Back in the day, I had an Italian co-worker who had the oh-so-Italian name “Enzo” coupled with the deadly, oh-so-Italian accent. The amazing thing about Enzo was that it didn’t matter one bit what was actually coming out of his mouth – the ladies in the office always had the same swooning reaction, “oh Enzo, say ‘operating system’ again. It sounds so sexy.”
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p>Blech.
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p>Despite having a pretty American accent myself (with an occasional touch of TX), I knew enough about how the world worked to know that one day, just once, I’d love to hear women swoon at the Indian accent. And on that day, my proverbial ship would finally come in and perhaps a few perceived ethnic slights would be righted. But, as Russell Peters once quipped, the primary thing the Indian accent is good for is cutting the tension.“The primary thing the Indian accent is good for is cutting the tension.”
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p>The lesson? Enzo’s Italian accent evoked the exotic beauty, power and grace of a Ferrari the same way DesiTalk brought forth the rugged manliness of Apu.
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p>So, the following commercial didn’t really move my meter much. TV Junkie that I am, I’ve usually got the boob tube on in the background while working. And, as a result, I probably get more than my fair share of 30second pop culture. So like many of you, I’ve come across a series of TV commercials for L’Oreal Cosmetics starring none other than our own Aishwarya Rai…
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p>Exhibit A – an Aishwarya commercial for L’Oreal cosmetics uploaded to Youtube some 6 months ago and thus probably close to a year old. Listen carefully as she, dealing with the intractible tragicomedy that is life, asks if you too “Feel Like Your Dark Hair is Too Dark?” –
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p>Clearly a voiceover. And a bad one at that. And, for now at least, I’ll direct our ethno-authenticity hounds away from the “solve life’s problems / lighten your hairSolve life’s problems / lighten your hair” message.
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p>Still, there’s an important lesson to be gleamed — Aish’s Color / Clarity / Contrast / Symmetry highlighted by blue eyes might be good enough for America’s brunette, aspiring suburban diva’s. BUT, producers feared her accent would detract from the overall motif. Perhaps her voice was seen as an unanticipated touch of Apu where the audience was expecting Enzo. Oh well.
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p>But waiddaminut. Let us observe social evolution before our eyes in less than 12 months. The latest series of L’Oreal commercials has begun to air with a decidedly different tone –
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p>From the innocently posed inquiry “ready to transform your lashes?” to the bold call to action “dare to be daring” we hear Aishwarya and her [uptown / gentrified] desi accent in its raw, full, transformative glory. You, the tired, huddled, housewives of Des Moines with 2.1 kids could be her. In your aspirational dreams. With just the right mascara. Sort of.
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p>Nevertheless, for a moment, let us recognize that while the political wheels of social equality get tripped up by Macaca-gate and whatnot, Madison Avenue appears to be delivering a certain type of progress. However, it’s a front many activists prefer to ignore, others consider inherently antithetical to progress, and some, arguably, wish would go away altogether — the mass market. Middle America’s dreams & aspirations. Wal-Mart’s feminine beauty aisle.
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p>And what shall we call this strange domain? How about The Real World.
An interesting tactical debate for Afro-American observors has been the degree to
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There goes the neighborhood. |
Gay advocates similarly debate the delta between Will&Grace and QueerEye vs. QueerNation and their contribution towards the ongoing sea change in Gay acceptance over the past decade… For African-Americans, Gays, and other historically marginalized groups, both prongs have certainly contributed, but there are important lessons that emerge from trying to tease apart which was and is more effective today and moving forward. Important political lessons.
My opinion should be pretty obvious. But, back to more pressing matters. Legions of desi’s should brace themselves for the moment when The Accent is finally sexy — and that matters to my Real World. While Aishwarya’s undubbed voice might serve as a small step for commercial America, it’s a giant leap for DesiKind.
Can I just say that I once knew a boy from Bombay, and whether he knew it or not, I’d be swooning every time he said anything, because he had that pseudo-semi-british, distinctly Bombaite, sexy accent thing going….
ohh and all my gora friends thought it was hawt too
AishwaryaÂ’s undubbed voice might serve as a small step for commercial America, itÂ’s a giant leap for DesiKind.
It will happen one day, Nixon bro. Like the French.
