How an Old Hindi Song Became a New Diplomatic Moment

Diplomacy normally has a familiar soundtrack: formal statements, handshakes, carefully negotiated phrases and microphones that seem to multiply whenever a leader enters a room.

But in New Delhi this week, diplomacy briefly found a different rhythm.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim picked up a microphone and sang Kishore Kumar’s “Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat,” the evergreen Hindi song from the 1965 film Teen Devian.

The moment, captured on video, quickly travelled far beyond the room where it happened. The accompanying pianist was Indian musician M. Rehman, and the performance took place during a gala dinner associated with the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.

Within days, the clip had become one of those rare diplomatic moments that ordinary social-media users could enjoy without needing a briefing note to understand it.

There was no complicated communiqué to decode.

Someone was simply singing a beloved Hindi song.

Anwar and Kishore Kumar — not exactly a new acquaintance

The viral performance may have surprised viewers who knew Anwar primarily as Malaysia’s prime minister, but his connection with Indian music is not new.

During an earlier India visit, Anwar had already performed Mukesh’s “Dost Dost Na Raha” at an event in Delhi in 2024.

He has also spoken about his appreciation for Indian cinema and music, extending beyond Hindi films to South Indian cinema and figures such as the legendary Tamil actor-politician M.G. Ramachandran.

So when the piano began playing Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat, this was not simply a leader discovering Bollywood for the cameras.

It was another public expression of a long-standing musical interest.

And that probably explains why the moment felt more natural than staged.

Why this particular song?

There is an interesting cultural detail here.

Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat was released in 1965 in Dev Anand’s Teen Devian. Kishore Kumar provided the vocals, while S.D. Burman composed the music and Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote the lyrics.

It belongs to the golden-era Hindi film music tradition that travelled remarkably well beyond India’s borders.

Long before YouTube, Instagram or streaming platforms, Hindi films and songs were already crossing national boundaries through cinema halls, television, radio, cassette tapes and personal collections.

Malaysia was among the countries where Indian cinema developed a significant audience.

That history is important because it explains why an old Hindi song can still feel familiar to people who did not grow up in India.

From Delhi dinner to a global social-media moment

The performance became particularly interesting because of what happened after the singing stopped.

Anwar shared a video of the performance on social media, and The Star reported on September 14 that the original post had passed 1.4 million views. The 1-minute-32-second video was subsequently widely shared in India, generating positive reactions across social platforms.

The response was not really about whether Anwar could compete with Kishore Kumar.

That would be a rather unfair audition.

Instead, viewers appeared to respond to the informality of the moment — a political leader participating in something familiar to millions of Indians without the usual diplomatic distance.

In other words, the video succeeded precisely because it did not look like a policy document.

The surprising power of Indian popular culture

The episode points to something larger about India’s international cultural reach.

India’s global influence is often discussed through technology, pharmaceuticals, trade, the Indian diaspora or strategic partnerships.

But popular culture operates differently.

A song can travel without a visa.

A melody does not need a bilateral agreement.

And a 61-year-old Hindi film song can suddenly become relevant to a new generation because a Malaysian prime minister sings it in New Delhi.

That is soft power in one of its most informal forms — although the term should not be stretched too far. A viral song does not automatically transform foreign policy or diplomatic relations.

But it can create familiarity.

And familiarity can make international relationships feel less distant.

The pianist who unexpectedly became part of the story

There was another person at the piano who found himself unexpectedly pulled into the global spotlight.

Indian pianist M. Rehman accompanied Anwar during the performance. In an interview with The Star, Rehman said he was happy that people around the world were seeing him and that his face was being shown internationally.

It is a small but revealing detail.

The internet has a habit of turning supporting characters into overnight personalities.

One minute you are playing piano at a formal event.

The next, your performance partner is the prime minister of another country and your face is appearing across international media.

Sometimes the internet’s career counselling department works very quickly.

And then came the Bollywood playlist

The musical moment did not end with Kishore Kumar.

Following the BRICS summit, Anwar attracted additional attention for the Bollywood songs he selected for photographs and posts from his India visit.

For a photograph with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he used “Dil To Pagal Hai”, while other posts featured tracks including “Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega” and other popular Hindi-film songs.

The selections added a distinctly Indian-pop-culture layer to his social-media storytelling.

That is notable because today’s diplomacy increasingly happens in two places at once.

There is the formal diplomatic space — meetings, statements and agreements.

And there is the digital space, where leaders communicate directly with millions of people.

The second space is much less predictable.

A carefully drafted statement can take hours to circulate.

A familiar song can travel in minutes.

More than a viral video?

It would be tempting to describe Anwar’s performance as a major diplomatic breakthrough.

There is no evidence to support such a conclusion.

The India-Malaysia relationship is built on much more substantial foundations, including political dialogue, economic ties, tourism, technology cooperation and people-to-people connections.

The BRICS summit itself dealt with major geopolitical and economic issues. The musical episode was a lighter cultural moment within that much larger diplomatic engagement.

But dismissing it as merely a social-media gimmick would also miss something.

Culture creates a different kind of connection.

People may forget the precise wording of a summit statement. They may not remember every photograph from a diplomatic dinner.

They are more likely to remember the foreign leader who unexpectedly sang a song their parents once played.

That memory has value.

Doonited Editorial Perspective

The most interesting lesson from Anwar Ibrahim’s Kishore Kumar moment is that cultural diplomacy does not always need to be manufactured.

The strongest cultural exchanges often happen naturally.

India has spent decades exporting films, music, food, fashion and television to audiences around the world. Much of that influence was never part of a formal government programme. It simply happened because people liked the material.

Anwar’s performance demonstrates the reverse side of that cultural exchange.

An overseas leader did not merely visit India and attend meetings.

He participated in something recognisably Indian.

That does not replace diplomacy.

But it humanises it.

And perhaps that is the real reason the video travelled so quickly.

The Doonited Insight

The world does not always connect with India through India’s official messages. Sometimes it connects through India’s songs.

Kishore Kumar recorded Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat more than six decades ago.

In September 2026, a Malaysian prime minister sang it in New Delhi.

The song did not need a translation to cross the border.

That may be one of popular culture’s most remarkable powers — it can make geography feel smaller without pretending that differences do not exist.