Listen To A. R. Rahman’s Commonwealth Games Song

CWG Theme Song by arrahman

“Swagatham”, A. R. Rahman’s official theme song for the 2010 Commonwealth Games was unveiled on Saturday, with the composer himself posting a link to the tune on his Facebook fan page. Reactions have been mixed, and personally we feel that people have been letting their anger at the corruption-riddled organising committee influence their judgement of the track. Sure, it’s not as epic as “Maa Tujhe Salaam” but neither is it unnecessarily bombastic. The mid-tempo track trots along nicely enough, even taking in a few Indian classical flourishes (although we wish he had resisted the temptation to “internationalise” the song by including an affected English rap). The lyrics are decidedly platitudinal in keeping with most theme songs for international sporting tournaments, and one does get the feeling that to an extent at least, the occasionally eccentric Rahman has played it safe. To hear him in full effect, we suggest buying the soundtrack to Robot (the movie, starring Aishwarya Rai, is scheduled to release September 24) or its Tamil version Enthiran.