Something which has worried me since 2004 is Euphoria’s Maaeri. Is it actually an all-time great song, or do I just think so because it was lucky with its timing and came out just when me (and my batch) were in the grip of teenage angst and susceptible to any decent song about pain, lost love, and fickle/ missing/ unattainable women. When you’re in an engineering college where the education sucks, the extra-curricular scene is a wasteland, and there isn’t a single woman worth talking to (and not that many men either); hearing other people sing about being crushingly alone or having lost the love of their life provides the schadenfreude necessary to keep you going through those four years. And after four years of exploiting your angst, the song sticks with you and gives ou goosebumps even when you’re in a college full of strong junta, or have a job you enjoy, or have a darling girlfriend.
So as I was saying the question of whether Maaeri was actually a great song or just a lucky song that exploited our generation’s collective teenage angst when we actually had teenage angst plagued me. Finding an objective answer to this question was of vital importance, otherwise any Best Songs of All Times list we prepared could never be accurate. At one time, I seriously considered having a son just so I could shield him from Maaeri through his formative years and make him listen to it only once he had gotten over his teenage angst. In this way I would have a controlled environment in which to test the emotional appeal of the song. Eventually I realised that this would be child abuse, and besides, I could do it to anybody else’s son instead. If he too would respond to it by becoming senti, getting down on his knees and singing along loudly, we would have proof that Maaeri was actually a great song for all times and not just for our generation.
But this week, over a long conversation with my parents, aunt and cousin-in-law (the one who my cousin eloped with, thus bringing honour to the family), I think I’ve settled the question once and for all and so raising my own children or kidnapping other peoples’ won’t be necessary. Maaeri is in fact an all-time great song.
I realised this when I compared Maaeri to another song from the same time that also played heavily on teenage angst – Chaandni Raatein (youtube link, embedding is disabled). That had angstmax lines like दुखिया आँखें ढूँढ रही हैं कहीं प्यार की बातें (these miserable eyes are trying to find something about love anywhere). But the song didn’t even need that – the chorus was enough.
चांदनी रातें, चांदनी रातें / सब जग सोये हम जागें / तारों से करें बातें
(On moonlit nights, while the whole world sleeps, I stay awake and talk to the stars).
It just lays on the angst and pathos. It’s the senti engineer’s kryptonite. And if said senti engineers weren’t cynical enough to lay on the booze and weed, but not despo enough to pile on to women from Bhatinda (pronounced Bathinda), they pretty much had to spend their nights sitting around in the lawns loudly and tunelessly yowling Chaandni Raatein.
So back in the innocent days of the early 2000s – before global financial crises, before extraordinary rendition, before DJ Aqeel even – Chaandni Raatein had teenage angst well in its grip and was applying the olive press treatement too. But where is it today? Nobody remembers it. When I did remember it, I realised that it no longer affected me the way it used to.
But Maaeri is still going strong. The song (with or without the video) still gives me goosebumps. If only the fresh batch at IIMB weren’t such maggus who never came to L-Squares, we could do further tests and see if they dropped to their knees and started singing whenever it was played. I bet they would, despite all the magguness.
And now, the video:
You know, the video leads to another insight. It is very cliched, but the genius of Pradeep Sarkar is that he deploys familar tropes so effectively that an entire story can be told in a six minute video. You can see that in the Piya Basanti video too, and the Aana Meri Gully video (which even without the storytelling is awesome just by virtue of having young cute Sandhya Mridul in it):
Also, a couple of related links: Deepak Shenoy’s comment on my old Maaeri post, and the NITK Numbskulls on the all time best Indipop.
Totally relatable! Pre-engineering, Chandni Raatein was this song that felt like heaven during long late night drives. And I think it still holds up quite well, if not with same intensity.
But Maaeri is evergreen.
I guess this is the sweet spot each song wants to reach, but not everybody gets there. Many songs potter around, score a few runs (JJWS), but very few reach a century (QSQT) or all time greatness. Maaeri is awesome though 🙂
Does the comparison stand in spite of or because of the fact that ‘Chaandni Raatein’ is a remix from an old Noor Jahan song, and thus majorly filtered from original context?
Maaeri’s emo makes my skin crawl, but I still listen to it because it’s so damn catchy. It’s like much of Nirvana’s better work, in that sense.
Maeri was immensely helped by MTV select and the hundreds of callers requesting it everyday.
Great song nevertheless, but there were other euphoria songs and some by other bands as well that were crushed under maeri’s weight.
Excellent post! Though I disagree with the conclusion on Chandni Raatein v/s Maaeri bit.
For me Chandni Raatein worked far more strongly than all other songs put together and the line that did it for me was : Dil ki dhadkanein tujhe pukarein aaja baalam aayi baharein, baith ke tanhayee mein kar lein sukh dukh ki do baatein
A couple of months before JEE, I was madly in love with this chick in my class and all I could do about it was listen to this one song on my Walkman, over and over again.
The other of this genre would probably be Pehla Nasha – still going strong.
Too many stud lines to pick one to praise. Brilliant.
i wonder if you’re past your angst years aadisht. you dont appear reconciled with people that come from a different background. sorry man, but you come across as a condescending fuck with that rant about worthless people, bhatinda etc etc.
dudelove, you’re probably right. Still not reconciled to most people from my college batch, regardless of their background.
On the other hand, if we can’t make fun of people from Bhatinda, who can we make fun of? (Bear in mind that I wrote this post before the Obama Nobel announcement).
i have always rated chandigarh and dilli higher on the scale of choot-dom :). bhatinda is easy prey.