On the tangent, Aishwarya has had a language/ accent coach (I read it a while ago). It is very distinct if you compare it to her earlier interviews in English. Even 800 number folks in India go to accent schools.
Now Salma Hayek, another story.
well there are different types of indian english accents, as there are american english and british english accents. some are considered more appealing than others. i’m not sure middle america will ever fully accept the apu-type indian accent, the same way that many americans with strong southern accents or other strong regional accents, or australians with really strong aussie accents or brits with non-bbc accents are forced to or choose to change their accents to generic american accents. the same way that many foreigners singing in english choose the generic american pop english accent instead of their own nation’s version of english.
Oh, how I love me an Aishwarya post! All this undubbing happened immediately after she had those rounds of interviews on Letterman, CBS, etc. It’s like Loreal realized that hey, if she can go on talk shows with her natural voice, maybe she can pull off two short sentences in our commercial! Anyway, I’m just glad they got rid of that horrible dubbed voice.
I’m excited about her upcoming roles in Provoked and The Last Legion.
…but then again, she could just stand there and smile and I’d be excited.
Brilliant post.
ok.. i just wasted 1/2 min on aishwarya rai’s desi ad .. and you know how the mind wanders…
since this blows hair 12 times, and it calls out for daring… i’ll take the leap of faith and try it on my back.
hellowww layd-ies. you may scratch my belly.
there’s a snl sketch in there somewhere.
The original “Mad Max” movie had all the Australian accents dubbed over with American voices when it was released in the US. Took a while for Aussie accents to become “sexy” . Even now most Australian actors like Hugh Jackman, Anthony LaPaglia etc disguise their native accents so that they can get more “mainstream” work (atleast in the US).
Good post!
V, agree with the pop culture and advertising observations, but this gives me pause:
Come again?
p.s. here’s the first SM post which dealt with Loreal’s ridonkulously lush Aish-scara…
It does depend on the type of Indian accent. I doubt people listen to Fareed Zakaria’s voice and start giggling to themselves, “Man, he talks funny.” One of my accounting professors (Indian) back at GW spoke with an accent that did seem to draw a bit extra attention from my female classmates.
A funny take on accents was done on My Name is Earl, where Earl has to get on the right side of karma by teaching English to immigrants, since the past he made fun of accents. They flashback to him in a hospital, where an Indian doctor says to Earl, “This is bery bery bad, you will get an inbection.” Earl points at him and says, “Ha hah – Bery Bery! You can’t say v’s!” The extra in-joke is that he speaks with a comical Southern accent.
My Name is Earl
There were some Nokia t.v. ads that aired here in Canada, last year. Although no desi’s were present (it was a product power shot) the voiceover dude wasn’t the voiceover dude that’s used to voiceover every commercial (and movie preview) that requires a voiceover: it was a female desi with an accent. No, not an obnoxious caricature accent; but a refined accent. There was definitely some “insider” work here, because without that insider perspective, it would have been the generic voiceover dude’s voice. Good job “insider” !! You made me nod in recognition of your attempt to revert stereotypes! I smiled at you that day! 🙂
Anything that comes out of Ash’s mouth is gonna sound good! Don’t know if your friendly neighborhood engineering TA’s accent is as sexy though.
BidiSmoker – I always thought the Apu accent was highly exxagerated for comic effect. But if people perceive that to be accurate, then I see your point – it doesn’t do anything for the “real brown person” especially the working class.
aishwarya in upcoming remake of umrao jaan (she certainly has a tough act to follow):
http://movies.indiatimes.com/photo.cms?msid=1993396
http://movies.indiatimes.com/photo.cms?msid=1993398
No kidding – recently, I had a girl swoon over my accent.
All I said was “Jolly Rancher” and she went, say it again.
I said – do you like it?
She said – I love it, when you say.
I said – do you love it?
She said – I luurve it.
I said – I am P
She said – I am Pat and she said – I am Pat, mckroch. and she said – I am Pat my crotch.
I said – turn around.
How old are you…5?
Funnier, yeah. More sophisticated?
I know you are, but what am I?
Oh, wait.
“How old are you…5?” His friends are a RIOT too! Just read his blog, and get ready to be exposed to extreme funniness.
That was not an attempt to be funny or humorous, nor was it fictional. The same girl told me that she is PR person for playboy. Now, did I believe everything that she said?
