Why only Kolaveri Kolaveri Di?

Le mama,  "Kolaveri Kolaveri di" super mama. Sounds weird, but has turned out to be a popular hangout usage among many people. Kolaveri, meaning murderous rage, is now popular in many parts of the country, thanks to the peppy song 'Why this kolaveri di?' from upcoming Tamil flick '3'. (Kolaveri Kolaveri ).

The song is written and sung by Dhanush, Son-in-law of superstar Rajanikanth. The song after all is a collection of colloquial words and slang rendered in a rhythm to a beat which is kind of striking chord with the masses. 

If popular literature is all about arranging unconnected colloquial words and slang in a weird sequence so that the masses catch a single word to hum around, then kannada songs of recent times scores much over Kolaveri Kolaveri. 

Bizzare lyrics, sometimes even vulgar lyrics are quite common in Kannada cinema these days. Like kolaveri, we have numerous songs which have virtually (or literally) zero literary value. They are just a few lines of local slang. 

Though not in the same context, close competition to Kloaveri in kannada is  "Chambeshwara" (""ಚಂಬೇಶ್ವರ") written by Yograj Bhat and sung by Punith Rajkumar (Son of legendary actor and singer Padhmabhushana Dr Rajkumar). The song makes no sense and has no essence of literature. It is just a song inserted in the stupid movie for the heck of it. The song has no message and is just a sequence of colloquial words arranged for a beat. But the song was a phenomenon hit. I watched the movie on the day of release in a packed multiplex hall. The crowd whistled to glory once this song started (The movie was so stupid that all the over enthusiastic crowd regretted their whistle) 

Typical example of bizzare and awful lyrics is the song "Amma loose a? " from the kannada movie Dhool (Listen to it here). I do not know the lyricist but whoever he is,  is a causality  with  creativity.  The words are idiotic, sentences are unconnected and there is absolutely no sense in the song. But this was the most popular song in this year's Street Ganesha festival (ಬೀದಿ ಗಣೇಶ. Local artists made merry with this song at all roadside orchestra during this year's Ganesha festival). 

I will be doing unpardonable injustice to Kannada literature if i miss out "Soap hakolo, mi ujkolo" from the movie Junglee. The bizzare lyrics is just a testimony to the fact that popular literature has stooped to such a low level in the state/language which has got eight jnanapeeta awards. 

The list can go on like "Thaglakonde " and "kuri kolina" (ತಗ್ಲಾಕೊಂಡೆ , ಕುರಿ ಕೋಳಿನ) from Shivrajkumar's Jogaiah. Both songs are awful. 


Most kannada songs these days have very low or no literary value. They are seldom completely Kannada. They will either be Hindi or English mix.  Most songs will be a set of awful words rendered to a popular beat. 


It is disheartening that kannada film songs which were at one time, not so long ago, were composed by likes of Hamsalekha, Jayanth kaikini, Monomurthy and host of other literary geniuses is losing its value and charm. Who can forget Hamsalekha's "Devaru hoseda premada Kanava " from the movie muttinahara (ಮುತ್ತಿನಹಾರ).  prema loka, Nanjundi Kalyana, Amruthavarhini, Mungaru male etc are landmark films in the context of kannada film songs. Kannada film industry was the only regional cinema industry which could easily adopt compositions of Popular saints like Purandara dasa and Kanaka dasa into popular cinema. They are perhaps the only industry which could easily adopt poetry from the stalwarts of kannada literature into popular cinema. Goplakrishna Adiga's "yava mohana murali kareyitu" from the movie "America America", Adiga's "Aluva kadalolu theli baruthide nageya haayi dhoni" (ಅಳುವ ಕಡಲೊಳು ತೇಲಿ ಬರುತಿದೆ ನಗೆಯ ಹಾಯಿ ದೋಣಿ) from the movie matadaana and a host of kuvempu songs serve as examples.  Over the course of time , somewhere somehow kannada film industry lost the creativity in song compositions and also started giving up the practice of adoption from popular poetry. 


Anyway back to Kolaveri, i think Kannada camp is not behind in making this kind of compositions. The examples at the start of this essay are tough compositions to the genius of Superstar Rajani's Son-in-law. 


Kannada films and Kannada film songs do not reach the Indian audience. For historical reasons and for a much much better position of Tamil music and Tamil cinema vis-a-vis kannada cinema in the Pan India context, the diffusion and acceptance of Tamil music is faster and deeper. Also the Tamil music and Film cater to a far wider diaspora (Malaysia, Singapore and other eastern countries). Whereas Kannada cinema does not enjoy such a diaspora. But i am sure that the genius of "Chambeshwara" and "Soap hakolo" can one day overtake Kolaveri !!!. 

[PS: This article was published in the the weekendleader (www.theweekendleader.com). It drew considerable flak from both Kannada and Tamil cinema fans both claiming that they can make worse lyrics.]