The song ‘Kolaveri Di’ from Indian actor Dhanush’s upcoming movie 3 has become one of the internet viral sensations of the year.
The Tanglish song (a mix of Tamil and English) with nonsensical lyrics came out just two weeks ago, and has already notched up over 8 million views on YouTube since its launch.
By comparison, last year’s hugely successful ‘Old Spice’ YouTube ads got over 35 million views over an extended campaign.
The song is performed by Tamil star Dhanush for his film “3”, which is directed by his wife Aishwayra Dhanush. ‘Kolaveri Di’ translates as ‘rage’ in Tamil, and the song reflects on a broken love affair.
The composer of the song, 18-year-old Anirudh, is unable to explain the phenomenon it has become, saying: “It’s probably because of the funny, broken English and some amount of musicality, but I cannot really explain beyond a point.”
The unprecedented success can also be attributed to its appeal to India’s youth market, and Sony Music Entertainment India’s plan to release the single track album.
“We wanted this song to go viral on cyberspace. We marketed aggressively to make the song a national rage, by posting it on Tamil, Hindi and international Facebook pages, apart from releasing it on YouTube. The video accompanying the song was recorded at 2 a.m., and edited on the day of the release,” says Ashok Parwani, associate director, Sony Music Entertainment India.
View the video in full below:
