You know what this post is about. This is the next wave of "news" after the Chennai floods, for whatever it is worth. We're concerned because our culture as well as feminism is questioned. There's an underlying smirk fed by ridiculing another celebrity controversy for some of us. But that's a secret personal goody.
Yeah, the "beep" song. The upfront swear words in the song's lyrics did shock me the first time I heard it (They put that in a film song?), but I don't particularly care about them. There's the censor board, and then there's our judicial system, to make a decision on that. I don't care whether it is intentionally released or just leaked without the knowledge of the "artists" involved. I don't care about the personal lives of Simbu and Anirudh as well.
My concern is also not whether it is a sexist song. There are feminists (and more pseudo-feminists too) to look into that. I went through a blog post very much concerned about the song's attitude towards feminism (in Tamil; Caution: Intense profanity ahead) just yesterday in which the author Kotravai felt free to abuse the women in Simbu and Anirudh's family. A perfect revenge, isn't it? But hey, the song did it first. Besides, sexism is almost everywhere else, too, that it's hard for me to get suddenly angry when a film song comes up with abusive lyrics.
My concern is perhaps a lowly, selfish and a personal one. As no more than a fan of Kollywood music, I am here to whine about the "songs" in Tamil films that are getting tackier and tackier every day. My rant is about the composers, song writers and, yes, directors who keep betraying my longing to listen to soulful songs in favor of the so-called "mass appeal" and whatever is along those lines.
I'm one of those who grew up listening to good film music, so much that those songs became a part of who we are. I nostalgically look back at the time when not a day went by without listening to, talking about, and thinking about all the songs and their interludes while going about my everyday stuff. The time when I used to impatiently wait for the release of the next big album in line. Music was actually musical.
The songs I keep hearing now, well, they are as musical as their beats and "tempo" - I guess that's the closest way of putting it. The "tunes" are so much simplified that literally anyone - actor, director, sidekick, light boy, chaiwala at the set - could sing that for the release-version. Professional singers are not a necessity today. "Indha padathula avaru oru paatu paadirukaru" is a marketable goody now. Screw the soul.
As for the lyrics, to keep this ranting relatable to contemporary audience, I'll quote some of the new-ish songs. I'll also keep it short, so it stays somewhat bearable.
You could listen to lines such as, "வலிமிகு இடங்கள் வலிமிகா இடங்கள் தமிழுக்குத் தெரிகின்றதே..! வலி மிகு வலி மிகா இடங்கள் தங்களுக்குத் தெரிகின்றதா..?" and smile to yourself at the word play.
You could also listen to the likes of, "நாம மாண்டே போனாலும் தூக்கித் தீ வைக்க ஒறவு வேணும் மச்சான்" and admire the meaning and beauty in the folk song.
I don't have a problem, even, if some people somewhere churn out "dash" songs for whatever reason, so long as I have a good number of songs I could go back to. The problem for me as a Kollywood music listener is that almost all the songs now are run-off-the-mill "dash" songs (not pointing out the word here, actually). Good songs are almost needles in a haystack, so shit is practically omnipresent.
I blame the likes of Simbu and Anirudh when they make such songs, because they established themselves where legends once served us, the common audience, with Masterpieces. From there, these "creators" are serving us with what they think we will like - taking their customers for granted, if you will.
I do pay about 120 rupees for every movie I watch, but I know better enough to understand that my ticket money is a distant hook in the food chain. The "artists" don't have to care where their revenue originates from, as long as they get that next project.
I don't care if Anirudh has even composed enough songs to play in a Toronto concert, or if Simbu's Tamil vocabulary is any good to write about a page-long essay about anything that is not about love. But if you're getting paid for being a film composer or a song writer, you do your fucking job - and do some justice to it.
Anirudh did compose some good numbers along the way, and Simbu has done some great films too (Sorry, I couldn't come up with a single great lyric of his.). But a few pieces of gold are not an excuse for a boatload of trash. I like "Why this kolaveri" in the light spirit such songs are enjoyed with. But a "beep" song or a "Royapuram Peteru" just don't cut it. And these two people are not the only ones churning out trash here. That makes it even worse.
A work of art can be flawed, wrong, or even incompetent. But it can never be insincere. That's betrayal - whether you consider what you do as an art or a business.
As for me, I'm a metaphorical equivalent to a food-a-holic who is suddenly deprived of anything that tastes good. Memories of all the food that I have eaten are the only things I'm allowed to cherish. Not listening to new songs is a constant regret, except that there is no "song" left in the new ones.
It's a shame that I have to write such a negative post after so long, given my too-infrequent blogging habit. But frustration is such a strong emotion that it demands venting. :D
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