Beast: 100 million views for Thalapathy Vijay's Arabic Kuthu video song

Viral hits and Anirudh Ravichander seem to go hand-in-hand, as the video song of Arabic Kuthu, from Beast, 2 has clocked in an impressive 102 million views thus far. Sun Pictures, which bankrolled the Vijay-starrer, took to Twitter and shared the news. 

Notably, the lyric video of Arabic Kuthu has fetched more than 430 million views. The song has lyrics by actor Sivakarthikeyan. 

It's no small feat for Anirudh, who became a national sensation with Kolaveri Di, a song from his debut movie 3. It's been an upward spiral ever since. Arabic Kuthu has set a record-breaking milestone by reaching 100 million views in 12 days, surpassing actor Dhanush's Rowdy Baby, which reached the mark in 17 days.

This upbeat dance number is a fusion of Arabic and Kuthu (a Tamil folk genre) styles that captivates the audience with its simple yet catchy lyrics. Like the tune, the lyrics are an interesting fusion of Arabic and Kuthu featuring Arabic expressions such as 'Halamathi Habibo', "malama pitha pithadhe" and Tamil rhyming verses like "Jolly Jolly Vekkathula Mayangura Doli" and more. Vijay and Pooja Hegde grooving to the tune makes the song even better.

Within 48 hours of its release, Arabic Kuthu became the first Indian song to chart on Spotify's Global Top 200 Chart worldwide. Additionally, within 24 hours, the Arabic Kuthu song fetched a whopping 50 million views, in 4 days and 70 million views in one week. 

The popularity of Arabic Kuthu is also partly attributed to the hook step challenge on Instagram videos, where celebrities including Samantha, Jonita Gandhi, and Anirudh himself hopped on the bandwagon and tapped their feet to this groovy music.

Beast got released in theatres on April 13. The film opened to mixed responses from the critics and the common audience alike.

Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, Beast also featured Selvaraghavan, choreographer Sathish, and VTV Ganesh in key roles.