Extreme strongman routine on India's Got Talent

~~The Warriors of Goja~~ Bir Khalsa, a Sikh performance troupe, performed an astonishing strongman/bed of nails routine on India's Got Talent, a spectacle of extreme stunts involving a lot of glass eating, being run over by cars, hit by sledgehammers, bending iron bars with their Adam's apples, and so forth. The judges' performance -- dramatic expressions of shock and horror -- matched the performers'.

India Talent Show - Warriors of Goja AMAZING (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: india • sideshow • stunts • tv • youtube

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Morkl

I liked the part where the lady in the jury was upset.
terry childers

i think the judges were (mostly) genuinely shocked. did they just give them the prize money so the warriors would leave?
- Chuck
  
  I had the same silly thought. Alternatively, maybe their act could serve as a means of fighting wars, in that they’d kick their own ass in front of their enemies until their demands were met.
newusername2

Isn’t the stuff inside the fluorescent lights toxic? My mother always said that…
- RedMonkey
  
  Yes, they consist of Styrene, Napthalene, Phenol and some mercury – however it’s the carcinogenic type of poison not the die right away kind of poison – and when you’re hitting yourself in the chest with a sledge hammer as a job, I don’t think cancer is your primary concern.
Rich Keller

@ 6:09 when one drank some water, I was really expecting it to sprinkle out of his stomach like some Benny Hill routine.

Speaking of which…
http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=S2SUaoVy_iU
CSBD

I submitted this first (yesterday)!

When it was sent to me the other day, I thought it was going to be similar to Tunak Tunak Tun…. i was just a bit off.
Its a mix of:
1. The Gong Show
2. India’s Got Talent
3. Jackass
4. Insane Clown Possee’s Strangle Mania
5. “Who wants to be an eleven-thousandaire”
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

Yes….I like the “Home Alone” look of surprise :)
kittnkat

Hawt!!!!

PS…boys get up to all sorts of crap if you leave them alone.
ry4n3v4n5

Sikhs, the Klingons of the human race.
- kittnkat
  
  lolololyes.
Mister44

I am not sure what all of that was – but I liked it. They should have planted that flag in guys chest at the finale.
Rich Keller

“Alirght you guys, what’s the name of your act?”

“The Aristocrats!”
http://www.cooltricksntips.com Rahul Jadhav

The show wasnt India’s Got Talent but a regional show from South India and the group won around 5000 $ as the prize money.
graou

Theses guys are great. I’d love to have friends i could hit with a hammer, run over with a car, and finaly make a giant sandwich with slices of men, nails and sabers.
http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

Candy-asses. Call me when they’re through tuning up.
Jeff Ritzmann

I’d love to know what the female judge was saying at the end if anyone can translate.
- Carsten Agger
  
  She is saying that they shouldn’t be called warriors of Goja, but warriors of INDIA. She says that they have conquered our hearts as well as this title and special appreciation and THREE LAKHS OF RUPEES !!!
  
  Three lakhs = 300,000 = maybe $5,000. To be fair, the annual per capita income in northern India is about Rs. 33,000, so the money could maintain all of them a year (provided they don’t do any more shows, they seem to be using a lot of expensive stuff).
  
  Thank you, zefuture!
  - zefuture
    
    our hearts as well as this title and special appreciation and THREE LAKHS OF RUPEES (~$5700)
    - Carsten Agger
      
      Teen lakh, yes of course that’s three. Don’t know what I mustve been thinking. I’m relieved i didn’t hear it as tees lakh.
KenInWI

Yep, they’re all mad as a hatter.
pete_thedevguy

My high school physics teachers demonstrated some of these things: One of them laid down on a bed of nails, had a smaller bed of nails put on his chest, and put some cinder blocks on that bed. The second physics teacher took his sledge hammer and destroyed all of the cinder blocks!

A lot of the kinetic energy from the sledge hammer gets transferred into the blocks, so not much force actually gets through to the person. And the bed of nails have so many nails on them, that they spread out the force a lot.

