Why this kolaveri di?!

      My goodness! Such hype for such a simple song! What is there in that song to become so famous? I found nothing great about it the first time I heard the song. I heard it a second time due to the enormous number of posts in facebook but even then found nothing great about it. My aunt in UK heard it from a Bengali friend of hers and called me up to know what it was all about. But here are few reasons why I think it has become famous all over the world.

The tune: I must say the tune is rather catchy and stays in your head for a really long time, just like Chammak Challo. Although both songs have not so great and not so new tunes they do stay in your heads. The tune is simple enough to be sung by all. One doesn’t need to know singing to do that song justice. Where it for the great singers, I really doubt they would call it singing at all. Hence it is easily enjoyed by the non-singing community.

The language: The whole song is written in a Tamil dialect of English, Thanglish. This use of English words has made even those who don’t understand Tamil to easily grasp the words and sing along with it. No wonder it being played in Mtv, 9xm and many other Hindi music channels. It’s for the same reason that Chetan Baghat’s books also became famous – easy to understand and relate to.

The theme: The song is dedicated to ‘soup boys’ who are apparently those who failed in love. I wouldn’t really say that meaning is one of the main responsibility of the song becoming famous and all. ‘Cause if that was the case then ‘Oda Oda Oda’ song of the movie Mayakkam Enna is funnier. But I guess it was the medium of language through which its meaning was conveyed that really made the song go viral.

The phrase ‘Why this kolaveri?’: Is it really that catchy? I find the word kolaveri at least once in the comments for every post in facebook. WTF has now officially become WTK. I heard my north Indian classmate who doesn’t know Tamil say to his other friend ‘ho gaya na tera kolaveri’. Huh? That was like, completely out of context. I remember my friends and I using the Tamil version of it ‘yen intha kolaveri’ back in school as part of our daily language. I guess Dhanush was just lucky for that phrase being used everywhere.

      But is it really a good ‘song’? I don’t think so. It definitely is not a song that will be remembered over years. It’ll be forgotten when the next catchy thing comes around. Until then for those who don’t like it will just have to bear with its omnipresence. 


-Shreeji