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Why This Kolaveri Di

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"Why This Kolaveri Di"
Song

Why This Kolaveri Di (Tamil: வொய் திஸ் கொலவெறி டி, Voy Tis Kolaveṟi Ṭi; Template:Lang-en) is a Indian song from the soundtrack of the upcoming Tamil language film 3, which is due to be released in 2012. Written and sung by actor Dhanush, the song was composed by music director Anirudh Ravichander.

A downtempo dance gaana-ballad song, "Why This Kolaveri Di" has been described as "genre bending" by critics, built around an ancient South Indian folk rhythm. Its instrumentation consists of nadaswaram, shehnai, saxophone, urumee and thavil drums, acoustic guitar and keyboards mixed with electronic synths and scratches. The vocals utilize the singing style of Tamil folk culture. Lyrically, the song revolves around the film's main protagonist being dumped by his girlfriend; the song is sung by the character in a drunken state, with many of the lines nonsensical.

The song was officially released on 16 November 2011, and it instantly became viral on social networking sites for its quirky "Tanglish" (portmanteau word of Tamil and English) lyrics. Soon, the song became the most searched YouTube video in India and an internet phenomenon across Asia. Within a few weeks, YouTube honoured the video with a Recently Most Popular Gold Medal Award for receiving a large number of hits in a short time.

Creation

According to 21-year-old composer Anirudh Ravichander, director Aishwarya Rajinikanth Dhanush (actor Dhanush's wife & daughter of actor Rajinikanth ) wanted a "light-hearted" song about failed love. Ravichander quickly composed the tune in just about 5 minutes. Dhanush then began work on the lyrics, which he completed in about 20 minutes of playful singing and writing. The first line he sung was, "Why This Kolaveri?" which means "Why do you have this murderous rage against me?" The question, however, is not intended seriously.

In an party to The Times of India, Dhanush said "When I was writing down the lyrics, I kept in mind all the English words that are used in the Tamil vocabulary. Words like I, you, me, how, why, cow.. I just framed them into sentences and thats how I came up with the song." Dhanush sang the song in broken English, as a Tamil person might if his knowledge of English was limited. The song is also called a 'Soup' song, where 'Soup' is a colloquial Tamil word which refers to young men experiencing failure in their romantic relationships.

The song was recorded at A. R. Rahman's AM Studios in Chennai. After an early version of the song was leaked to the internet, is creators noticed its popularity and decided to go for an official release.

Composition

Why This Kolaveri Di (Leaked version) feat.Dhanush "Why This Kolaveri Di" (leaked version), featuring Dhanush
Problems playing this file? See media help.

A midtempo dance song, "Why This Kolaveri Di" has been described as "genre bending" by critics. Composer Ravichander built the composition around an ancient south Indian folk rhythm using ancient folk instruments. He used the nadaswaram, shehnai, saxophone and other instruments such as the urumee and thavil drums, acoustic guitar, keyboards mixed with electronic synths and scratches. The vocals utilize the singing style of Tamil folk culture. The composer wanted the song's instrumentation to become more layered as the song progressed, ending in a crescendo.

The words of the song are in a simple form of Tanglish, a mixture of Tamil and English. The singer is presented as an Indian boy whose girlfriend has rejected him. He is drunk as he sings, asking why she hurt him this way. The words have been described as "nonsensical" by some and an evocation of "Tamil street humour". Dhanush has said that the simple colloquial words used help make the song something that "people can relate to."

Music video

The music video features the actor-playback singer Dhanush singing the song at AM studios, accompanied by composer Anirudh on a keyboard. His co-star Shruthi Haasan and 3's director, Aishwarya Rajinikanth are seen listening in the background.

Release and reception

Upon release, the hashtag #kolaveri topped the Indian trends in Twitter on the evening of 21 November 2011. Within a week of the official release of the video, it received more than 1.3 million views on YouTube, more than 1 million shares on Facebook, while trending in India on Twitter the whole time. The song is also a hit among non-Tamils, apparently due to the Tanglish lyrics. By 30 November 2011 it had more than 10,500,000 YouTube views.. By the start of 2012, it had crossed 30 million Youtube views.

The song became the top downloaded song on mobile with 2,10,000 downloads within the first 18 days of release. On 24 November 2011, this song became the first Tamil film song to premier on MTV India. The song had achieved 38 million hits on YouTube as of 21 January 2012. The song and versions of it account for almost 40 million of YouTube's total views.