Whats up with all this snide, ppl? Its friday, relax.
I always said nothing is harder in the world then a Indian man finding a date outside of his race. Every race on the planet has something sexy about them.
White Guys: Every model is a white guy, the blue eyes dont hurt either Black Guys: Are famous for, well you know Latino’s: The latin lover sterotype East Asian’s: Kung Fu is awesome, ripped bodies Indian’s: Perception is lives in house’s made out of cow dung because we love worshipping cow dung.
If an Indian man can over come that and still get a woman then he should go done in Pimp history.
Shallow thinker-
It’s the exotic tan!
(I will ask Pardesi Gori the answer to this when I see her…)
Prasad (and the subsequent commenters) made me laugh loudly…
Jolly Rancher is the official pick up line to be used at the meetup tonight…
Really? That sucks. I was going to go with:
“Excuse me, are you mutinous? No? Would you like to be mutinous with me?
or how about:
“Excuse me, do you have any Sepia in you? Would you like some?
*apologies for the threadjacking.
I fail to see how a former Ms. Universe speaking in a convent school super upperclass accent on a commericial for makeup does anything for the people of the U.S. that sound like Apu. I think it helps a little bit. And every little bit helps. Whether this would be progressive or not depends on who you ask. First off, I think this commercial would play quite differently in India versus the United States. Aishwarya would be alternative look/darker complexion/Indian accented/desi in the US, but in India, she would be mainstream look/towards the fairer end of the complexion spectrum/American/videshi accented/phoren. I don’t have any numbers to support this, but we already know that there is a premium placed on “fair”ness in Indian society, there is a market for skin-lightening creams, “fair” actresses work better in Bollywood, et cetera. I think it is reasonable to think that this ad as it is would reinforce stereotypes of what is cool and what is good-looking in India.
If this were adopted as part of a global campaign, there would be an inflexion point. There is going to be a certain number of people who are going to be better off because of it, and there is going to be a certain number of people who are going to be worse off. This is similar to the way many, many policies work. For instance, people who are below the inflexion point in terms of a certain socioeconomic profile (and this is not just based on income) get more from the state than what they pay, and people who are above the inflexion point pay more to the state than they get from it. A lot of folks in India and America would benefit from un-desified marketing campaigns, but a much larger number of brown folks in India would probably get hurt. The numbers are probably not even comparable. (In terms of numbers, it would, in fact, play quite similar to John Kerry’s “fair trade” monkey economics – far more people would get hurt by these restrictive trade policies than would benefit).
If by Madison Avenue, you mean the advertising industry in India AND America, then I think you are right. It is not surprising to me that there are many people in India who blame Madison Avenue for being part of the problem, but Madison Avenue ain’t going away any time soon. The only way out, as far as I see, is for the ad to be adapted for an Indian audience, very possibly by Indian advertising companies, and such adapatation might even help undoing these stereotypes for brown folks back in the homeland.
Very iconoclastic post Vinod. Funny and thought provoking. I see why Rand chose you to be her boy-toy.
Funny you said this. B/f reading SM, I associated the word exotic mostly with italian supercars. Now I know “to exoticise” is a very very bad thing to do, despiste the fact that americans do it to europeans all the time. In fact, when I was younger i used to exoticise european women; I dreamed of sitting in cafes sipping wine and eating fois gras while discussing philosophy with a dark, sopisticated, mysterious woman with an accent. When I finally got a european girlfriend, i found most of what I wanted but she preferred KFC with a Coke.
people are individuals not representatives of a culture, but i’m sure enzo didn’t mind fulfilling some american woman’s exotic fantasy.
Before the appearances most Americans would have watched the ad and said “this woman looks Caucasian but has an accent I wonder where she is from?” thus taking attention away from the product. After the appearances people would have said “I’ve seen her before on Letterman and sheÂ’s Indian, I wonder why she doesnÂ’t have an accent?”, thus taking attention away from the product.
I wish it had to do with Indian accents suddenly being considered more acceptable or sexy, but I think itÂ’s just about the effectiveness of the ad. Same thing for Salma Hayek etc, who are very recognisable and associated with their accents.
The first two paragraphs were addressed to BidiSmoker and the last one to Vinod. Should have clarified that.
