A.R.Rahman's sloppy CWG Anthem
A.R.Rahman – The most heard name these days, especially after his Oscar win for Jai Ho. To be honest, I am a big fan of ARR, but I was not impressed with his Jai Ho. What is so special about this song to win an Oscar? He just got lucky…he won the Oscar. Did he win the Oscar for his country? He won the oscar for himself, for his talent.
I have seen in many articles and shows about his humbleness. But BYE BYE to humbleness and HI HI to 5 crores! I have seen ARR’s humbleness in early days. But it is not new that he charges an exorbitant sum for all of his music. He is trying to change himself to become a performer(like Shakira), than be himself. Right now he is touring the US with his Jai Ho concert! Trying to make dance moves, makes him look terrible.
I heard his CWG anthem recently in the official CWG website. In case you have not, you can hear it here: http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/?q=node/1660. Well is it good or bad! That is the first question which comes into mind. It is definitely not bad, but not good either! It is definitely not Indian music to me. I can picture myself hearing this maybe in an African jungle. It has just 1% Indian touch to it towards the end because of the use of the Dhol. Can this be compared to Shakira’s Waka Waka? Well, Shakira’s song was superb, keeping in mind the Worldcup was hosted by South Africa. It had an African touch to the song, and it is indeed enjoyable.
Now lets compare CWG Anthem to our Asiad song “Swagatham” composed by Pandit Ravi Shankarji. Here, we have a real pandit, with his song Swagatham, which has all Indian connections to his music as well as performance. By the way, Ravi Shankarji composed this song for his country. He did not take a penny for this composition. I am amazed that I can still remember the tune and hum a couple of lines along with the lyrics. Now thats what I call music! It touches your heart. It makes you feel you have Indian blood in you!
CWG song has a little bit of touch of ARR’s other oscar contender song Saiyaan. I am guessing he interchanged the Sa Re Ga Ma, POP this one came out! Here you go…my work worth 5 crores!!! Turned out to be a half burnt sandwich, you can still manage to eat it, but will always remember the bitter taste of the burnt part in your tongue for the rest of the day. Music Mastreo Illaiyaraja would have done an amazing job here! I happened to listen to one of his songs “Pichaipathiram” song from the movie Naan Kadavul. I loved the song, rendered by Madhu Balakrishnan. I do not know how far Endiran’s Robotic effects are going to last. Lets wait and watch.
The Indian Government could have spent the 5 crores in booking some 5 star hotels for the players. There are plenty of great/fantastic/superb musicians in India, who would have loved to compose a song for their country for free. Good luck for the CWG team, and I really hope they pull this one off, as India’s pride lies in this!