This ain't music to the enemy's ears

India's soft power clearly has dimensions and potential that most people are unaware of. Whether the government itself is aware of it is moot, given that it is the British forces fighting ISIS in Libya that used Bollywood music to throw them off kilter. Music as a psychological weapon in interrogation is not a new idea, and the fact that one person’s music is another person’s cacophony is amply borne out by history and anecdotal evidence. However, apart from instances from Hollywood movies — and perhaps the Biblical episode of Jericho’s walls falling because of Joshua’s massed trumpets —the use of music in actual warfare in modern times is not common. Bombarding battle-hardened fundamentalists with Bollywood music — the brainwave of a Pakistan-born British intelligence officer — is indeed devilishly clever.

Much would hinge on the choice of music to strafe the enemy camps — or rather, their ears — with. As of now, only cars blaring with unspecified Bollywood music have been used to draw out IS fighters in Libya — including by monitoring their uproar on communication channels, thereby giving away their positions. An analysis of the tactic at a later date will be needed in order to move towards a more targeted use of Bollywood music, as certain singers and composers may been seen to affront the enemy more than others.