makes us laugh.”

On the culture of easily taking offence

“Well, so far, people have been really nice and have been very supportive of our work. We feel fortunate and hope that it continues to stay that way. As for being politically correct or incorrect, everyone is entitled to their opinion and we try not to let that get in our way.”

On advising upcoming satirists and comedians

“Our aim is not to mock but to provide a different perspective. Satire is an acquired taste; the beauty of it is that some will get the message and some will get a laugh out of it — we are fine with both. We are upcoming ourselves, but if we had to give advice to other, newer artists, we’d say, ‘If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.’”

Check out the video below