It was the summer of 2015. Anurag Kashyap often considered one of the best directors in the Indian film Industry had delivered an embarrassment of a movie. It was called ‘Bombay Velvet’, starring Bollywood A-listers Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. The movie bombed at the box office and the critics were absolutely pitiless in roasting Kashyap for making this cinematic disaster. Maverick film maker Ram Gopal Varma had a special message for Anurag Kashyap. In his words, everyone has a “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag moment, the only question is when”. The statement simply meant that every great artist has a moment of shame once in his lifetime. Looks like AR Rahman just had his Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag moment.
Picture this, a happy looking AR Rahman with his pudgy satisfied face, donning uber cool wayfarers sauntering and crooning ‘Roke na rukenge ab toh yaara’ in his typical high treble voice with a frenzied overwhelmingly ‘white’ crowd frolicking around him. Also, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, Rocket, Black Panther, Gamora, Thanos and many marvel superheroes and super villains take turns to greet your screen. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the marvel franchise and I am eagerly waiting for ‘Avengers: End Game’. I am a big fan of Rehman too but the Avengers anthem by AR Rahman was (super) appalling.
It’s very a la ‘Lagaan’ for which AR Rehman composed the award-winning track ‘Mitwa’. Consider Captain America, the Bhuvan of the squad, with other superheroes playing Lakha, Bagha, Guran, Ismail, Deva, Kachra and others.
It’s kind of funny seeing a visibly unmoved AR Rehman singing and swaying as Thanos makes superheroes tragically disappear. Equally funny is the effect that AR Rehman creates with Rocket’s bazookas, Hulk’s yells and Iron Man’s repulsors.
The mad-show hits a crescendo when the song enters its final phase. AR Rehman declares ‘Taiyar Ho’ and all superheroes gear up to take down Thanos. If ‘Gabbar mai tera khoon pii jaaunga’, Dharam Paji’s immortal dialogue from Sholay had a song, this stanza from ‘Avengers Anthem’ would have been it!
The lyrics of the Avengers Anthem are substandard, the music over-the-trop, the Indianization attempt obvious, the singing horrible and the presentation will make Stan Lee turn uncomfortably in his grave.
The life mission of the Avengers supervillain Thanos was to collect all the infinity stones, kill half of all life and then go and watch the sunset on a “grateful” planet, a feat that he achieved in the very last scene of Avengers: Infinity Wars”. He also succeeded in making random members of the The Avengers squad disappear with a click of his fingers. After watching the Avengers Anthem, you’ll definitely ask yourself a question – Was Thanos right after all?
Watch the Avengers Anthem by AR Rehman here:
