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Home | Ten Avatars of Aishwarya Rai

May 20, 2009

Okay, so ...

Over my morning coffee, I found myself watching L'Oréal advertisements on YouTube, specifically the ones starrring Aishwarya Rai. Not sure how I found myself browsing this particular genre of Internet irreleventia, but, well ... There I was.

Anyway.

It was interesting to listen to the different voices that they assign to Aishwarya, depending on the target language and audience. Aishwarya speaks English fluently, with a light Indian accent. (See her David Letterman interview here.) In ads around the world, for obvious reasons, she sounds totally different.

Here is Aishwarya in French, Italian, British English and American English.

The French and British English voice-overs are actually pretty good. The Italian ad doesn't bother with making the words sync up with her lips much. But all three seem to convey a sense of -- you know -- international glamor, etc., etc.

The American one? Ungh ... Just totally wrong. What were they thinking? She doesn't sound like exotic Indian movie star. She sounds like a housewife/small-businesswoman from the suburbs of Des Moines, Iowa.

I guess this is how you communicate to someone who might be concerned that her hair looks "ahrange" and needs to be told that "yer worth it."

-- Aaron | Link