Normalizing Assassination the Bollywood Way

As student romcom dance movies go, Best of the Best of Netflix brings a smart fresh twist: it’s about rival Bollywood-fusion dance teams facing off in a collegiate competition in Southern California. Being a fan of Bollywood spectaculars, I like the dive into the fashions, grueling practices, creative decisions and the self-acknowledged stereotypes.

But it fails spectacularly in one tiny snippet that most viewers might have missed. Or, even worse, it succeeds as one more favorable nod rationalizing murder.

Facial expressions are critical!

I noticed the trend in the last season of Hacks, where a character, responding to moves by a corporate executive, shouts, "We need to kill him! We need to Luigi his ass!"

Luigi, of course, refers to Luigi Mangione, the achingly handsome heartthrob of today’s Manson Family crews looking for their violence fix as a form of protest.

Tell the story with your face.

In Best of the Best, the team leader tells dancers, “Facial expressions are critical! Tell the story with your face.” The camera pans on dancers responding to prompts, like “Dimple, he cheated on you.” Sad face.

Dimple, he cheated on you.

Then, “Anaji, they freed Luigi.” Pan to a young woman tossing her long hair in the throes of what looks like orgasmic delight of the “I'll have what she's having” ilk.

Anjali, they freed Luigi.

The scene flew by, but the sense was very clear. Freeing the (alleged!) assassin provoked a sensation of glee, ecstasy, satisfaction, or something else very positive. Whatever shades of nuance the scene expresses, the Luigi shout-out reflects careful decisions by writers, actors, directors to say, “Yeah, let’s celebrate assassination!”

What concerns me even more: I barely consume any mass culture. That I happened to here “Luigi!” references in a comedy series and a new movie makes me wonder how widespread the adulation is—and when will it become emulation.

Luigi soooooo hot!