How Karun and Lambo Drive’s ‘Maharani’ Became a Runaway Hip-Hop Hit

Since its release on New Year’s Day, the filmy music video for “Maharani” by New Delhi artists Karun, Arpit Bala, Revo Lekhak and producer Lambo Drive has amassed 14.3 million views on YouTube.

It’s not just so much about jilted lover getting hammered and crashing an ex’s wedding or the humorous aesthetic nod to “Emosanal Attyachar” from Anurag Kashyap’s film Dev.D, but the fact that the video was made for a hugely popular song from 2021, which also was part of Karun’s 2022 album Qabool Hai.

Over a group call, Karun, Lambo Drive, Revo Lekhak and “Maharani” director Aashish Gelal aka Sheesh spoke with Rolling Stone India about the journey they took on to make the song first and then the video on a tight budget. “I don’t think any of us assumed we’d make a video for this song, either. But here we are,” Karun says.

The rapper also cites Yo Yo Honey Singh as an idol and influence for the video. “He’s taught us a lot of things. One of the things he talked about was how he made ‘Brown Rang’ and it was not that famous and then it blew up. He made a video for it after it blew up. That’s a very nice approach,” he adds.

For Karun, “Maharani” seemed like a song that would hit the mark in a bigger way compared to the other material he was working on for Qabool Hai. The video and song mirror (at least partially) a reality that Karun indicates he endured, one that pushed him to make Qabool Hai as he set aside another project. He says, “Qabool Hai was about acceptance and accepting what happened with me.”

It was in September 2021 that “Maharani” began taking shape, with the rapper writing the hook and sending it across to Lambo Drive. “I went to [artist] Sangeetkir’s home and Arpit Bala was there. They were jamming on it and I told Arpit I wanted him to do something on this. They ended up doing a verse at that point,” he says. Next, in Dehradun at 2 am, just when they were about to record more on fellow artist Nanku’s laptop, Karun says it got damaged due to a liquid spill. He adds, “From Delhi to Faridabad to Dehradun, we worked across places and worked on this. I’d gone to [singer-songwriter] Faizan’s house also and asked him to do something on it. He did a 10-minute freestyle that Nanku arranged. A lot of people were in this and when we started, I knew it was a good song. When we were uploading the album, this was the first song that I had a good feeling about – it’s very catchy and I still love it.”

Like any creative work, Karun says there was much deliberation from the artists involved, like Arpit Bala not being fully confident about his verse that opens “Maharani.” At over six minutes, it’s not exactly new territory for artists from the Teesri Duniya roster, but Karun does say they had to keep extending the beat by Lambo Drive to accommodate Revo Lekhak’s bars in his local tongue Garhwali (hailing from Uttarakhand) and Faizan’s guitar leads. Revo wrote his part within a couple of days when he was hanging out with rappers like Dhanji and Frappe Ash. Revo says, “When I got in on it, the hook was there, Faizan’s guitar loop was on there and stretched to 10 minutes, Arpit’s verse was also there. It was quite clear at that time and the song had direction, so I knew what I had to do. It was pretty easy that way, within one or two days.”

Revo talks about the importance of writing in Garhwali, which was encouraged by Karun after the latter had heard Revo’s 2020 single “Ghati Gxng.” He says, “That was my goal and the value I wanted to add to this track, in terms of representing where I came from and wanted to bring forward Garhwali in a way that hadn’t been done forward.” On the production front, Lambo Drive recounts how he was following a few YouTube channels that upload old songs. “I was looking randomly and I found one and heard it, the vibe hit and I knew I had to work on it. I downloaded it, sampled it. It was a normal beat and simple with not a lot of depth, but when I sent it to Karun was when things started rolling,” the producer says.

Visually, Sheesh says the screenplay was written as a homage to “Meri Jaan” from the cult film Om-Dar-B-Dar (1988) and of course, “Emosanal Attyachar,” which itself was drawing from “Meri Jaan.” The video for “Maharani” has a screenplay written by Karun, Sheesh, Pratham Mishra, Arpit Bala and Revo Lekhak and is shot by director of photography Shubh Sandhu.

Sheesh says they kept the tribute in mind as they “made the story” while talking on Discord. It follows a bride [essayed by Supra Moughal] and groom [played by artist Vasu Raina, who was also present on chat] celebrating their wedding, with Karun [playing the role of “Aashiq”) drowning his miseries in alcohol before showing up to raise hell. Sheesh adds, “It has this dreamy effect and colors are slightly de-enhanced to give this melancholic feel. I hope that came through.”

Lambo – who plays a keyboardist in the wedding band on stage in the video – says his acting directions, among other tips, were to use Kanye West as a reference from his music videos. Revo adds, “I was told it was a sort of homage to Dev.D and ‘Emosanal Attyachar.’ I hadn’t even seen the video to that song and quickly saw the video [on set] and got into that character, just waving my arms around. It felt like we were at a friend’s wedding and we’re all having fun.” The video also features cameos from New Delhi artists like Chaar Diwaari, who wears a typically puzzled look in amidst the chaos, Frappe Ash and Nanku.

While Sheesh says there was “no budget” and they pulled things off independently, Karun adds that they used royalties from previous releases and an advance given to the rapper by his father. It could have gone other ways with “Maharani,” according to Karun. “Before the song went viral, we’d been approached by a producer from Bollywood as well. There have been two meetings for this song for a movie, with a production house. It was for a big feature film,” he adds.

Now, the independent spirit of the artists is there for everyone to see. Karun recalls he met an artist manager in Mumbai recently who asked about how “Maharani” reached millions when there was no influencer or any music industry backing for it. “I said, ‘Because it’s good. It’s organic.’ We have that audience right from Teesri Duniya times and we’ve been working. They know what we do and trust in us,” Karun says.