Most guys don’t mind being exoticized if it includes more women paying attention to them. I wonder what the image of Indian people is among gay people, assuming there is one.
oh c’mon. there’s gotta be at least one gay indian.
“I wonder what the image of Indian people is among gay people, assuming there is one.”
Sadly, sterotyping and racism exists within sub-groups and sub-cultures, even if those groups themselves, have been historically discriminated against. Why we can’t learn from our own experiences and apply it to others, I don’t know.
This topic frustrates me to no end.
Interesting post. It seems that every accent which is popularly considered “sexy” in the U.S. belongs to some group of white people, wheter Brits or Frenchmen or whatever. I think plain racism has a lot to do with which accents Americans consider to be sexy. If people from some European country talked like Apu, would it be considered sexy?
Agree with post #34. If an average Appu looked like John Abraham/Milind Soman/me ;-), the accent would be considered exotic and sexy..
“Interesting post. It seems that every accent which is popularly considered “sexy” in the U.S. belongs to some group of white people, wheter Brits or Frenchmen or whatever. I think plain racism has a lot to do with which accents Americans consider to be sexy. If people from some European country talked like Apu, would it be considered sexy?”
i’m not sure that’s necessarily true, although it may be for some people. after all, you see american tv making fun of german and nordic (swedish) accents, which are generally not considered sexy, hence they are mocked. again, it depends on what type of brit accent. i don’t see americans considering cockney or heavy northern england or scottish accents sexy. they specifically go for that james bondish, queen’s english, oxford, cambridge accent.
Coolest desi accent of all time: The carribbean-desi accent Nastiest desi accent of all time: White-guy trying to imitate a desi accent… sounds nasty
i’m not sure that’s necessarily true, although it may be for some people. after all, you see american tv making fun of german and nordic (swedish) accents, which are generally not considered sexy, hence they are mocked. again, it depends on what type of brit accent. i don’t see americans considering cockney or heavy northern england or scottish accents sexy. they specifically go for that james bondish, queen’s english, oxford, cambridge accent.
True, not every white accent is considered sexy (Russians come to mind), but every accent which is usually considered sexy in the States belongs to some group of whites.
:oh c’mon. there’s gotta be at least one gay indian
Manju, I have a few gora friends who play for the other team. They are about as attracted to Indian dudes as the Taliban is to Greco-Buddhist statues.
Interesting post. It seems that every accent which is popularly considered “sexy” in the U.S. belongs to some group of white people, wheter Brits or Frenchmen or whatever. I think plain racism has a lot to do with which accents Americans consider to be sexy. If people from some European country talked like Apu, would it be considered sexy?
Not sure about that – which would most Americans consider sexy – a Polish accent or a Caribbean accent?
Manju, I have a few gora friends who play for the other team. They are about as attracted to Indian dudes as the Taliban is to Greco-Buddhist statues.
why is why there is no gay sex tourism to south asia? 🙂 i know of gay white dudes who are way too into telling me about their brown conquests….
Favorable, and its not centred around the IQ
“True, not every white accent is considered sexy (Russians come to mind), but every accent which is usually considered sexy in the States belongs to some group of whites.”
i see. sorry if i misunderstood. i think it goes along with what the culture also considers to be the most physically attractive or the standard – europe has for the most part always had a cache for americans, especially if you watch old Hollywood movies. a trip to europe (the mother continent for many) was considered a sign of culture and affluence. maybe now that it’s available to more people, it will lose some of that cache in time. you can already see some american women rebelling against the idea that has been forced down their throats for decades: that french women are somehow innately more sophisticated, beautiful, and the global fashion icons. while that may have been true before for americans, not so anymore.
let’s face it, unfortunately even indians, including some of those i know who were born and raised in the u.s., make fun of the apu-type stereotype and people with those accents. which accent do diasporic indian comedians/actors choose when they want to inject some humour into their routines/roles? the apu-type accent, not the aishwarya-accent.
I see. sorry if i misunderstood. i think it goes along with what the culture also considers to be the most physically attractive or the standard – europe has for the most part always had a cache for americans, especially if you watch old Hollywood movies.
I agree, it is some form of Eurocentrism (I believe that’s what you’re saying).
let’s face it, unfortunately even indians, including some of those i know who were born and raised in the u.s., make fun of the apu-type stereotype and people with those accents. which accent do diasporic indian comedians/actors choose when they want to inject some humour into their routines/roles? the apu-type accent, not the aishwarya-accent.
