Ok there are many points to look upon here and also many which can actually be ignored. First of all this whole story of pointing fingers at one of India’s greatest musicians began with respected people from the Indian Music Industry, Bollywood and others raising their voices in public, criticizing A. R. Rahman’s Commonwealth Games Theme song. Not only them, even the “wise” politicians and many fans too!
Now here are my main points about this issue:
- Anyone can criticize. But these famous faces from the music industry shouldn’t have come out in public to say these things, after all the mess CWG has been in already. After all it’s the song for the people to enjoy, and not for a music competition. By making statements like this in public, forces the common man to re-think on what he’s listening… unnecessarily.
- Many say that Rahman has been over confident and that’s what led to this not-so-great song. Well, whoever said that are losers! Just like how Bishen Singh Bedi questioned Muralitharan’s talent, in the same way these “judgy” musicians should take a hike! Commenting in public against Rahman won’t win them an Oscar! You can give your valid criticism about the technicalities or texture of the music… that’s fine. But please don’t just say things like over-confident, show-off and all that… Cmon!! What u think Rahman composed this song for time-pass?
- So what should we do about it? Nothing!!! A song is made, we can hear, lets enjoy it! We need not worry about who said what. We can judge for ourselves. What about the `5 Crores spent just for this one song? Cmon! This is CWG… so much money is already being wasted for other things… let Rahman take the rest at least! Lol.
Let’s take a peek into the “music” of the song:
- Everyone did this as soon as they heard the song… and that is compare it with Shakira’s Waka Waka and Knaan’s Waving Flag. Fine… comparison is natural. The only difference I found among these two songs and the CWG theme is that, CWG Theme is not catchy! Almost the entire song of Waka Waka is catchy. So is the “and then it goes back” of Waving Flag. There’s nothing like that here. It should’ve had something like the Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo of the Kolkata Knight Riders Theme.
- I don’t like the lyrics so much either. Things like “Play o jiyo heyo let’s go” are umm… not… so… nice…. Now the
song is called Swagatham but there isn’t a mention of that word literally in the song. So… I dunno…?! - The song for me, is very slow for a Sports Anthem. It starts out slow and nice… but then it still remains slow and suddenly goes to a rock version with electric guitar and all! I love the last part, the Bhangra beat… just love it. I just wish the entire song had things like that. Dandiya, Marathi beats will not only pull us, but even the non-Indians as well.
- Many say that this is not very ‘Indian’. I don’t think Waving Flag or Waka Waka were completely African??! They had some pure African parts and so does the CWG Theme with an Indian touch of course! The theme must be International… that it is…
- The song is perfect for a music video. If the song was released for the first time in a video, like Waka Waka people would’ve liked it more. Don’t you agree?
So what’s my verdict? Hmmm… I don’t like the song so much actually… except the last Bhangra part. I was expecting something better, given the amazing work Rahman showed in the recently released Raavan. To tell you the truth, I hum the tune all the time now… I think even though it’s not so catchy, it will somehow catch us with time. Just missing a real good music video for this one and the feel of CWG was already saddening with all the controversy. All in all, it’s a nice song, not his best works (Jai Ho wasn’t either)… but nice.
P.S.: Waka Waka is not the original song. It’s the new adaptation of the original Cameroonian Zangalewa. Interesting to see how Cameroon and Columbia have got the world dancing to Waka Waka.
What are your views on the CWG Theme?
If you've liked this post, click here for free updates.
