If you’re a social media user, you’re unlikely to have missed the countless renditions and dance performance videos on the viral song Khalasi that have flooded social networking platforms. The Gujarati track, composed by Achint Thakkar and sung by Aditya Gadhvi, was released in July, but it became a hit during the Navratri season. Thakkar is amazed by the love it has received.

“We worked on it last year and it got a good response [when we released it in July]. But because of the sudden Navratri boom, the song had a snowball effect. I got to know the extent of the virality only a few weeks ago, when a lot of people started calling and texting,” he says, exclusively.

While the 33-year-old is still catching up with the craze around Khalasi, he adds that he is quite low-key on social media: “I didn’t know what was happening on Instagram, because I just access it to post something and leave. I am not too active. I remember seeing Quick Style (Norwegian dance group) making a reel on Khalasi,” he adds.

Interestingly, the song has got music lovers from across the board grooving, including non-Gujaratis. “This shows how inherently universal music is,” says Thakkar, adding, “It could have been in any language. We just hum the tune of so many songs, Despacito (by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi), for instance. It’s also how Punjabi music works, even if most of us don’t speak Punjabi.”