Music Review: 3
Unless you are living under a rock or something, you must have heard of Why This Kolaveri Di. The track, apparently a video showing the singer/lyricist/actor Dhanush Raja singing the song during a recording session, was initially leaked on the Internet, and the makers, having noticed the popularity, decided to go for an official release.
As I am writing this, the video has garnered more than 10 million views within the last fortnight, becoming the fastest and the most popular video on YouTube in the country. Composed by a 21 year old debutante, Anirudh Ravichander, the 'soup song' is a gibberish mishmash of Tamil and English (aka Tanglish) projecting love failure. Kolaveri has transcended all barriers of language becoming a veri (read rage) amongst music listeners. It has not even escaped the ears of the Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who tweeted "Dhanush, son-in-law of Rajinikanth, a young brigade superstar in Tamil Cinema married to Aishwarya, Rajini's daughter...its lovely. Kolaveri... Tamil for rejected lovers rage, in a sweet way...now getting used as verbiage in almost any walk of life, social, political...every where!! tremendous" Ahem!
While this unprecedented reach may be a good sign of things to come, is the dumbing down of lyrics/music any better? After the song went viral, in an interview to the Times of India, Dhanush seems to have said: "When I was writing down the lyrics, I kept in mind all the English words that are used in the Tamil vocabulary. Words like I, you, me, how, why, cow.. I just framed them into sentences and that's how I came up with the song."
The song sounds more like it was composed in the spur of a moment and the result shows. May be the tune is simple and the lyrics are easy to relate, but they can't fudge the new lows Tamil folk music has scaled. I am not a purist, I do enjoy a lot of songs for guilty pleasure, but this is one track that I find great difficulty to accept. There is a limit to musical persecution, I say. But there is no second thought in stating that this clever publicity spin will translate into huge audience turnout at the cinemas.
Una Pethavan Una Pethana Senjana (what a lyric!), again written/sung by Dhanush, is no different, bearing all hallmarks of a catchy dappan koothu along the lines of Kolaveri. Update: Note that this track doesn't feature in the album. Hope the composer, who has already got fifteen movie offers, has better things in store.
Update: I must say that composer Anirudh has managed to supersede my expectations with 3. Idhazhin Oram is a breezy track with superb orchestration and great singing from Ajesh Ashok. Kannazhaga, with its gorgeous use of violins, makes for a lovely listen in Dhanush and Shruti Hassan's vocals, while Come On Girls, sung by the composer himself, is an adequately engaging folky number, with the nadaswaram soaked interludes being the highlight.
If Nee Partha Vizhigal is another delightful melody sung to perfection by Vijay Yesudas and Shweta Mohan, the surprise of the OST arrives in the form of Po Nee Po. Sung by Mohit Chauhan, the pathos-soaked tune is just as heartfelt as it's soulful. Anirudh makes an assured debut with 3.
First published: Nov 30, 2011 (9:31 PM)
As I am writing this, the video has garnered more than 10 million views within the last fortnight, becoming the fastest and the most popular video on YouTube in the country. Composed by a 21 year old debutante, Anirudh Ravichander, the 'soup song' is a gibberish mishmash of Tamil and English (aka Tanglish) projecting love failure. Kolaveri has transcended all barriers of language becoming a veri (read rage) amongst music listeners. It has not even escaped the ears of the Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who tweeted "Dhanush, son-in-law of Rajinikanth, a young brigade superstar in Tamil Cinema married to Aishwarya, Rajini's daughter...its lovely. Kolaveri... Tamil for rejected lovers rage, in a sweet way...now getting used as verbiage in almost any walk of life, social, political...every where!! tremendous" Ahem!
While this unprecedented reach may be a good sign of things to come, is the dumbing down of lyrics/music any better? After the song went viral, in an interview to the Times of India, Dhanush seems to have said: "When I was writing down the lyrics, I kept in mind all the English words that are used in the Tamil vocabulary. Words like I, you, me, how, why, cow.. I just framed them into sentences and that's how I came up with the song."
The song sounds more like it was composed in the spur of a moment and the result shows. May be the tune is simple and the lyrics are easy to relate, but they can't fudge the new lows Tamil folk music has scaled. I am not a purist, I do enjoy a lot of songs for guilty pleasure, but this is one track that I find great difficulty to accept. There is a limit to musical persecution, I say. But there is no second thought in stating that this clever publicity spin will translate into huge audience turnout at the cinemas.
Una Pethavan Una Pethana Senjana (what a lyric!), again written/sung by Dhanush, is no different, bearing all hallmarks of a catchy dappan koothu along the lines of Kolaveri. Update: Note that this track doesn't feature in the album. Hope the composer, who has already got fifteen movie offers, has better things in store.
Update: I must say that composer Anirudh has managed to supersede my expectations with 3. Idhazhin Oram is a breezy track with superb orchestration and great singing from Ajesh Ashok. Kannazhaga, with its gorgeous use of violins, makes for a lovely listen in Dhanush and Shruti Hassan's vocals, while Come On Girls, sung by the composer himself, is an adequately engaging folky number, with the nadaswaram soaked interludes being the highlight.
If Nee Partha Vizhigal is another delightful melody sung to perfection by Vijay Yesudas and Shweta Mohan, the surprise of the OST arrives in the form of Po Nee Po. Sung by Mohit Chauhan, the pathos-soaked tune is just as heartfelt as it's soulful. Anirudh makes an assured debut with 3.
First published: Nov 30, 2011 (9:31 PM)