The song that is taking social media by force, “Why This Kolaveri Di” has garnered 30 million views on Youtube over just the past month.
Composed by 18 yr-old Anirudh Ravichander and performed by Indian singer Dhanush, “Why This Kolaveri Di” has an intoxicating melody, that is being called “genre bending” by critics.
Meaning “Why do you have this murderous rage against me girl,” “Why This Kolaveri Di” was composed in just five minutes by Ravichander. “My wife wanted a ‘light-hearted’ song about failed love,” said Ravichander. Dhanush finished writing the lyrics in twenty minutes through playful singing and song writing.
In an interview with The Times of Indian Danush said, “When I was writing down the lyrics, I kept in mind all the English words that are used in the Tamil vocabulary. Words like I, you, me, how, why, cow.. I just framed them into sentences and thats how I came up with the song.”
Once released, the worldwide spread of the song could not be stopped. Now if you just type in the word “why” in a Youtube search engine, the search phrase “Why This Kolaveri Di” immediately appears at the top of the list.
The song has become the most mobile downloaded song with 2,10,000 downloads within the first 18 days of release and is the first Tamil song to ever be featured on MTV India.
Imitations and parodies are popping up from across the world. Flash mobs of the song have been reported from Mumbai to New Zealand. Indian police officers are even using variations of the song and its title to combat road rage and encourage bike riders to wear helmets.