A song sequence that frequently appears in Bollywood films. Inspired by his beautiful surroundings, or by a beautiful love interest, the character sings a rousing anthem to demonstrate either his patriotism or his love, while defying the laws of gravity.
The vehicle needn't be a bus; it could be on any vehicle. Trains are just as likely.
Has nothing to do with missing cast members.
Examples:
- A notable example is the "Chaiyya Chaiyya" opening song from Dil Se.., where the characters dance on top of a moving train.
- Makes an appearance in Salaam-E-Ishq, in the song "Dil Kya Kare".
- Shows up in Veer-Zaara, when Veer sings "Aisa Des Hai Mera".
- In the Hindi movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi Surinder dances on top of a little yellow car while singing his signature song, Haule Haule. He also sings and dances on top of a bed.
- Not a Bollywood film, but a variant of this does happen in Across the Universe
- A non-Bollywood example: The film of the musical of the film Hairspray features a musical number sang and danced, in part, on a school bus.
- "The Trolley Song" from Meet Me in St. Louis.
- "Man on the Flying Trapeze" from It Happened One Night.
- Star Spangled Rhythm has a cartoonish sequence in which Betty Hutton sings "I'm Doin' It For Defense" while struggling to stay on a jeep.
- Austin Powers: The title character dances with Miss Kensington on a double-decker bus as Burt Bacharach plays the piano.
- In At The Circus, Groucho sings "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" in a train car.
- In A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles sing "I Should Have Known Better" in a baggage car on a train.
- The music video for Björk's Big Time Sensuality films Bjork singing and dancing in the bed of a truck slowly driving in New York City.
- In Bells Are Ringing, "Hello, Hello There" builds into a big dance number on a subway car, involving acrobats.
- The video for the Pussycat Dolls' "Wait a Minute" starts by doing this on a subway train.
- For a video game example, the opening video to the original Rock Band had a generic band performing on top of a car - appropriately, to the song "Highway Star."
- Rock Band 2 has two bands playing on top cars.
- Lego Rock Band has the generic Lego band playing on top of a series of vehicles, including a plane.
- The Diogenes Club story "Moon Moon Moon."
Jeperson: I didn’t say we’re going in a bus to a party, I said we’re going to a party in a bus. - The Geordie folk song "Blaydon Races", about a group of people traveling by bus to see the Blaydon races has one verse talking about the people on the bus singing and dancing.
- Not Bollywood, but the music video for Psy's "Gangnam Style" has a few clip of bus dancing.
- Vengaboys' Signature Song "We Like to Party!" Also known for its usage in a Six Flags commercial.
"The Vengabus is coming,
and everybody's jumping" - Teen Wolf: Scott and his buddy Stiles will occasionally go "surfing" by driving around town with one of them dancing on the roof of a van to a Beach Boys song. Stiles does it in the first act, and Scott does it later as a wolf, even doing handstands on the moving vehicle.
