A song in 'Tinglish' takes industry by storm

Nov 23, 2011 PGV

Aishwarya, who is directing the film' 3' with her husband Dhanush and Shruti Haasan playing the lead roles, is overjoyed by the thunderous response the song 'Why this kolaveri di' (why this killer rage?) is receiving. Even 21-year-old debutant music director of '3' Anirudh Aravichandran is taken by surprise.

The 'Tinglish' song with quirky, improvised lyrics was first leaked and then formally released just four days ago. It has already got 1.5 million hits on the official page and shared on social networks by hundreds. National English news channels showed a clipping of Dhanush singing the sing at a studio in Chennai on Tuesday (Nov.22). Radio stations also picked it up quickly.

The quirky song has not only found fans around the country, but also triggered a debate on whether the song is anti-women or anti-English speakers.

'It's not meant to be anti-anything,' Director Anirudh is quoted in a report as saying.'The situation demanded a lighthearted fun song with a tune in ten minutes. I don't know what kind of mood Dhanush was in…. he started singing in broken English and came out with this in 20 minutes. It just happened,' Anirudh explained.

He feels the popularity of the song may be due to the catchiness of the phrase, the simple folk-tune and the broken English lines sung with a thick local flavour.

Dhanush tweeted to clarify: 'Soup song na (mens) love failure song…. Doubt clear naa? Kolaveri is light-hearted slang for blood thirst. So it is no surprise that the song of a jilted boy asking the girl why she did that to him has become an 'anthem'.

A film analyst writes: 'Sung by a love sick youth in an inebriated condition, the lyric is apparently absurd, but the pathos is clear. The mocking humour is enjoyable, the beat is catchy and sounds are refreshingly appealing. It is feet tapping, and brings in a smile. It is a Chennai chutney _ sweet and salt.'

Lyricist Karky is, however, contends that this trend is not new to the industry. Every five year there is an upswing trend in lyrics. 'The current trend in lyrics is the colloquial and conversational kind of songs with some English words. The beautiful Tamil language has 2,50,000 words, which still have not been used in songs.

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