Dhanush's Why This Kolaveri Di garners whopping 12.5 cr views on YouTube

Chennai: Actor Dhanush's viral hit 'Why This Kolaveri Di' on YouTube may be six years old, but it has garnered 12.5 crore views, a top official of the online visual content provider said on Tuesday.

"Lot of our signature success started from 'Why This Kolaveri Di' six years back. It has received 12.5 crore views and that number is still growing," Ajay Vidyasagar, Regional Director-Google Asia Pacific, told reporters here.

Dhanush's viral single 'Why This Kolaveri Di' (Why this rage), a funny composition of certain struggles of men, had instantly become an online hit.

"This piece of creativity keeps winning again and again due to community fans," Vidyasagar said, adding, the video had inspired such audiences to come up with their versions of the song too.

Quoting statistics, he said India had witnessed a surge in YouTube viewership in the past few years, even as rural and small towns made a significant contribution.

From being a "metro phenomenon" about five years back, YouTube was now being used by consumers even in many remote villages of the country, he said.

Further, "film engagement" on the visual platform stood "neck to neck with Hollywood" and teasers and trailers of recent Tamil hits like 'Kabali' and 'Baahubali' received 34 million and 22 million hits respectively, he said. Online hits of many Indian movies even exceeded the viewership of Hollywood films, he said.

YouTube, a subsidiary of US-based tech giant Google, earlier hosted a 'Tamil Day' where its team met with online video creators from the city.