Songwriter Raqueeb Alam on Tuesday distanced himself from the controversy surrounding the sexually explicit lyrics of Sarke Chunar from KD The Devil. The Hindi version was a translation of the original Kannada track and he had initially refused to work on it, he said.

The song has triggered outrage on social media over its sexually-loaded verses. The Hindi version has since been removed from YouTube, though it had gone viral soon after release. The Kannada film, which will be dubbed in four languages, is slated to release on April 30.

“I have not written these lyrics. They were written by the film’s director Prem in Kannada. When I was asked to write all this, I refused, saying such songs won’t work, and will be censored too. They told me to only literally translate the Kannada version and give it to them... they will set it to the song’s meter,” Alam told HT City.

“At the end they say the entire song is about an alcohol bottle. But before that everything is so dirty. I had refused. Why would I need to write such songs,” he added.

Amid the backlash, Alam said the film’s team later asked him to write a “fresh version with clean lyrics” and plan to re-release the track with an apology note. He also acknowledged that the existing lyrics contain double meaning.

A video of the Hindi song, featuring Sanjay Dutt and Nora Fatehi, was released on YouTube two days ago and quickly went viral for its suggestive content and lyrics that almost describe a sexual act.

The issue has come to the notice of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and there are plans to send a notice to YouTube as the film itself has not yet been released, a government source said.

Following the furore, the Hindi version is no longer available on YouTube, though Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil versions remain on the platform. Anand Audio holds the music rights to the film, which is backed by KVN Productions.

The Hindi version of the song is sung by Mangli, with original lyrics by director Prem. Alam is credited for the Hindi adaptation, while music is composed by Arjun Janya.

Alam said the controversy has left him feeling humiliated.

“When I write good songs, people don’t notice. I have written Chikri Chikri in Hindi for Ram Charan’s upcoming film Peddi. All the songs of Pushpa in Hindi were written by me,” he said.