Hello north Indians, here's some news for you – AR Rahman is from Tamil Nadu. Most of the man's songs are in Tamil, and some of his most stellar work is in the language, too.
So, dear Hindi-speaking fans who went to the Rahman concert in Wembley (UK) on 8 July and walked out because "most of the songs were in Tamil", you have only your ignorance to blame.
Repeat after us, he’s NOT a Bollywood composer. His title is ‘The Mozart of Madras’, not Mumbai. The ‘Bollywood composer’ tag comes from the international media which has no idea that Rahman’s work in Slumdog Millionaire, which won him two Academy Awards, is not a patch on what he’s produced for Tamil cinema.
And oh, the concert was titled 'Netru, Indru, Naalai' - perhaps you thought this was Spanish?
Some disgruntled Hindi speakers are even demanding a refund because they had to sit through Tamil songs. Because they couldn’t understand it. Whatever happened to the clichés music fans spout about music having no language? After all, even the Japanese could dance for “Why this kolaveri di”, without seemingly getting even a word of the song.
Naturally, a Twitter war has broken out among Rahman fans from the south and the Hindi Only folks. We're watching with verkadalai in our hands. No, we shall not translate what that means.
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue? Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at bol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
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