The Kolaveri di phenomenon has spread well beyond the bounds of South India's Tamil film industry and now seems set to head into Japan, after running amok in the United States.

Why This Kolaveri Di is a song from the soundtrack of a forthcoming Tamil film 3, which is slated to be released in 2012. A promo video for the song was released on YouTube Nov. 16 and it became something of a hit overnight, both for its quirky English-Tamil lyrics and the simple (almost rustic) beat.

Upon the song's release, the hashtag #kolaveri topped the list of Indian trends on Twitter. The YouTube video has more than 8 million views and that count is rising.

According to Anirudh Ravichander, the music director for the film, the song (or something like it) was called for by Aishwarya Dhanush, the film's director, who said she wanted a light-hearted piece about the perils of falling in love.

Ravichander said he came up with a tune inside 20 minutes and the film's lead actor, Dhanush, started singing in broken English in another 20 minutes.

Check out the video here.

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