“Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri di”.. this song need no introduction. “Damn, it’s so cool”, “the song is awesome”, “its so funny”, “It’s a rage” etc. etc., pick your line.
The rage this song created and its unprecedented circulation on facebook/ blogs/ twitter forced me to listen to this song. Though you might be humming this song all the while and searching for the meaning of words mentioned in it, did you bother to think that why this song is such a big hit?
Apart from the fact it’s funny, catchy etc. etc., the song has been sung in a very casual way. Apparently there was no written lyrics for this song and the singer went on with the flow of music.
Why am I blabbering all this?
Take a moment and think what is likable about the song. The appeal of it is not just in the sound, or the singing. Apart from the catchy, simple tune and casual lyrics, what catches our fancy is that the beaming singer in the video is being himself. He is taking a regional tick, the kind of English speaking that many people will mock and scoff at, and making it his own. He is cool being the crass, hardly-manages-to-speak-some-English-words guy, singing of his rage at being ditched and his broken heart, with an endearing panache, and being totally comfortable with what he is doing. There is no pretension, no acting, no cleverness – but an infectious grin on his face.
There is nothing that comes across as artificial in the video – no effort to make it look professional or cool. The coolness is in the informality and spontaneity of it all. Do you think it would have been as good a video if the friends were not in there, having fun and talking while the singer sang and constantly beamed and signaled at them?
The song break free of all inhibitions (a normal lyricist would die before writing something like cow-u cow-u holy cow-u) and free itself from the clutch of the formal style of music.
Why am I still blabbering?
Isn’t Kolaveri such a big hit because we are tired of all the made-up, artificial, professional and clever stuff? The moment someone gave us the opposite, a good catchy tune presented in a way that is antitheses of traditional music producing wisdom, the whole nation went crazy about it. Good doesn’t have to be classy, costly, difficult, extraordinary skillful or even professional. The goodness doesn’t come from any of that impressive stuff.
Maybe we need to stop for a moment here and think of the advantages of spontaneous, careless fun – and some of us may be able to incorporate that spirit in our work. Drop the pretension and professionalism, and enjoy our work more, and make sure the people working with us can be spontaneous too. Good, but not pretension. Efficient, and cool – but not formal – that could be the new mantra. If everyone is busy doing just the opposite, being the formal, professional epitome of tradition and class, it will be even more rewarding to break the trend. As long as we know what we are doing and are comfortable with setting our own standards, and creating our own subcultures. Kolaveri is all about that out-of-the-box new subculture.
Why is it that everyone in legal profession everyone sound impressive and intelligent (and boring) and rarely interesting? Some people can follow that culture, but is there someone who can make the Kolaveri of the legal world?
