A couple of years ago via Saturday Night Live, I was introduced to someone called Lin-Manuel Miranda. He was singing a revised version of "I am not throwing away my shot" from his hit Broadway musical, Hamilton. The lyrics were powerful and his performance was stunning. I went from interview to interview to know more about this genius lyricist. I was fascinated by his skill and ability to churn out beautiful verses at the drop of a hat. Everyone would gush about how impossible it was to get tickets to the show and whoever watched it was raving about it. Broadway, far far away for someone in India. Of course with the ticket prices and availability, it was close to impossible for me to experience that show ever! I am nowhere close to understanding music. I am what is called a "Nyana Shoonyam" (one with no knowledge) when it comes to music. However, I appreciate the lyrics. I love a song when the words are meaningful and deep. When the lyricist is clever with his/her words. Sigh, I could never have watched Hamilton, ever!
Well, as they say, never say never, right? This was one such situation that proved that to be true.
I was kind of excited when I saw the announcement that this was coming up on Hotstar in July, though not confident it would be accessible to the Indian audience as well. I just opened the app on 3rd July to check if I had some stroke of luck and yes, I was indeed very very lucky! In just the first 5 minutes I had goosebumps. I watched it once just for the lyrics. I will watch it again for the beautiful choreography. I may watch it again for the scenes, the acting and the performance. I would definitely watch it again for Eliza Hamilton. She was stunning and had such an important role in the musical as well as in real life. There is so much to learn about the history and there is so much to be aware that history is a perspective, not the entire truth. I remember reading about the Indian freedom struggle and our war of Independence. What I learned in school did not cause as much pain as when I watched movies or read more about it. I remember reading the Bengal Famine and not being affected by it as a school kid, and now I feel that was severely reduced to a mere paragraph in our history books. I am outraged as to how we constantly recall the atrocities of the Nazis and try not to remember the British atrocities with as much seriousness. History is the version of who wrote it. We need to read more and learn more to appreciate who we are right now. Before we sympathize with other countries and their conflicts, we need to educate ourselves about ours and the situation here.
"Okay Shweta, get back to the topic of discussion today! You digress too much". My head reminds me to get back on track with this post.
Hamilton was everything and more than I had imagined. I still wish I could watch it live someday. Thomas Jefferson and The King were two of my favourite characters other than Hamilton. Angelica is another strong performer. Every little detail is a work of art. What they wore, how they passed a letter. My absolute favorite is the rewind song where they do a live rewind and playback the scenes from a different point of view. Amazing choreography and direction. The set design, lighting, stage, support actors, and dancers, everyone added so much to this show and it shows! It is worth all the hype and so much more. There are lyricists like Thamarai who wrote "vaseegara" and Madan Karky who wrote sci-fi songs in the Robot series who I admire when it comes to writing lyrics. I would love to see a musical like Hamilton in Tamil, maybe for a history class on the Cholas or Pandiyas. While that might be something in the distant future, for now, I take back with me this chant from the show - "I am not throwing away my shot". I am taking that back with me to work tomorrow.
Happy Reading!
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