The video shows a pandit at a local Puja pandal in Kolkata performing the dhunuchi naachh to the tune of Manike Mage Hithe.
In the video, the pandit carries out the evening’s aarti with the dhunuchi, an earthen incense burner. The dhunuchi naach is usually performed to the beats of the dhak and has become an integral part of Durga Puja.
A YouTuber from Kolkata, Roaming Barun, shared the 31-second video on his channel resulting in a viral YouTube video that notched up close to 56,000 views in five days.
Why did this performance grab so much attention? Possibly because of the unassuming combination — the priest’s choreography to the supple rhythms of Manike Mage Hithe by Sri Lankan singer Yohani Diloka De Silva. The Manike track garnered over 163 million views on the original upload on YouTube.
Several netizens’ performances to Satheeshan Rathnayaka’s Manike Mage Hithe have gone viral in the past; from Yohani’s cover that hit 91 million views to the IndiGo air hostess who used the number as a backdrop in a hit Instagram reel and now, Roaming Barun’s 31 seconds of the dhunuchi naachh.
We can’t wait for the next Manike Mage Hithe spin-off!