Imitations and parodies of this song have been created, including versions in different Indian languages, a female version, and versions about current events at that time, such as the Sharad Pawar slapping incident. Its rapid spread to nightclubs and discos in Tokyo, Japan were reported soon after release, and a viral video of Japanese women dancing to it spread soon afterwards. Police officers in India used versions of the song and its title to combat road rage and encourage bike riders to wear helmets. The popularity of the song was also reported by international media like BBC and Time magazine, who attributed its major crossover world appeal to its universal theme, catchy tune and unique lyrics. Top business schools like Indian Institutes of Management conducted studies to figure out the popularity of this song. The song has inspired flashmobs in Chennai, Mumbai and Auckland, New Zealand.

The song was performed live by Dhanush in his first-ever live performance at the BIG Star Entertainment Awards 2011.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Dhanush, for the dinner party along with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, in his New Delhi residence, India.. The political parties Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress plan to use variants of the song in their campaigns for 2012 assembly elections. .

The song was named the Best Song of 2011 by CNN.

References

  1. "'Soup is a colloquial Tamil word used for guys who go through failure in love'". 28 November 2011. Rediff.com. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  2. Marur, Deeksha (21 November 2011). "Kolaveri Di goes viral". Times of India. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  3. "Kolaveri is the most searched video". Times of India. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  4. "Danush's '3 - Why this kolaveri di' a smashing hit — Video". KollyInsider. 19 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  5. ^ Ramadurai, Charukesi (24 November 2011). "Tamil 'nonsense' film song goes viral in India". BBC. Retrieved 10 December 2011. Cite error: The named reference "BBCnonsense" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Here's how the Kolaveri Di song happened!". Rediff.com. 28 November 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  7. "Kolaveri bags YouTube Gold Award", Shows Bollywood website, 7 December 2011
  8. "Kolaveri bags YouTube Gold Award". 7 December 2011. Sify. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  9. ^ Kamath, Sudhish (23 November 2011). "Why this 'Why this Kolaveri'?". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 November 3511. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. "Dhanush: Never expected 'Kolaveri di' to become such a rage". The Times of India. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  11. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (11 November 2011). "'3' songs leaked!". Times of India. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Kolaveri Di: Tamil actor Dhanush's studio rendering of bathroom crooning becomes a global rage". The Economic Times. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  13. "Why this Kolaveri Di?". Sify. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  14. ^ "Kolaveri di song goes viral on Net". The Times of India. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  15. "The Kolaveri Di phenomenon". The Times of India. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  16. Indo-Asian News Service (30 November 2011), "Kolaveri Di crosses 10-million mark", Hindustan Times
  17. Kolaveri Di crosses 30-million mark, 1 January 2012
  18. ^ Singh, Renu (Dec 10, 2011). "B-schools hit by the Dhanush's Kolaveri di attack". Times of India. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  19. Kolaveri becomes youth anthem, NDTV, 25 November 2011, retrieved 28 November 2011
  20. Vadlamani, Sriram (December 05, 2011). "India's viral video hit Kolaveri Di refuses to fade". AsianCorrespondent.com. Retrieved December 11, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ ""'Kolaveri' - 2011's top song" says CNN (US) ! - Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  22. "Top 10 Versions of 'Kolaveri Di' Song". Times of India. Dec 9, 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  23. Deepa Kurup, Why this ‘kolaveri di' is India's coming of age, The Hindu, 4 December 2011
  24. "I'm trying to forget the Kolaveri Di craze: Actor-singer Dhanush — Entertainment — DNA". Daily News and Analysis. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  25. Jackson, Joe (November 30, 2011). "Nonsensical, Semi-English Music Video Goes Viral in India". Time. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  26. "Stars at Big Star Entertainment Awards". The Times of India. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  27. "Dhanush invited by the Indian Prime Minister for the dinner". Behindwoods.com. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  28. TNN, Renu Singh (18 January 2012). "Congress to adopt Kolaveri Di as campaign theme". Times of India. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  29. "Goa polls: BJP uses 'Kolaveri Di' for campaign". India Today. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  30. BJP's campaign jingle to use 'Kolaveri Di' tunes, Economic Times, 25 January 2012
  31. "Top Song of 2011". CNN. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2011.

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