CWG song not good enough
In the making for six months and at the cost of Rs 5 crore, AR Rahman’s theme
track for CWG gets a thumbs down from organisers and fans alike
Chandrima Pal
Posted On Wednesday, September 01, 2010 at 03:57:15 AM
His romance with the West may be peaking, but AR Rahman’s Indian run seems to
have run into a bit of rough weather. His theme track for the Commonwealth
Games
(CWG) has not gone down well with both fans and politicians.
While the song’s online popularity is nowhere near that of Shakira’s Waka Waka,
which he had famously claimed his tune would surpass, politicians and CWG
officials now want the Rs 5 crore-track “recomposed”.
Swagatham aka Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto is a mid-tempo song sung by Rahman with
distortion guitars, bhangra beats, very 70’s style sitar riffs and a bit of
English rap thrown in.
However, the composition, which critics say has neither the pace nor the punch
of Waka Waka, or the rousing quality of Maa Tujhe Salaam, has disappointed.
Ever since he posted links to the tracks on his social networking pages, Rahman
has been flooded with unsavoury comments. “We expected something better,” is
the
general refrain while others have been kind enough to say, “It will grow on
you.”
Though experts say with more promotional activities the track it is likely to
pick up, the CWG committee is unhappy with the result. Soon after the launch of
the track on August 28, Vijaykumar Malhotra, board member of CWG organising
committee (OC) claimed, “We had expected a better song from a composer of
Rahman’s status. He has given some very good songs like Maa Tujhe Salaam but
this song is not that impressive.”
Former sports minister Shahnawaz Hussain said, “I respect Rahman for what he
has
achieved but the track simply does not excite me.
No one in the OC likes it except perhaps Suresh Kalmadi. It is nowhere close to
Waka Waka and has failed to lift the sagging spirits of the CWG.”
Hussain said he was provoked to demand a re-composition of the theme track only
because Lalit Bhanot, organising secretary of the CWG kept insisting that
people
would begin liking Swagatham if they keep listening to it. “Either it is good
music or bad. There is no middle way to evaluate the appeal of a Rs 5 crore
track, he can surely re-compose it,” said the Bhagalpur MP.
At the same Delhi’s political circuit is buzzing with questions over why Rahman
was given the sole responsibility to compose the theme track. “Not all Rahman
scores become a hit, do they?” say sources requesting anonymity.
Incidentally, the launch of the theme song was delayed as the OC had asked
Rahman to make changes. “I think it won’t be good to release the theme song
without making the necessary changes,” Rahman had earlier said.
Veteran jazz musician Louis Banks who has composed several theme tracks for
popular shows and events, says, “Rahman’s work has always been controversial.
But if you are truly inspired, it takes ten minutes to compose a tune. Given
that it took him six months to compose it, I guess something must have gone
wrong somewhere!”
Despite several attempts Rahman remained unavailable for comment.
— With inputs from Lakshmi Iyer
