Speaking English was a huge problem for me: Dhanush

Dec 28, 2011 Subhash K Jha

Mumbai, Dec 28 (IANS) "Kolaveri Di" lyrics are a hotchpotch mix of English and Tamil, the singing style doesn't conform to any particular style and it was sung by a non- singer -- despite all that, it became a super hit. Tamil star Dhanush, who lent his voice to it, says his lack of comfort with the English language helped him in choosing the words to connect with people who are not fluent in the language.

Dhanush, who is refreshingly matter-of-fact about "Kolaveri Di", said: "It's just a song. Just a phase. It will pass. I am one of those people who don't know how to speak proper English. But I manage. Speaking English language was initially a huge problem for me, so I knew how to connect with people like me. I knew what words to choose so that they connect with people who are not fluent in English."

The video for "Kolaveri Di" was released on YouTube Nov 16. Its peppy, catchy tune as well as funky lyrics, helped it go viral on the internet, and get more than a million hits on the website within a day of its release.

The song, composed by 18-year-old Anirudh Ravichander, will be a part of the film "3", directed by Dhanush's wife Aishwarya.

Dhanush has no illusions about the quality of the lyrics.

"It's not poetry. Whatever silly words came to my mind, I used it in the song. It's just like any composition, nothing special. A group of us gen-next kids -- me, Shruti Haasan, my wife Aishwarya and the composer Anirudh -- were open to ideas," he said.

"The tune was done in 20 minutes. As soon as I heard the song, the words simply came to my mind spontaneously. I wanted the words to be understood by everybody regardless of whether they know English or not," he added.

The young actor says that the film's script is equally good.

"It seems the song has become bigger than the film. But the film has a solid and novel script. Once people see the film they'll see the song as just a part of the narration," he said.

Earlier this month, Dhanush performed live in Mumbai at an award function, his first stage performance.

Talking about the experience, he said: "Earlier I had sung a song for my brother, filmmaker Selvaraghavan's audio release. That's my only live performance so far. I wasn't nervous about performing on Sunday. If I was a professional singer, I'd worry. But I'm an amateur, so it didn't matter if I went off-key."

Dhanush added to the Christmas celebrations in Kolkata when he performed his "Kolaveri Di" to thousands of screaming fans Sunday.

"Kolkata was a great experience. It was an overwhelming experience."

Next, Dhanush will perform live in Delhi.

"God has been very kind to me. I had a great year. I couldn't have asked for more. Now I'm just going to focus on shooting the song for my wife's film. Let's see where it goes from there. It will be shot in the first week of January."

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