Provocative clips from Bengali, Malayalam films dominate the list.
Updated December 4, 2014
By Deepak Chitnis and Dileep Thekethil
WASHINGTON, DC / BANGALORE: Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has become the web’s foremost destination for videos of all kind. Initially thought of as a small nook, used mostly by high schoolers and college students to upload viral videos of Mentos dropped into Diet Coke or strange people dancing on the subway, YouTube has grown into an indispensable Internet destination.
Everyone from small businesses to movie studios use YouTube for marketing purposes, record companies use the site as a way of freely and legally distributing music and music videos, sports networks use it to showcase their content, and educational institutions even upload entire lectures and seminars onto the site for their students.
Needless to say, YouTube has grown from a small cult site to one of the most visited portals in the entire world. Each country is different from one another, and denizens of one country visit certain videos more than denizens of others. In India, YouTube is one of the five most visited sites in the country, drawing tens of millions of viewers each and every day.
But what videos are Indians watching? What are the most popular videos being watched from the Indian subcontinent? For those who have ever wondered, here’s your chance to find out.
[WARNING: Some of these videos are inappropriate for younger viewers. Please use discretion.]
#1 – “sexy love scene from rudra –the fire- bengali film”
Views: 134,489,573
Believe it or not, the most widely viewed YouTube video originating from India is a minute-and-a-half long clip of a scene from the Bengali film Rudra: The Fire.
The clip is a somewhat steamy encounter between a man and a woman, and despite its lack of any overly explicit content (not to mention terrible A/V quality and acting), has managed to draw in over 134 million viewers. Not much information exists about the film Rudra: The Fire.
The film doesn’t even have its own page on either Wikipedia or the Internet Movie Database. The clip was uploaded onto YouTube on January 28, 2012. YouTube has a reasonably strict policy regarding explicit content, and is often quick to remove any objectionable videos from its site, but this one has managed to survive for nearly two-and-a-half years.
It’s easy, and somewhat disturbing, to understand why this is the highest viewed Indian video on YouTube. India has been lambasted over the years for its attitude towards women and sexuality, two things that this video completely centers around. Even without understanding the language of the clip, it’s easy to see that the man literally forces himself onto the woman, and the provocative nature of the video surely enticed a number of curious young men from around India to check it out.
Taking a look at the comments, nearly all the posters are male, and the word “sexy” pops up more frequently than it should. Sexual, disturbing, and just about awful in every regard – that sums up India’s most-watched YouTube video.
#2 – “Ina – 7 Malayalam full movie – I.V.Sasi – Teen love and sex (1982)”
Views: 131,749,275
The second most-watched Indian YouTube video, trailing by a margin of just five million views, is a 14 minute-long clip from a 1982 Malayalee movie called Ina, which apparently drew in such a large amount of interest because it’s about “teen sex and love.” The film, directed by I.V. Sasi, tells the story of Vinod and Anitha, who are classmates.
According to the Internet Movie Database, “Vinod’s stepmother wants to seduce him, and Anitha is an illegitimate child that her mother never wanted. On a rainy day they take shelter in a train wagon, which starts moving before they could get out and stops next in a forest area a long way away from home.
There, they find a couple of recluses – a widow and an ex-army officer – living their own lives and willing to accept them as they are. The widow accepts them as foster children and perform their marriage, but fate intervenes as an incurable disease for Anitha.” Even the videos you’ll see on this list that don’t overtly deal with the subject of love and sex, they carry some sort of undercurrent of it. This video itself doesn’t show anything explicit – Indian movies in 1982 could barely get away with kissing if they were lucky – but the repressed nature of sexuality in India.
#3 –“ Hot INdian Bed scene”
Views: 48,311,364
The plainly titled “Hot INdian Bed scene” is exactly what it sounds like, and is once again extracted from an Indian movie. The video shows a man and woman playfully following each other through a large Indian, finally ending up on the bed, where they have a steamy, but not very explicit, sexual encounter.
