Kolaveri Turns One!

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of viral hit “Why This Kolaveri Di?” – a song from the Tamil film “3” starring Dhanush and Shruti Haasan. The video that went viral was a behind-the-scenes one, showing actor Dhanush in the recording studio with music director Anirudh Ravichandran.

In the past year, the YouTube video has clocked up over 64 million views and inspired a number of remixes and remakes in various languages. The down tempo koothu track, with Dhanush’s slurred vocals and absurd Tanglish (Tamil-English mix) lyrics, received a huge amount of media attention all over the world. It became the first Tamil song to premier on MTV India, and news channel CNN named “Why This Kolaveri Di?” as the best song of 2011!

The song became incredibly popular in countries as far and wide as Japan, and “Kolaveri flashmobs” took place in cities across the globe. Check out the Auckland flashmob video below:

Of the many remakes of the song, one of the most popular was that of London-based artiste Arjun. His RnB English remix got over 1 million views in a week, and currently has over 7.5 million views! The song turned out to be a turning point in Arjun’s musical career, and the talented musician has since performed in countries across the globe and built up a solid (and incredibly loyal) fan following.

Other popular versions included the Tamil one by Nakkeeran, and the official dubstep remix by the talented SiNGAM! Below is the official anniversary video for "Why This Kolaveri Di?", looking at the way a Tamil song with nonsensical lyrics took the world by storm. Which was your favourite version of Kolaveri? Let us know!