That’s very true, I know desis born and raised here who clown the Apu accent. I think they are eager to show that they are “Americans” and disassociate themselves with the “fob” image.
“I agree, it is some form of Eurocentrism (I believe that’s what you’re saying).”
in a nutshell, yes. much better than my longwinded attempt.:)
Neale
Indeed, and the term for someone gay who chases desis exclusively is Curry Queen.
i’ve heard Basmaati queen
“Indeed, and the term for someone gay who chases desis exclusively is Curry Queen” “i’ve heard Basmaati queen”
Yeah, and those are both “favourable” terms, right?
No, no, it’s too tempting!….
I’m a bit worried though about ‘gender equality’ among desis. A family friend who lives in the US wrote a shite book called ‘Impressing The Whites’ that had one important point in it…Asian women are often given a niche of acceptance as Exotic Hotties. And I’ve found that there is a belief (similar to Arab/Persian people) that desi girls are much hotter than the guys in general. I’m not saying there’s no Jon Abrahams out there, I’m just saying that people seem to think there’s more Preity Zintas.
And yeah, Vinod, Aish’s upper class desi accent is hot, but Apu’s ‘two seconds away from being deported but that will be 19.99 thank you please come again’ accent…no.
Yeah,honey
“I wonder what the image of Indian people is among gay people, assuming there is one.”
Oh honey, we’re everywhere. We exist in pockets, though. I can’t make a case for other gay Indian men but for myself, I find myself off-putting to men who are often times very specific about wanting to date ONLY white men and sometimes I find myself coveted crazily by white men who have a fetish for South Asian gay men. it’s a meat market, really, but in the gay dating scene, Indians do havea distinct niche and there is a definite demand for them. It’s just if you can find where the demand is and Middle America is the worst place to be a double minority, regardless of gender or ethnicity.
I’ve never dated an Indian guy though — mostly because the supply was nonexistent, but that should change with a proximity to NYC.
And I do think that Aish’s L’Oreal advert was a step in the right direction. I just wish she’d be more militant about her promo work and about forcing a foothold in Hollywood. Hollywood’s take on Indians is awful — and Apu is voiced by a white guy — Hank Azaria (fabulous actor in real life if anyone’s seen !Huff.)
Erm, not really, but they reflect “badly” on the person doing the fetishistic/exoticizing, rather than on the (desi) one being exoticized.
Neale, there’s a whole stream of these, right…. I had also heard rice queen (but I think that’s supposed to refer to someone Asian chasing white people)….
Shallow Thinker, on your point, I think there are some famous desi men who are swooned over by gringas (e.g. Sonny Mehta, Shashi Tharoor, SRK, Amitabh Bachchan, AB 2.0, etc), but it’s just that no one of them has reached a critical mass yet. But that day must be fast approaching…
I’m a bit worried though about ‘gender equality’ among desis. A family friend who lives in the US wrote a shite book called ‘Impressing The Whites’ that had one important point in it…Asian women are often given a niche of acceptance as Exotic Hotties. And I’ve found that there is a belief (similar to Arab/Persian people) that desi girls are much hotter than the guys in general. I’m not saying there’s no Jon Abrahams out there, I’m just saying that people seem to think there’s more Preity Zintas.
That may have something to do that men in general are just more blunt about what they find attractive, and in keeping track, ethnicity is one category. Women seem to keep such opinions to themselves. Although I will say that many female undergrads third year abroad in Europe seemed to have been used for reasons other than studying.
Ok, since we’ve veered off in a gay direction for a second, may I just mention, for anyone in Bombay reading this, that there is going to be a special premier screening of Amol Palekar’s Thaang (The Quest), sponsored by the Humsafar Trust (which does such good work outreach and advocacy work for gay men in and around Bombay) on September 30 at 9pm at the INOX Cinema at Nariman Point?
If there was a URL for it, I’d put it in events section.
The organization is throwing its support behind the film because it deals with a wife who catches her husband in flagrante delicto with another man, and what happens after that, and apparently because it deals quite frankly with the subject matter, distributors are balking.
Ok, sorry, back to the Aish topic….