The video is set to music, a South Indian ballad that plays while the couple in the video flirt with each other. Uploaded in December of 2010, it has amassed nearly 50 million views in the nearly three-and-a-half years it’s been available on YouTube, drawing over 1,000 comments that range from good to bad to ugly (“SO HOt !! good”) There’s no information on the video as to which film it has been taken from, nor who the actor and actress in the video are.
#4 – “Real Housewife | Indian House Wife | The Original House Wife”
Views: 50,631,931
The fourth most-watched Indian video on YouTube is a short film that runs just shy of 12 minutes. Written and directed by Sham Goswami, the film stars an actress named Teja Deokar as a bored housewife who has to find ways to pass time as she sits alone at home all day. These options include channel-surfing through the latest soap operas, or perhaps turning to something more unsavory.
While not overly sexual or explicit at all, the film carries undercurrents of lust and longing, implying that a bored housewife with nothing to do all day must release some latent sexual desires that her busy, working husband is unable to fulfill. The film obviously has struck some kind of a chord, racking up more than 50 million views since it was posted in July of 2012. The poster is Matinee Masala, a YouTube channel that has over 100 million subscribers, and prides itself on shining on light on independent, short film production in India.
#5 – “Bollywood – Kaliyon Ka Chman”
Views: 53,301,516
Bollywood finally makes its first appearance on the list, with the 2000 Meghna Naidu remix of “Thoda Resham Lagta Hai.” The song, originally performed by Lata Mangeshkar for the 1981 Hindi film Jyoti, was remixed and performed by Naidu, accompanied by (for the time) provocative and catchy music video that took Indian airwaves by storm.
The poster of this particular video, which has accumulated more than 53 million views since February of 2007, is from Germany. The poster’s name and the info underneath the video are all in German, which is actually not a huge surprise. Over the last ten years, Germany has become an increasingly large market for Bollywood, and German audiences, Indian-origin and otherwise, have flocked to Bollywood movies.
The song would prove to be Naidu’s only big hit; despite remaining active in Hindi and South Indian cinema over the ensuing 14 years, she has remained obscure, floundering in low-budget regional films and often relegated to supporting roles or guest appearances. There’s a good chance that you’ve heard the Meghna Naidu remix of “Thoda Resham Lagta Hai,” and probably saw the video when it was a hit at the turn of the century. If you haven’t, be sure to check it out – it’s a definite toe-tapper, and helped usher in a new wave of remixed versions of classic Bollywood songs, re-introducing a new generation to the Golden Age of Hindi music that they otherwise may never have been aware of.
#6 – “’Subha Hone Na De’ | Desi Boyz | Akshay Kumar | John Abraham”
Views: 51,165,585
When you think about what should be the most-watched Bollywood song on YouTube, it’s understandable to assume it’d be a Shahrukh Khan hit from the 1990s, or a classic Amitabh Bachchan number.
But you’d be wrong – it is, in fact, the song “Subha Hone Na De” from the 2011 film Desi Boyz. The film stars Akshay Kumar, who has made it a habit of starring in terrible movies with awesome songs, John Abraham, who had recently realized that comedy was his forte after 2008’s Dostana, and Deepika Padukone, whose star was on the rise but had not yet taken off to where it is today.
The film takes place in London, with Abraham and Kumar as roommates. Abraham is a successful stockbroker engaged to Padukone, while Kumar is a bum who mooches off his friend. When the market crashes, Abraham finds himself out of a job, leading him and Kumar to the brilliant idea of becoming male strippers to make ends meet. The scheme makes them a ton of money, and the song “Subha Hone Na De” finds them in the middle of realizing how fun the male stripper life can be – until Padukone walks in.
The film did average business at the box office, and received average reviews, making it all the more strange that this song is the most frequently watched Bollywood song on YouTube. But the song’s choreography and music make it universally appealing, so maybe it’s not all that hard to see why people around the world, Indian or not, could find something to like about the clubby dance track.
#7 – “Bhojpuri New Kamasutra Movie Scene”
Views: 41,867,734
This is a bit of an odd one. Although the title says that the video is a Kamasutra love scene, the video is actually a behind-the-scenes video from a show called “Taki’s Bullet-In, Season 2.” The video shows the shooting of a music video starring Ravi Kishan, a Bhojpuri actor who is arguably the most well-known Bhojpuri actor currently working. He has appeared in a number of Hindi films as well, such as Phir Hera Pheri and Raavan. He was also a participant on the 2006 season of “Bigg Boss.”
