Jai Ho Summer: TikTok's Tone-Deaf Trend Amid UK Events
Image by: Angelina Michael
‘Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny),’ a song from the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ starring none other than Dev Patel, the Monkey Man (2024) himself, is currently trending on Tiktok. A few days ago, a TikTok creator posted a string of videos using the sound, branding it as “Jai Ho Summer.”
It's just a song right?
It’s really not that deep, except that it really is.
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ played a pivotal role in my childhood. Aside from the fact that its tone is dark (and objectively no child should be watching it without supervision) it is, in my opinion, an amazing movie. The movie, directed by Danny Boyle, is based on Vikas Swarup's novel “Q & A”.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the film follows the life of a teenager who joins Mumbai’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” We, the audience, are given a glimpse into another world: a life of slums, interrogations (that stems from the protagonist’s alleged cheating in the game) and recollections that raise the question to how the protagonist knew all of the answers. Ironically, every question posed mirrors his life. The movie's closing song, "Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)," performed by Nicole Scherzinger, The Pussycat Dolls, and A.R. Rahman.
As a side note, Jai Ho translates to “Let there be victory”.
You might be thinking, “What does this have to do with the UK?”
The State of UK
This year, on July 29th, 3 young girls were stabbed and subsequently killed at a Taylor Swift-themed yoga event in Southport, the culprit was a 17 year old boy who was initially kept anonymous due to his age. But in today's digital world, validity and anonymity are things of the past.
With the power of social media, misinformation began to spread with rumours that the culprit was a Muslim asylum seeker who illegally entered the UK.
And are these rumours true?
No.
But as I've mentioned, accuracy doesn’t matter when the media is involved.
By the time these rumours were put to rest, riots had already broken out, specifically targeting; immigrants, muslims and asylum seekers. Far-rights extremists have been protesting asking all of these people to “go back to where they came from”, inflicting violence, blaming their lack of jobs and employment on them and finding any opportunity to riot. Meanwhile, anyone who remotely resembles a muslim, are scared for their lives, being made to stay home for their safety and trying to protect their families.
An out-of-touch “Jai Ho Summer”
The tiktok content creator who posted the video using the words “Jai Ho Summer” came under fire for being tone-deaf while the riots broke out in the UK. It was incredibly tone deaf for the tiktok content creator to release the video in the midst of this, but to be honest, I'm not surprised. I might not live in the UK but I know exactly what it’s like to have people capitalising off my culture and yet telling me that I don’t belong.
For example, mainstream performers who do not belong to marginalised cultures have commercialised certain styles of music, such as reggae or hip-hop without knowledge of the cultures, communities and their experiences. This is not something new.
At one point of time, it was “your skin is dirty”, “your food is smelly” and “your hair is oily”. Today it’s about commodifying elements off our culture- like “hot girls tanning during the summer”, “naan bread”, “chai tea latte”, “hair oiling”, “farrah earrings”, “golden lattes”, and “morning yoga” - while dehumanising and devaluing the origins of the culture and its history.
Capitalising off the culture, practices, beliefs and telling people who have fled their countries out of fear or even a better life, whilst simultaneously telling them to go back just because you believed a fake news article without fact checking isn’t fair.
This problem extends beyond just enjoying ‘brown music’ while disregarding the hardships endured by people of colour. It is the ‘trend’ of appropriating parts of marginalised culture that is fashionable or marketable, while simultaneously ignoring the real struggles and realities of those who actually live them. It’s ridiculous and disconcerning that society can so simply exploit and misrepresent cultures in the face of racial tension and disinformation, but fail to acknowledge serious problems surrounding those same communities.
Be it knowingly or unknowingly, society’s intrinsic lack of awareness with regards to time,place and context is deteriorating. It underscores a disconnect between the reality of the suffering endured and the superficial interpretations often peddled on social media platforms. Knowing the time, place and the world’s political climate is crucial.
Yes, it’s just a video of a girl having fun and I am making a big deal out of nothing. I am not. It is a great injustice to commercialise cultures. Our actions, particularly in times of crisis, have repercussions that extend well beyond our personal experiences. Therefore, it is imperative to recognise that just because the riots may not be affecting you personally does not give you licence to be tone-deaf. Stop making excuses. Just because it isn’t happening to you doesn’t make it matter less, it does matter and it always will.
Whether it affects you or not.
Reference
News, B. (2024, August 7). Why are there riots in the UK and where are they taking place? Bbc.com; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg55we5n3xo
Sinclair, H. (2024, August 9). UK riots live: Police braced for 20 “gatherings” tonight after suspects’ homes raided. Yahoo!News . https://uk.news.yahoo.com/live/uk-riots-live-updates-latest-police-today-093707644.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAClMwQF3_XkcV_hOPXLL5ULnGLT1GENsvBzPU8_aLUtT67tdiEmDHPqSyZLecSUjG2RgIgBUWdQQbGmFI-cOLdEAviwBxahMaQn8oWx4XG9_kSXkOiQeUVwbsRaeOOw4si8DhOfimxJ9eslD64IdOjlnAJVRG3X4uyLMuiyySCyZ