However, that spikey-hammer-thingy that were using looks freaking scary.
- doomcake
  
  true, but when they fail to smash the cinder block a lot of force is transferred through the person. I once knocked a guy out doing a cinder block on the head act- we chose a stronger grade of cinder block then usual and it didn’t break on the first swing. Watching these guys was terrifying
- mocon
  
  As my high school physics teacher used to say, “Nobody lies on a bed of nail.”
Tim Johnson

This reminded me of this BBC profile:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15480741
ddh819

there really does need to be a show called “Who is the craziest fools on Earth?” hosted by Mr T.
- Matt Volatile
  
  Not sure if you’re joking… but there already is. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011w4sy
  - flosofl
    
    You. Are. Shitting. Me.
    
    That show is like a dream come true.
    
    Please, please, please BBC, put this on BBC America. PLEEEEEAAAZZZEEE!!
Jorpho

I can’t watch the video right now, but wanted to say: isn’t there a long tradition of Indian hucksters who find clever ways to fake this kind of thing?
- unit_1421
  
  Yes, you are correct. Some of the stunts they were doing weren’t going so well, likely because they were having to rush to fit the act into their limited time slot. They aborted part of the car stunt since they were having trouble keeping the bricks from slipping. All this stuff takes training and a good sense of timing, in addition to huge balls.
Cowicide

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/AsifZardari.jpg
User 100

Nothing more fun than watching people risk their health and their life for your entertainment.
Wait a few years, until people in the U.S. will be similarly desperate for a few thousand bucks, and we’ll have the same shows here.
Good times ahead…
- Carsten Agger
  
  Color me naive, but I would suspect these people of being trained professionals. Don’t try this at home, kids.
  - User 100
    
    Just because you have learned to suppress pain (be it by desensitization or medication) doesn’t mean stunts like these aren’t gonna do any less damage to your body.
    It’s just gonna take you a few years to realize what you’ve done.
    But, I guess, in the meantime, everybody can enjoy the show…
KludgeGrrl

That was one hell of a performance. I found myself with the same expression as the lady judge. But I just kept thinking about the mercury that was in all that white dust. I know I would not want to be anywhere near that stage.
oasisob1

I would visit every internet cafe on the planet to vote to keep them coming back each week. I’d quit my job to vote around the clock!
http://profiles.google.com/mkjonese Emma Jones

That was fun. I’m surprised that woman wasn’t crying by the end of it.

So… does anyone know where to get some good Indian music? I’ve liked it for awhile, but don’t really know what to look for.
- inspektor
  
  Mix of pop and movie songs on YouTube:
  
  Kuch na kaho- achchi lagti ho (means you look good)
  Imran Khan- Amplifier
  Devdas- Hamesha tumko chaha (” I have always wanted you)
  Atif Aslam- Tere bin (” without you)
Rich Keller

All these views and comments and not a single “this is why we can’t have nice things?”
Antinous / Moderator

So are they, um, seeing anyone right now?
- oohShiny
  
  a doctor, we hope.
- TheMudshark
  
  I am no gay yoga instructor, but I can imagine I would find this pretty hot if I were ;)
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    The guy at 1:30 gives new meaning to the phrase, “I would hit that.”
http://www.kmoser.com kmoser

How are they going to top this with a follow-up act?
Snig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYYYMuwCyA
HerkyDerky

I found that so terrifying as to not be at all fun to watch.

Also: it’s all viral marketing for that car.
http://twitter.com/V4Vad Karthik Vadlapatla

I’ve seen a couple of episodes of this show before (unfortunately, this show is in native language), but never expected this level of ape $#!t crazy! Now, I won’t be surprised if the next season of this show airs snuff film.
adamnvillani

I think the underlying message being conveyed is DO NOT FUCK WITH SIKHS.
Brendan Dwan

I think the Kipper Kids used to do some performance art where they would get in a boxing ring, and try to knock themselves out. So ya, two boxers in the ring punching themselves in the face. Just makes you go, oh wow, performance art, wow. http://www.kipperkids.com/
twodimensionalme

Not that impressive.
I can do exactly the same things, but blind.