In the video, Kishan shows off some questionable dance moves, and talks about the song and music video. His co-star is also interviewed briefly. In the video, Kishan appears to be playing some sort of gangster don, who seduces an unsuspecting beauty with his charm and dancing – guys, take note. Uploaded in May 2011, the video has amassed over 41 million views in almost exactly three years.
#8 – ‘Aashiq Banaya Aapne Title Song’ (Full HD Song) Aashiq Banaya Aapne”
Views: 37,582,495
The list goes back to Bollywood, and this time, it’s another relatively recent hit that probably wouldn’t be what people expected to be the second most-watched Hindi movie song online: the title song from the 2005 film Aashiq Banaya Aapne.
The film stars Emraan Hashmi, who was just on the cusp of his still-strong stardom, along with Sonu Sood and Tanushree Dutta. The song was composed and sung by Himesh Reshammiya, and became an enormous success, ultimately paving the way for Reshammiya’s dominance of Hindi film music for a few years.
The song also made him the first composer to ever win the Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer, too. “Aashiq Banaya Aapne” was Reshammiya’s first song as a singer, and opened the door for him to sing just about every song he composed for the next few years. He eventually also tried his hand as an actor, failing miserably and eventually going into exile for several years. In 2011, he made a comeback as the composer of Salman Khan’s Bodyguard.
The film Aashiq Banaya Aapne itself was a modest hit, lifted at the box office largely because of the success of its soundtrack. The songs from the film still hold up today, and include a number of well-known songs like “Aap Ki Kashish,” “Mar Jaawan Mit Jaawan,” and the remix of “Aashiq Banaya Aapne” (which this writer would rank even higher than the original).
#9 – “Blue Eyes Full Video Song Yo Yo Honey Singh | Blockbuster Song Of 2013”
Views: 51,294,116
Rapper, producer, and now actor Yo Yo Honey Singh is a polarizing figure among Indian audiences. People either love him or can’t stand him, there’s usually no one who’s just in between. But last year, his song “Blue Eyes” became a chart-topper all across India, proving that regardless of what people may think of the singer himself, his music still appeals to the masses.
The “Blue Eyes” music video, released by T-Series in November of 2013, is ninth most-watched Indian YouTube video. And at barely six months old, it’s by far the youngest entry on the list, making its more than 51 million views all the more remarkable. Again, it’s somewhat surprising that a more well-known song hasn’t claimed a spot for itself on the list. Even among the songs from 2013, there were plenty of other tunes from Bollywood and Hindi pop that were just as popular as Blue Eyes, if not more so (the tracks from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Aashiqui 2 spring to mind).
But as it is, Yo Yo Honey Singh’s domination of Indian radio and MTV has also spread to YouTube, making him the country’s most popular pop artist currently working today. Born in New Delhi in 1984, Singh studied music at the UK’s Trinity School before moving back to India and making a huge name for himself. Some of his most popular songs include “Angrezi Beat” (which was featured heavily in the 2012 film Cocktail), “Party All Night” from last year’s film Boss, and the 2009 song “Panga” with Diljit Dosanjh.
#10 – “First Night Scene from a Telugu Movie”
Views: 35,592,835
The tenth most-frequently viewed video on YouTube, and the final entry on this list, is a steamy love scene from a Telugu movie, allegedly called Bucchibabu, according to the comments. Not much information about the movie exists, and it doesn’t have an Internet Movie Database page.
This video is arguably the most overt of the whole group, complete with kissing and blatant sexuality. It is not for younger viewers at all. Since it was uploaded in March of 2010, it has amassed just under 36 million views, meaning that on average, about 708,000 unique visitors came to YouTube to watch a Telugu love scene.
5 Comments
OH my god! Kaliyo ka chaman Views: 53,301,516..amazing
Wtf? “Why this kolaveri di” has 85 million views.
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