Oru Devathai - A Review

It starts with a usual chorus with a bunch of girls singing the much clichéd tune. Well, nothing different in that now, is there? When you almost come to the conclusion that there is nothing new in that song, comes the violin background, followed by a simple tabla beat and then it goes Oru Devathai...

The first thing that caught my attention was his singing. Roop Kumar Rathod has done justice to the song. Although, he is from Bollywood, he has given the right stresses at the right places. When he sings ‘Oh’ and goes with it, that is all you need, you’ll get addicted to it. When you listen to him sing ‘nerathil’ in the second stanza all you’ll want do is to listen to him for the rest of your lives. The high notes that he reaches are just flawless. Especially when he is about to finish it off, that was the icing it needed. He has given his soul to the song.

Muthukumar has penned great lyrics for the tune. ‘Kaalgal irandum tharaiyil irunthum vaanil parakiren’ - Even though my two feet were on the ground, I was flying in the sky. I mean, to put something like that in words, it was just B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. ‘Vazhigal therinthum tholainthu pogiren’ – Despite knowing the way, I kept getting lost. Paarkathey endraalum kekathey – I kept telling myself not to look at her but my heart wouldn’t listen. Marana nerathil un madiyin orathil idamum kidaithal iranthum vazhuven – If I get a place on your lap when I am about I would die and live that way. May be it doesn’t sound all that great in English but then anyone with even a little knowledge of Tamil would understand the depth in that sentence. It’s all simple, yet the meaning and the feel that is conveyed is just magnificent.

It is indeed one of Yuvan’s masterpieces. The tabla throughout the song with a little of paino makes it very soothing to listen. Of course, the violin refrain leaves you humming that tune the rest of the day much to the annoyance of your classmates. You might think that the tune is not all that interesting but that is what makes it great. That lyrics needed a simple music and Yuvan gave that.

Bottom line, it’s an amazing song!

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