Decoding the success of “Why this Kolavari Di”

                                                                                                              Image Courtesy:     http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2650957.ece

Recently released song “Why this kolaveri di”, which has gone viral on the internet, consists of some crucial factors, which make it a super-hit song quite naturally, like – extremely catchy composition, rhythm that sounds like Indian-pulse, and very simple yet highly creative lyrics. In addition, simplified English has succeeded in reaching to the masses like never before, while bridging the south and the north. Many people have written on such factors, but none has mentioned the factor that I feel is the crux of its success. After reading this article, it should not be a puzzle any more why this song of the upcoming Tamil-movie “3” received nearly 3million hits on its Youtube page in just one week. Here’s why:

People of India (and of the world) are biased, especially when it comes to “gender”. Large scale organizations are functioning to support women in every part of the country. Everyone has simply assumed that male is a dominant creature and the poor female needs to be empowered to secure her rights. As a result, we have laws that favour female, and we have created a society that severely discriminates against men. The feminists would argue that look at the number of crimes against women ranging from dowry, rape to home violence. The answer is simple – “Please don’t generalize”. There are unfortunate crimes and let’s make our country more secure place for everyone, but it is highly pitiful to feed into the public perception that the villain is always a man. Imagine what will happen to a young guy if he’s involved in an accident with a lady (of any age). Without a doubt, no one would give even one chance to the boy to tell his side of the story, and the people would beat him until some miracle happens and the guy finds a chance to abscond. This is a classic case of gender discrimination that boys face.

The biggest adversaries are the “good” guys. I would define a Good Guy (GG) as someone who always respects a woman and has no wishes to play games with her emotions. One, who does not qualify to be a GG, is a Bad Guy (BG). Because, the society and especially girls do not have any mechanism to identify GGs from the pool of BGs, GGs end up being (mis)treated as BGs. I have always been a GG (certified by my wife), hence I can safely write the following memo on behalf of all GGs to the “Beautiful Girl”, who either mercilessly dumps a GG or does not even bother having a GG in life.

“We, the good guys, very well understand the Bad Guys around, and why/what they are hunting for. But, we fail to understand why you give so much of importance to the BGs. We focus on studies and career only because we can provide shelter and security (physical, economical, social and so on) to you in future. Things are so unclear and uncertain. We don’t know what career we shall have, what will be our salary or how we’ll take care of family. And because we are GGs, we consider our parents and siblings (of both-sides, ours and yours) as part of our family, not just me, you and our children. In addition, we also care for the betterment of the state and country and the world we live in. Amidst all these daunting challenges of future responsibilities, we remain committed to you. You also know we won’t cheat on you. But, despite all of our truthfulness and candour, you end up having a relationship with a BG. You make us realize “love is not just blind, but it is highly foolish”. And “love becomes deaf” when you won’t listen to any of our warnings. We would silently walk out of your life wishing, truly, the very best for you”.

W

hy this Kolaveri Di is a song that brilliantly touches the gist of this feeling of millions of GGs, also called “soup boys”, who end up being dumped or remain being ignored and could never really figure out the why of "di's kolaveri”, which means girl's murderous rage. Actor, singer and lyricist of the song, Dhanush begins with, "Yo boys I am sing song... a soup song", the words that clearly support the analyses presented here. This song has given voice to those millions of GGs, who always remained respectful, committed and faithful yet received only kolavari, who otherwise were scattered around the corners of the world attempting to understand that “why” in isolation and loneliness. This song has not answered that “why”, but it has assured them that they are not alone; there are millions of them. GGs have finally found some resonance in the form of this song that there is nothing wrong with them. Perhaps it is the fate of that particular girl with the “black” heart, which makes her a BG (Bad Girl), one who does not respect man and wishes to play games with his emotions, and a better match with a Bad Guy.  A Good Guy on one the hand is discriminated for the ills done by the Bad Guys, and on the other hand looses the girl as she opts for a BG over him. This is indeed a tragedy. The last few lines of the song go like this:

"God-u I am dying now-u,

She is happy how-u?

This-u song-u for soup-boys-u,

We don't have choice-u...."

In the end, the background music in Shehnai* like tone, giving the hint of what could have happened otherwise, clearly underscores the acme of irony. Unfortunately, the masses are unlikely to understand this endemic pain of GGs and will find their heartbreak amusing. No wonder people call “why this kolaveri di” a funny song.        

You decide:

(Courtesy: Sony Music India SME. Video shot during the recording of the song with the music composer Anirudh,Dhanush,Shruti Hassan, Aishwarya and Sound Engineer Sivakumar)

I welcome your comments....

*Shehnai is often played in traditional Indian weddings (at least in movies)...

Smart readers must have identified serious logical flaws in the article. The fact is that this article is for an intellectual entertainment, and no logic is needed for liking a song. Have fun and enjoy the music... Cheers :D

For meaning of Why This Kolaveri Di? Song Lyrics: http://buffernews.com/6585/meaning-kolaveri-di-song-lyrics