Why this 'Kolaveri di'? Because it’s simple and clean fun

Few regional songs can boast of what Why this Kolaveri di has achieved - being the top grosser on every online music site. The official numbers are that it has already crossed over 2.3 million hits and still counting.

In this era of viral marketing where an idea or product spreads like a virus by word of mouth on the social networking sites, Kolaveri di just beat all the viral marketing concepts; it is close to spreading an epidemic online.

When you listen to the song on Youtube or on mp3skull, one cannot miss the minimalistic and stark approach of the singer and composer. It justifies the reports that say that the lyrics were written on a spur of the moment and the music was composed in 25 minutes flat.

The lyrics are ridiculously funny and the music is a monotone. Yet, it is a rage.

Indian kids across the world are latching onto it. 

Given that, India is a young country with 35% of the population less than 28 years of age, anything that caters to the young tastes, is bound to go viral. 

Statistics of whether 25% or 35% of the population is young can be debatable, but what is no longer debatable, is the fact that the likes and dislikes of the youth cannot be ignored. Every kid below the age of 20 has an opinion about Kolevari di, every minute there is an opinion being generated and circulated on the Facebook status bar about this song.

And it has only been a week since the song has been released. The attention the song has received on the social media is solely responsible for it being such a humungous hit. It is already being called the Youth Anthem.

This just released song is yet to feature in a film to be directed by Aishwarya, Rajnikant's daughter. And it is sung by her husband Dhanush.

As the son-in-law of Rajnikant, Dhanush is certainly on the right side of the viral marketing strategies. Not very long ago the entire nation was swept by the jokes circulating on Rajnikant, straight after the release of Robot. That was some viral marketing.

Why this Kolaveri di apparently means 'why so much rage, so much anger towards me, girl'. The rest of lyrics are fairly disjointed. "This song is for the soup boys, we don't have a choice" or "moon colour is white, night colour is black".

All told it is a simple, peppy and very hummable song. Since it is so repetitive, it is easy for everybody to sing along; maybe that is part of its charm. It is certainly worth a listen, if for nothing else, then to understand what appeals to teens. Google is full of information on Kolaveri di and Twitter is full of thumbs ups for the song. One of the sites worth visiting is the one that has the complete English translation of the song.

Simple, no frills, no fuss and clean fun. Maybe this is what today's teens are looking for. Maybe that is why Kolaveri di is so appealing. Or maybe Rajnikant rules, after all.
manjulapooja.shroff@calorx.org

The writer is  an entrepreneur and educationist