Understanding Kolaveri Di

Whenever the beats of the so called "Kolaveri Di" fall in my ears, the only question comes to my mind is that why is it such a huge hit? I mean seriously, the song does not have any lyrics or any comprehensible tune, which I as a purist when it comes to music, am able to relate to. It does not even have a semi nude dance by an 'item girl' nor does it have any star value. Still, subverting and henceforth surpassing all the cliched must-haves, the song is an instant hit, and has already broken so many records as far as revenue-generation-via-songs-marketing history is concerned. Come on! it does not even qualify to be called a song! It's more of a farfetched attempt of mixing some syllables from 2-3 different languages and conglomerating them with some nonsensically disheveled beats! Still it is rampantly obliterating all the musical records. In 2 months, it has garnered more than 36 million hits on YouTube along with extensive downloads of the songs in audio format. Along with that, all the parties and club numbers are pumping up varied versions of the songs and crowd is going mad at each and every different versions!

Personally, as I am biased to the kind of music I like, it's a pathetically stupid attempt. I wonder what Sonu Nigam or A.R Rehman would have opined after they would have heard it playing around them. However as a budding marketeer, I am bound to think beyond my personal biases and analyse the market brandishes being created by different variables, latest in picture to be the 'Kolaveri Di'.

So yes the song is creating waves. Some say, that they love the song for it is stupid. Others think that they like the song for it's catchy beats and unstructured lyrics. However, there are many others who like it "just aise hi!"!They don't know why but still they 'enjoy' it! Strange is not it!! It probably was being shared by everyone on their facebook wall. Since everyone else was sharing, it forced them too to share it (the mirror neurons effect! or in my terms "the aping effect"). And since everyone else was enjoying it, they too developed a hypothetical admiration for the song (you know, to blend in the social groups). However the hypothetical admiration soon subverted their rationality, as it does almost always in Indian Consumers context, they forgot that the admiration was hypothetical and since then they started 'enjoying' the song! And why I am so sure that it happened like this? Well ask your own selves...Is the so called 'song' actually a song to be admired and promoted! if yes then why do we encourage young people to come and participate in music talent hunts considering that songs like these become popular and earn money..and not the Sonu Nigam's songs that after sometime are lost in the oblivion and at max are able to occupy a mere 5 Mb space on our ipod's playlist.

Ultimately it proves that anything and anything can be popularised today, if marketed ingeniously. Viral marketing is definitely a boon for marketing, especially for online marketers who know the concept of exploiting the so called social networking!

Quality was never important in Indian context. How many goods do we actually see that are being promoted and advertised on Rational Appeal?? We are emotional people, and we are extremely susceptible to people's behavior around us as whatever they do, more often or not we too have the tendency to emulate the same to be admired and liked by the community. Or as the Dexter would say .. "Blending In the Social World"..!!

Anyway, the good news is that "Kolaveri Di" certainly has proved that my understanding of Indian Consumer is absolutely right. Anything or everything can be promoted or popularised today by smart marketing and powered by the (so popular!) Viral Marketing today for people fall for anything that they see happening repeatedly around them. Poor content will definitely not sell but definitely can be popularised. And yes..Kolaveri Di is not a poor content.. It is an insanely stupid content and stupid content can not only be popularised but even be sold tremendously by adept marketing as is already being done over here!

In Love with THE NEW- courtesy: THE OLD!

I have always liked watching movies.. No seriously!..I can spend days with my laptop and an internet connection! As a matter of fact there was a time when I used to submerge myself in the world of movies. I remember watching 6-7 movies a day back to back. Such a freak I was! Movies Freak!

Among all kind of movies, ones with sequences enamor me the most. LOTR being the best in my list, Bourne Series is a close second. Yesterday I was watching Die Hard 2 and then I saw Die hard 3. I realised that they actually came up with fantastic stuff! Bruce Willis at his raw best! Action ...Adventure and the thrill..Almost just perfect! Before Sunrise(1995), the best romantic movie till now I must add!, faded and ended with a promise that the couple will meet again in next six months. The next in series came in 2004 and it showed how they had changed with time. Obviously they never met again in six months but had to wait for good 9 years to meet again. And then with the new sequence you refresh your memories of the time when you had seen the earlier one. You remember the anxiousness and the anticipation you had to know what will happen next! And when you saw the next one you again live the similar moments..for once more..!

The same thing happened with me while I was watching Star Wars. Though personally I did not like the movies, not a single one of them except the latest one!, the way it was treated and the vision the director had in late 70s is definitely worth admiring. In case of Bourne Series, with every sequence, you see the people changing..in physique..in the way they carry themselves...in the way they act etc! Matt Damon definitely grew up as an actor with these movies and yes it clearly shows. Mission Impossible is the another one that makes me nostalgic. I remember I was in school when I first saw MI-1 and today with the fourth installment in theaters, trust me.. it is a lot more than just a movie!

So what is so special about the movies with sequences? Well I personally believe that they not just carry the story forward but they also travel with time. Since the media is the best mirror of the society and its culture, the advancement in the quality of the mirror definitely improves the quality of the image. Everything changes..surroundings..behavior of people... style of acting...directing...fashion...science and technology...everything. And yes, that very everything is captured and then reflected back with fresh thoughts and a new story.. A story that carries forward the chain of imaginations and transcends it to the next level. See, how fascinating it is to witness the change...especially when you yourself were and are a part of it!

These changes constantly remind me that today whatever is new will change to become obsolete tomorrow. But the ideas...the thought process...and the memories will make the obsolete refreshing again in the future. Actually it is because of the old only that we are able to appreciate the new, for we conjure our new starting from where we stopped at the end of the old! And it is because of the deeds in the old, that we see the new strings of imaginations and thoughts being added to the same. Yes, it is because of the old that the factors of nostalgia always confront us and remind us that the time is changing!

Today, now that I see another new beginning with the new year, I wonder what the new changes will be? I am pretty sure that few years later, when 2011 will be a distant past, I will again reminisce this very time...and movies definitely will play the most important role...in my life at least... to remind me of this very fact.. that yes we are growing up!

Happy New Year my friends.. Let the old one, which was carrying us till yesterday, actually see that we left it too far when we soared with the newness of the new year..!

Cheers!