New Delhi: A traditional folk song from Pakistan’s Mianwali region has found an unexpected new life on social media, with both Indian and Pakistani singers drawing appreciation for a melody that seems to travel more easily than the people who sing it.
“Chhalray Chhalray Waal,” a Saraiki song originally from the 1980s, has spread across Instagram and other platforms through performances by singers, police officers and musicians. Pakistani singer and social media influencer Shanzy Sial helped fuel the song’s latest resurgence with an acoustic rendition that has garnered around 50 million views and eight million likes on Instagram.
The song’s appeal then crossed the border into India, where Punjabi singer Sunanda Sharma shared her own rendition. Pakistanis appreciated her version as well.
Other performers have followed, including Nishant Mishra, a sub-inspector with the Uttar Pradesh Police, whose video of himself singing the song while playing guitar was widely shared.
For Pakistani poet Atif Touqeer, the song’s popularity across the border reflects a deeper cultural connection between the two countries.
“To me, singers on both sides of the border embracing this song show how deeply connected India and Pakistan remain. Our regional languages are among the strongest routes to our shared history. Poetry and music carry that connection into everyday life, creating space for dialogue, harmony and peace,” he said.
‘Song symbolises the diverse cultural streams’
The performers come from different religious and cultural backgrounds, but sang in a language spoken largely on both sides of Punjab, in India and Pakistan.
What then followed were multiple dissections of the song and its meaning. At the heart of the song is a portrait of romantic admiration, told from a woman’s perspective. The song’s title refers to a man’s wavy or flowing hair. Its imagery builds a detailed picture of the beloved: his appearance, his fragrance, his hair falling toward his shoulders, a black shawl draped around him and a red handkerchief in his hand.
The recurring refrain, “Teriyan reesan kaun kare,” can be translated roughly as “who could match your grace?”
However, the song is not a new discovery. It belongs to a much older repertoire of Saraiki folk music, passed between performers and reshaped through successive interpretations.
Mianwali, in northwestern Punjab, has long been associated with a distinctive tradition of folk singing. Among its best-known figures was Shafaullah Khan Rokhri, whose recordings helped bring older regional songs to wider audiences. It was he who first sang the song.
Born in 1966 in Rokhri, a village in Mianwali district, Rokhri was regarded as one of the leading voices of Saraiki music. He was often compared with Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, another celebrated singer from the region.
Rokhri became known for reviving traditional songs, including “Sammi Meri Waar”, while also recording tracks of his own, such as “Pardesi Dhola” and “Rohi”. His work frequently involved giving familiar folk material a new interpretation rather than abandoning the repertoire in favour of entirely new compositions.
His son, Zeeshan Khan Rokhri, has continued the family’s musical tradition as a singer of Saraiki and Punjabi songs. Recordings associated with Rokhri Productions have helped preserve the family’s connection to the region’s folk heritage.
Another performer associated with the song is Muhammad Hussain Bandialvi, an older folk singer whose interpretation has been cited in accounts of the song’s history. The precise origins of the composition, however, remain difficult to establish.
The cultural geography of the region is itself a reminder of the connections that predate the Partition of India, said Touqeer.
“The Saraiki belt offers a beautiful geographical image of this connection where all Indus tributaries meet. To me, that confluence also symbolises the diverse cultural streams of northern South Asia meeting and flowing together,” he said. “The Indus Valley civilisation is part of our shared heritage, reminding us that our historical connections run much deeper than our political differences. Hearing a Saraiki song find new voices and listeners across the border is a beautiful expression of that continuity.”
Also read: F-9 Park to become like London’s Hyde Park. Pakistanis ask: What about Speakers’ Corner?
‘Indus Valley civilisation part of shared heritage’
The song’s new popularity has prompted another debate among listeners in India: whether its melody resembles “Na Kajre Ki Dhar”, a Bollywood song from the 1994 film Mohra, performed by Pankaj Udhas and Sadhana Sargam.
The comparison has circulated widely online, with listeners pointing to similarities between the melodies. Even Grok was brought in to clarify amid the ensuing debate.
“The Indus Valley civilisation is part of our shared heritage,” Touqeer said, adding that he had thoroughly enjoyed the rendition and the affection with which the song was being embraced.
The song’s journey is also a reminder that folk music rarely belongs to a single moment or a single voice. It survives because performers return to it, reshape it and pass it on. After the song went viral, multiple Pakistani accounts shared how it had crossed borders and how an old Saraiki melody had found a new generation of singers and an audience on the other side of a border that music continues to cross.
“Some bonds endure despite division,” Touqeer said.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)