"Saami Saami" is an Indian Telugu-language song, composed by Devi Sri Prasad, with lyrics written by Chandrabose and recorded by Mounika Yadav for the soundtrack album of the 2021 Indian film Pushpa: The Rise.[1] It was released on 28 October 2021 (released on YouTube as a lyrical video song) as the third single from the album, through Aditya Music.[2] The Hindi version was released through T-Series later due to few issues regarding distribution rights of the film.[3] The full video song, featuring visuals directly from the film, was released on 7 January 2022 on YouTube.
The song was also released with the same title in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam language dubbed versions. The song was produced by Aditya Music in Bengali with the same title and was released in July 2023. The hook leg-dance step in the film, performed by the lead actor Rashmika Mandanna became widely popular and a pop-cultural phenomenon.[4][5] Although the song and the film were released in 2021, it had a consecutive commercial success throughout 2022.[6]
Background and composition
Mounika Yadav has made her recording debut with the song in Telugu.[7] Impressed by her performance in the independent folk song "Bava O Sari Rava", composer Devi Sri Prasad has signed her.[8] She has recorded the song in November 2020.[9] Rajalakshmi Senthil Ganesh, Sithara, Ananya Bhat, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shithi Saha have recorded the song in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and Bengali languages respectively.
Globally, "Saami Saami" is the most-viewed song on YouTube, followed by "Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava".[13] The music video of the song became one of the YouTube India's 2022 top music videos,[14] as declared by the YouTube's official charts.[15] The Hindi version was ranked third.[16] In February 2022, the Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam versions debuted at number three, six and twenty in the inaugural Billboard India Songs chart.[17] It has become one of the top-10 most searched regional songs in 2023 on Amazon Alexa in India, alongside "Saami Saami", "Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava", "Naatu Naatu", "Butta Bomma" and others.[18]
Live performance
Mounika Yadav performed the song at the pre-release event of the film held in December 2021 in Hyderabad.
The song received positive reception from audiences, praising the music, vocal and choreography.[24][25] The dance moves popularly known as Saami Saami hook-step, performed by Rashmika Mandanna became a pop cultural phenomenon.[26][27][28] There were many short videos created on social media, performing to the music and recreating dance sequences.[29][30] Many celebrities have also recreated the hook-step at various events.[31][32][33] Rashmika Mandanna performed to the song at the opening ceremony of 2023 Indian Premier League.[34][35] She has also performed to the song at the Zee Cine Awards 2023.[36]
The Tamil version of the song is featured in the last episode of the final season of American television series Never Have I Ever.[37][38] Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Kamala (Richa Moorjani) danced to the song at the wedding ceremony, in the episode.[39]
Notes
^Awards, festivals and organizations are in alphabetical order.
^Date is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.
