Some call it south India’s Despacito, the rest would like to stick to just Jimmikki Kammal and simply go nuts.
Either way, millions are going gaga over this Malayalam movie song two months after it stormed social media platforms.
First released on August 17 on YouTube and the Facebook page of a movie titled Velipadinte Pusthakam (Book of Revelation), this year’s Onam release of superstar Mohanlal, the song was viewed 1.6 million times in just three hours. To date it has been watched 35 million times.
A simple song featuring some college students in the movie, Jimmikki Kammal, driven by its peppy beat, has caught the imagination and driven many to dance floors.
♦ Produced by students of Indian School of Commerce, Kochi. Has so far crossed 18 million views on YouTube alone
♦ YouTube channel Team Naach by Sonal and Nicole that received 4.5 million views.
♦ Version in which Mohanlal makes a guest appearance towards the end and makes a few moves. Uploaded on September 24, the video has so far been viewed 6.5 million times.
Composed by Kochi-based Shaan Rahman, it was jointly sung by actor-director-singer Vineeth Sreenivasan and Renjith Unni. Often called the “other Rahman”, the Kerala composer has made a mark.
The original upload of the song has to date received more than 35 million hits on YouTube alone. The downloaded version is still circulating on Whatsapp and other chat platforms.
But what made it an even bigger rage was the array of versions coming from as far as Russia and Estonia. That’s apart from some hugely popular versions made by Malayalis in Kerala, Gulf countries, New Zealand and the US.
Even a few nuns danced to the tune of Jimmikki Kammal in a grainy mobile phone video.
The lyrics go “My father stole my mother’s dangling earrings, my mother guzzled up my father’s brandy.”
to his name
A beef-and-booze-loving state, Kerala took no time to lap it up. Being an immediate neighbour, the song quickly became a rage in Tamil Nadu.
Coupled with easy-to-follow lines, it’s the catchy tune set to a foot-tapping beat that seems to have helped the song cross language barriers like the 2012 Psy hit Gangnam Style, Pharrell Williams’s 2013 release Happy, or Ed Sheeran’s chartbuster Shape of You.
Almost all versions have new visuals synchronised to the original track.
The cherry topping came when popular American TV show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel tweeted about the song with an uncanny resemblance to his name. When a Twitterati named Varun S. Kumar tag-asked him if he had heard the song, Kimmel responded “not until now, but I love it!”
So do we!
K.M. Rakesh
