Kaala's first single 'Semma Weightu' aka 'Yama Greatu' is an anthem of rebellion

The team of Rajinikanth's upcoming film Kaala released a single called 'Semma Weightu' yesterday on the occasion of International Labour Day.

It may be recalled that the team had already announced that the film's entire audio album will be released on 9 May.

'Semma Weightu', which began trending as soon as it was released, had over 1.1 million views in a matter of hours.

The song, which has been rendered by Hariharasudhan and music director Santhosh Narayanan, has its rap portions, which include Hindi and Marathi words and names of various locations in Mumbai's Dharavi area, handled by Dope Daddy, Stony Psyko, MC Mawali and Arunraja Kamaraj. The song also has a bit of beat-boxing by Beat Slayer. 

Actor Dhanush, the producer of the film and Rajinikanth's son-in-law, released the single on Twitter.

The lyrics of the song, which obviously glorify the lead character Kaala, reiterate the idea that the oppressed will no longer bow to their oppressors. The lines, 'Yaeri pesi paaru, thonga vitu thola urippom' (Try to speak with us in a high tone/ We will skin you alive), drive home the point quite forcefully that the downtrodden in the slums will no longer bow to autocracy and will skin those who look to trample upon their interests. 

The lines have been penned jointly by Arunraja Kamaraj, Dopeadelicz and Logan. While the number is called 'Semma Weightu' in Tamil, its Telugu version, which was released last night as well, is called 'Yama Greatu'.

While the lyrics have come in for praise, the music hasn't really made a great impact on audiences. While over 63,000 people expressed love for the song on YouTube by hitting the thumbs up sign, over 13,000 also indicated they were not too happy with the number. Over 13,000 people expressing unhappiness over a song featuring Rajinikanth is unusual and the team would certainly have taken note of it.

Rajinikanth, who is in the US at the moment, is scheduled to return to Chennai on 5 May, sources close to the superstar confirmed. Meanwhile, watch the Tamil and Telugu versions of the song below and let us know what you make of them.

Kaala is scheduled to be released on 7 June 2018. Click here to predict how the film will perform at the box office.