In 2008 “Slumdog Millionaire” made its debut to the world by way of movie theatres, downloaded files, pirated DVDs, and the many other modes of entertainment consumption. Along with the popular film came its critically acclaimed soundtrack by Indian composer A. R. Rahman, which has won numerous awards including a Golden Globe, two Grammy Awards, and two Academy Awards (Wikipedia). One song from the soundtrack that has particularly fascinated me is the Oscar-winning song “Jai Ho” which played at the film’s end to accompany the joyous finale dance number. At first the song and accompanying dance routine appeared to be a playful homage to Bollywood and to the Musical Film genre, providing a vibrant representation of the resolution and ‘happy ending’ for the film’s main characters. Since the film’s release, “Jai Ho” has gained a life of its own and has been reinterpreted and reproduced so many times through various media and in different contexts that it is difficult to fully understand the song’s true meaning.
In an attempt to better understand the relationship between the original and reproductions, I would like to engage the reader in a comparison of the originally released music video for the “Jai Ho” song (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRC4QrUwo9o) and the subsequent reinterpretation of the song by American pop group, The Pussycat Dolls (see video below). If we are to understand music as art and to appreciate “Jai Ho” (and its reproductions) as art, the viewer and listener must consume this artwork with a consideration of the context in which it was produced.
Walter Benjamin describes the essential element of an artwork as its “aura” and suggests that when art works are reproduced the essence of that “aura” is diluted or lost (1936). How should we interpret the “aura” of a song? There are many elements contributing toward a finished musical product (among them are rhythm, timbre, tone, time signature, and melody) but which of these makes up the “aura”? The original “Jai Ho” music video is composed of an eclectic mixture of these features borrowing elements typical of Pop, Disco, Indian, and other assorted World Music styles. The music video includes the final dance scene (comprised of a similarly assorted mixture of dance styles) at the train platform interspersed with scenes from throughout the film. “Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)” by The Pussycat Dolls also includes a dance scene at a train platform, though the Dolls are dressed a little more provocatively than the cast and crew of “Slumdog Millionaire”. The Pussycat Doll’s take on “Jai Ho” involves less clothing, no scenes from the movie, a rewrite of the lyrics into English ones that have little or no relation to the original Hindi lyrics, and a change in the apparent meaning of the title from the Hindi “be victorious” to the English “you are my destiny”. Both the original “Jai Ho” and The Pussycat Dolls’ reinterpretation of it became wildly popular so in either case, the artists were doing something right.
I will be the first to admit that I do not think very highly of The Pussycat Dolls and my first response to their take on the song was to roll my eyes. In the true spirit of unbiased anthropological observation I took another look at “Jai Ho (You are My Destiny)”. The Dolls are not as scantily clad as I’ve seen them in the past, their dance moves are not as sexually suggestive as they usually are, and regardless of the change in the lyrics and their associations I still have not been able to get either version of the song out of my head for the last week. Where then can we say the “aura” lies? Art is subjective, not objective, and so in each work of art there are multiple meanings and “auras” for those who create the artwork and those who consume it. Cultural production takes place in what Arjun Appadurai calls a “deterritorialized world” (1996:61). The original work, “Jai Ho”, shows evidence of many different cultural influences. Considering the “deterritorialized world” in which we live it stands to reason that works of art should be influenced by, created in, and eventually reinterpreted by a plethora of cultural contexts.
References
Appadurai, Arjun
1996 Global Ethnoscapes: Notes and Queries for a Transnational Anthropology. In Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, Pp. 48-65. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.
ARRahmanVEVO
2009 “Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny).” YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/PussycatDollsMusic#p/f/0/Yc5OyXmHD0w(accessed Jan. 22, 2011).
Benjamin, Walter
1936 The Work of Art in the age of Its Technological Reproducibility. In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 3: 1935-1938. Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press.
Lego Montage Films
2009 “Slumdog Millionare - Official Jai Ho Music Video.” YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRC4QrUwo9o (accessed Jan. 22, 2011).
Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack
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