NEW DELHI: Sarke Chunar from Sanjay Dutt’s KD The Devil has come under fire for its sexually explicit lyrics, drawing widespread criticism. The song has since disappeared from the official YouTube page, despite being widely circulated and shared on social media.
A video of the Hindi song, featuring Dutt and Nora Fatehi, was released on YouTube two days ago and quickly went viral for its shock value.
The Kannada film, which will be dubbed into four languages, is set to release on 30 April.
The song has come to the attention of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, 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. However, the Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil versions remain accessible 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 Prem, the film’s director. Raqeeb Alam is credited with the Hindi adaptation, while the music is composed by Arjun Janya.
Musician Armaan Malik and filmmaker Onir were among those who expressed their disapproval.
“Wish I could unhear it,” said Malik, known for hits such as “Bol Do Na Zara”, “Wajah Tum Ho” and “Sab Tera”.
“This showed up on my timeline and I had to replay it just to make sure I heard it right. Sad to see commercial songwriting hit a new low. I am genuinely at a loss for words,” he wrote on X.
Filmmaker Onir questioned why the song had not been banned.
“And the censor board is busy with the naming of a film #GhooskhorPandat. Strange country we are becoming… opposing Valentine’s Day celebrations, interfaith marriage/celebrations, while being okay with this rubbish,” he wrote on X.
Many others on social media also criticised the makers for lowering the standard of music.
“Sad to see how normalised cheap and vulgar lyrics have become in mainstream songs. Shock value is not creativity. Bollywood music once had poetry, emotion and depth — we deserve that standard again,” one user wrote on X.
“Today’s level of music is so cheap and disgusting,” wrote another.
One user said the song should be “banned with immediate effect”.
“This is so shameful. For money, people write such songs, compose music for this nonsense, and singers perform them. Even actors dance and perform to such disgusting content,” the user added.