Rahman asked to tweak CWG theme song (Lead)
August 16th, 2010 - 3:24 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Oscar winner A.R. Rahman is ready with the Commonwealth Games theme song but the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the Games has asked the composer to tweak it before the opening ceremony.
“I presented the theme song before the GoM and it was approved. I have been asked to tweak it and it will be released within next 10 days,” Rahman told reporters here.
“I think it won’t be good to release the theme song without making the necessary changes,” he said when asked about the song.
Beginning with the words “Oh yaaro, India bula liya” (Friends, we have called you to India), the song is composed mostly in Hindi with a sprinkle of English.
While Rahman will be the lead singer of the theme song, there will be other songs as well for the Commonwealth Games, including one dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and another to the “key of knowledge”.
“The song is about India, about energy, winning and not giving up. We want the crowd to sing along with us at the opening ceremony. It is simple but not simplistic,” he said.
Asked how different it was from Shakira’s popular football World Cup anthem “Waka Waka”, Rahman said: “It is not ‘Waka Waka’. We wanted to go beyond it. It is complex, difficult to explain but I am sure you will like it when you hear it.”
Rahman said he was initially apprehensive about whether the GoM would like the song.
“I was a little bit apprehensive if they will like it because the GoM consists of aged people but they all liked and approved it,” he said.
Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi and filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who is a member of the core committee of the Commonwealth Games, were present on the occasion.
The GoM chaired by Urban Development Minister S.Jaipal Reddy met for the first time Sunday after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened to take stock of the much-criticised preparations for the Oct 3-14 Games.
The three-hour long GoM meeting also discussed other details related to the opening ceremony besides giving approval to the theme song composed by Rahman.
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