Sing to me. Fast!

The other day, while I was wondering about things that piss me off, something caught my eye. VK Malhotra, the leader of the opposition (Delhi Assembly), apparently did not like the theme song (or anthem) composed for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

Intrigued, I proceeded to download the song. And by the time the download completed, VK Malhotra was not alone. Apparently, a lot of people thought the song sucked and that AR Rahman was becoming too cocky for his own good and Rs. 5 Crore for a shitty song was too much money spent on a non-essential item. Obviously, toilet papers weren’t the only things that were bought for a bomb.

The first grouse is that the song sucked. Some of the common grise (plural of ‘grouse’; if Sarah Palin can do it, so can I). According to some comments I read on YouTube, it was way too slow. Someone even goes on to suggest that this song is ‘nothing’ compared to Waka Waka. Some more inane comments like this were propped up through ‘likes’ on YouTube (seriously, with the ‘likes’, et tu YouTube?).

I don’t know how to say this, but, I think the song is awesome. Yes, it starts off funny, but that’s Rahman’s magic. How he managed to turn that feeble start to a head-banging, foot-thumping finish still amazes me. And about it being slow, I’ve got two words for you – Vande Mataram. I find it hard to believe that Rahman was hired to do the song just because he won an Oscar. It’s more than just that. This guy reinvented our National Song. And although you don’t see people dancing to it at discotheques, I’m sure you’d have ‘liked’ it.

Then there’s this whole thing about the song being in Hindi. I guess this was meant to happen. There’s Jackass A, who whines about the song being in Hindi and, in turn, shoving ‘the imperialistic’ Hindi dick down our throats. This prompts Jackass B to suggest that the former Jackass better ‘respect’ the national language of his country and ‘take it sportingly’. Jackass A retorts stating that Hindi is not THE national language but is one of the official languages along with English and (gasp!) Tamil. Jackass B then calls Jackass A a Madrasi and tells him to go chomp on his oversized idlis and well, chomp off. This back-and-forth exchange continues with more racist taunts which is fuelled by Jackass C’s intervention with a link proving Jackass A was right in the first place. In the end, Jackass B calls everyone Maakhan-chor (my new euphemism for the word “Madarchod”) and moves on to the next forum to troll upon. In the midst of all this, the song is forgotten and I’m left to wonder if we should ban songs with any lyrics in this country.

Yes, I am not a fan of the lyrics. It’s not because it’s in Hindi. It’s because it can’t be understood by most of the participants (not that they care). This is where I think the song could have been like Waka Waka. Throw in a few Indian words, but have it mostly in English. Global appeal still counts in these things.

Beats to the Bleat.

Having said that, I am glad the song sounds nothing like Waka Waka. If the organisers wanted something like Waka Waka, all they needed was Shivamani and a goat.

Mission.

Accomplished.

Ooh, a Shakira joke now. Shakira doesn’t eat mutton. Apparently she doesn’t like cannibalism.

Moving on…

Did they really pay him 5 Crore INR for this song? Or should I wait for the CVC report on that one too? It seems to me that everyone got their ‘fair share’ of the Common Wealth that was floating around. Was Mr. Malhotra, in fact, jealous? Perfectly plausible, given the large scale corruption that has gone into the organisation of the Games, that someone somewhere is feeling left out.

Got to give props to the Organising Committee though. They’ve diverted our attention long enough for them to divert more money into their accounts.

Hey-oh, let’s go!

Amen.

Tagged: 2010, commonwealth, delhi, india, rahman, swagatham

Posted in: Idiots