Raga of Revenge: How Anirudh Ravichander made instrumental music cooler than lyrics in Indian pop culture

There was a time when Indian music listeners were mesmerised by a song’s lyrics, spending time memorising and singing them. For decades, Indian music revolved around lyrics, with audiences remembering emotional lines, romantic melodies, and poetic hooks long after the movie had faded from the limelight. There is no Indian who doesn’t know “Lag Ja Gale”, “Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein”, “Pehla Nasha”, “Chaiyya Chaiyya”, or “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga”.


But now, social media culture has changed how a person consumes music. Now people enjoy beat drops more than the verses, they fanboy over mass entry scores than full songs, and fall in love with background music instead of hooklines. Somewhere between mass entry edits to gym transformation playlists, people collectively decided:

“Who needs words when a bass drop can shake an audience and give goosebumps?”

Somehow, Anirudh was successful in understanding the upcoming music culture and made music that shook the internet. And honestly, he knows what he is doing, and nobody represents this cultural shift more than him. At this point, he is not making music; he is manufacturing aura. His music has turned into an emotion, a motivation.

“Raga of Revenge” is the latest banger released by Anirudh Ravichander, and it is already trending all over social media. Much like “Hukum,” “Badass”. The Vikram title track, “Raga of Revenge” is receiving immense love and recognition. Creators are using it as background music for their content, while fans continue recreating its magic across the internet. This new score is packed with aggressive beats and cinematic tension, feels like it is designed for today’s reel culture.


Through his music, he is redefining the meaning of background music. His music is never in the background. Even when a movie fails, his songs never fade away with it. His works have a major influence on how music culture is taking a shift in India. People may forget a movie, the plot, and even the characters, but a particular beat will always remain a place in the brain. Anirudh understood that well.

His music blends well with today’s internet culture. Social media doesn’t really care about the lyrics or the meaning of a song. The only thing that matters is whether it is enjoyable. Social media wants hype, mass, instant goosebumps, and instant main character energy. Anirudh’s music scores full marks in all these segments. That’s why whenever he releases a banger, social media is on fire. For his music, there is no risk of language because most of his music is instrumental magic.

Let’s be honest, “Hukkum” from Jailer was not just a song; it was a big player in the aura edits. The very second of the instrumental drop, people get goosebumps and feel the main character's energy. Suddenly, reels are filled with this soundtrack, supported by people walking like gangsters or like some rich, powerful person. Most of the people have not even watched the movie, but the instrumental score was enough for the hype. Instagram used these audios for gym edits, aggressive slow motion and mass edits.


Then came “Badass” from Leo, which felt like anger lifting weights. The heavy guitars and dark bass turned ordinary activities like drinking coffee or posting mirror selfies into full sigma edits. The track quickly became the soundtrack for rage edits, villain reels and gym transformations. At this point, Anirudh’s music feels like protein powder for mass content online.

And then there was the iconic “Vikram Title Track” from Vikram, which completely took over the internet. The drums and chants became unavoidable in meme edits, gaming intros, reaction videos and dramatic reels. Even people who never watched the film recognised the theme instantly because social media turned it into pop culture. That was the moment it became clear: Anirudh’s instrumentals were no longer background scores; they had an aura of their own.

Without any word or definition, instrumental music easily trends on social media. Instrumentals work better online because they cross language barriers effortlessly. Lyrics have a language barrier; lyrics need to be understood to be completely enjoyed. While instruments only need emotion. India is a diverse country with multiple languages.


Whether a person speaks Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam or Bengali, they still can understand. Confidence, rage, revenge, tension and even swag are delivered through music. That’s why this type of music succeeds in social media. That’s where Anirudh’s magic works and captures the audience's attention. His magic communicates with pure feelings that don’t need a translation. Modern music culture doesn’t need deep meaning, they need deep emotions.