The song Kala Chashma, which originated in a small Punjab village and made its way to Bollywood, has gone into being a viral TikTok dance trend that has gripped everyone from RushTok pledges to Jimmy Fallon.

The song, which appeared on the soundtrack of the 2016 Bollywood film Baar Baar Dekho, also has an unusual lyricist: Amrik Singh Shera, a Punjab police constable who was only 15 years old when he composed the song in 1990.

Also read: Kala Chashma: How a Punjab police constable, Amrik Singh Shera’s song gained global recognition

Who is Amrik Singh Shera?

Shera, 48, said as a teenager, he never imagined his song would end up in a Bollywood film, let alone thousands of videos around the world.

Shera was born and brought up in Talwandi Chaudhrian, a village in the Kapurthala district, one of Punjab’s smallest. He claimed that everyone in the village aspired to be unique and famous. Shera’s ambition was to become a songwriter.

He said he got the idea for the song while visiting a friend in Chandigarh, the state capital of Punjab.

“Chandigarh is such a big city and everyone is so different there compared to my village. I wanted to see what it was like,” he explained.

Shera claims that he got off the bus in a traffic circle near Chandigarh and saw a beautiful woman.

“She was wearing black sunglasses and jeans,” he explained. “I knew if she was in our village, everyone would stop and admire her beauty.”

The chorus starts with the lyrics “Tenu kala chashma,” which translates to “black sunglasses on you.” “Tenu kala chashma jachda ae, Jachda ae gore mukhde te,” the chorus continues, which means “the black sunglasses look good on you, it suits your fair face.”

Shera enlisted in the Punjab police force a year after finishing high school to have a steady income while still pursuing his passion for songwriting.

Shera claimed that over the years, he had garnered little recognition for his song.

Shera claims that in 2016, the Punjab-based music label Angel Records Entertainment approached him and offered 11,000 rupees to buy the rights to the lyrics for use in a cement company commercial. Shera stated that he had no idea the song was used in the film Baar Baar Dekho until a friend who saw it notified him.