RCB Anthem Is Reflective Of Bengaluru's Shifting Linguistic Mental Makeup

But if there was anything that cranked up within moments of its release was negative feedback for the song which although is about the cricket team representing Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka is mainly in Hindi with some English thrown in.

Social media furore had them tweet out another version of the anthem in four hours which they called the "RCB Anthem ಕನ್ನಡ Rap ft." But in this version too, one has to hunt for 'Kannada' to find it. Only the 'rapped' lines have been redone in what they call 'Kannada'.

While the team has tried to hush up the issue with the safety net of the anthem being aimed at 'global fans', for a team that has never won the premier league, this was the least they could do to keep their 'home' fans happy.

And this, coming at a time when the state has large segments of language warriors playing to the galleries and joining neighbouring state Tamil Nadu in seeking to #StopHindiImposition, the team and its management could have done better to get the language politics and semiotics right.

But this, sadly, is what ails Bengaluru not just Royal Challengers. It is not just about the team that clearly sees no connect with Kannada, what with its intelligent choice of letting 'the wall' go, but about this phenomenon called Bengaluru.

The city's Kannad Gothilla termite has eaten up the linguistic fabric to an extent that the cultural identity of this town no longer includes the language of the state. Which is why a team can dare call itself a representative of the capital city of a state but have scant respect for its state language.

And sadder still is the fact that unlike say a Chennai, the capital in its bid to fit itself into the cosmopolitan gown has disrobed itself off its cultural makeup and that has left the baton of linguisitic identity in the hands of a class of crass hooligans in the garb of activists.

Just few days ago, one saw self proclaimed saviours of Kannada breaking and dismantling boards in Hindi at public places like Railway stations where Hindi rests among other languages.

But dare they take on popular media renditions like these? They dont have the gall for it nor the intellectual understanding to see the semiotic shift that has crept in the language sphere.

The Kannada in sandalwood songs, barring those penned by lyricists who are fortunately writers, novelists and 'Kannada' knowing thinkers is outrageous. A new school of cinema makers ofcourse have tried to present various regional varieties but that is a niche class of cinema, which also have a different audience.

Popular 'mass numbers' have more 'dilbar,' jaaneman' 'pyaar' 'salaam', 'brotheru' 'sisteru' than their Kannada equivalents often and these are lapped up without batting an eyelid.

Kannada has had to undergo what usually happens to 'other tongues' in foreign lands, that get restricted to the home domain given the presence of official languages that are the lingua franca. And RCB has just played to the trend, but stretched it a bit too far - or probably this is where Bengaluru is getting to.

Tokenistic championism, destructive activism have together killed Kannada in Bengaluru. Which is why a team that carries 'Bangalore' for Bengaluru in its name, dares bring out an anthem where the language of the state is restricted to four words.

Also read:

1. Bengaluru’s “Kannad Gothilla” Problem, And What Can Be Done To Resolve It