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 any vehicle. Trains are a popular alternative.
Has nothing to do with missing cast members.
Examples:
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Advertising
- A commercial used in the movie theaters from ATT shows a genre switch commercial where a bus is about to fall from a cliff, but in the more frantic moment, someone begin to sing "Everybody get off the bus", and the rest of the passengers literally goes to this trope escaping successfully from the bus while a complete musical number is done. You can see it here
Films- Live Action
- 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".
- Not a Bollywood film, but a variant of this does happen in Across the Universe (2007).
- Hairspray (2007) features a musical number sung 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.
- Teen Wolf: Scott and his buddy Stiles 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.
Live-Action TV
Literature
- 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.
Music
- The music video for Björk's Big Time Sensuality depicts Bjork singing and dancing in the bed of a truck slowly driving through New York City.
- The video for the Pussycat Dolls' "Wait a Minute" starts with this trope on a subway train.
- 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..." - The music video for Moldova's 2022 Eurovision entry, "Trenulețul" by Zdob și Zdub and the Adhavov Brothers, depicts the band(s) performing the song on the titular train between Chisinau and Bucharest in this fashion.
Theatre
- In Bells Are Ringing, "Hello, Hello There" builds into a big dance number on a subway car, involving acrobats.
Video Games
- The opening video to the original Rock Band showed 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.
