In the last week, you have seen a lot of young people create Instagram Reels and videos of themselves dancing to Euro-Caribbean vocal group Boney M's super hit single Rasputin. This was after the video of two young medicos from Kerala, Naveen Razak and Janaki Omkumar dancing to the song went viral. The duo also faced communal backlash from a few fringe elements, following which more people danced to Rasputin, expressing their solidarity to the students and to stand against hate. If this was the first time that you heard Rasputin, we want to tell you more about the legendary song and the man about whom the song was written.

How old is this song anyway?
The song was released in 1978. It was part of Boney M's third studio album Nightflight to Venus.

What or who is Rasputin?
The song is based on Grigori Rasputin, the advisor of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. He was a self-proclaimed holy man. He was murdered in 1916 after there were speculations of his influence over the tsarina threatening the empire. Previously, there were other attempts of assassinating him. The son also called Rasputin the tsarina's lover.

So how did the Russians take it?
The song was quite popular in the Soviet Union at that time.  The song was omitted, however, from the Soviet pressing of the album.