Rahman's CWG anthem gets thumbs down

Enough has been said about the Common Wealth Games this year to be held in Delhi. Right from corruption to shady jobs and sportsmen backing out, many hurdles have come in the organising of the whole show. However, one thing that everyone was positively looking forward was the motivational and energetic Common Wealth Theme song to be composed by the revered A R Rahman.

The conference where the song was to be launched, well, didn't have the song but the details about it. The reason was that back then the CWG committee wanted the song to be tweaked and releasing it without the necessary changes would've been foolhardy. Despite all this, everyone was expecting a highly inspiring anthem from Rahman, given his current status in world music.

However, after the song came out on the internet, the response was far from encouraging. Rahman fans weren't just disappointed, they were actually shocked. The comments ranged from "this song got no vibe…I mean you should be getting Goosebumps for some event like this. It was supposed to be more like an epic song" to "CWG Organizing Committee should be made to listen to this song 10,000 times as a punishment."

Some supporters feel that the song will grow on people and with enough marketing people will like it, while some others feel that the lyrics lack the punch, still others from the music industry are of the opinion that with a wide range of Indian instruments that Rahman could've used, his song lacks Indian-ness and the sporting spirit of this event.

The theme song hasn't gone down well with the CWG committee as well who feel that the song is nowhere worth the price (Rs. 5 crore) demanded by the music composer. They are insisting for the track to be recomposed, while others on board can't understand why Rahman was given the sole responsibility for the composition and that too for six months.

Though Rahman's die hard fans stand by him and insist that listening to this song over and over again would help and some others demand for a whole new song, one really wonders if any damage control can be done when we're so close to the Common Wealth Games.