The acclaimed Netflix series Kohrra gave a song from three years ago its Running Up That Hill moment. Kate Bush’s 1985 song exploded once again on the charts after featuring in Stranger Things in 2022. Similarly, Bas Tere Karke has been rediscovered after turning up in Kohrra.

A typical comment on the moody black-and-white YouTube video for the song: “Thanx to Kohrra, I find this masterpiece. Where you been dude.” Hiding in plain sight, that is where.

The song’s impact is purely a result of placement. Bas Tere Karke, Punjabi, roughly, for “All because of you”, comes at the end of six episodes. A vexing murder has seemingly been solved, but one isn’t sure that this is the actual resolution or the ending desired by the main police investigator (played with gruff dignity by Suvinder Vicky). The heartbeat-like beats play over a montage of various characters moving on from heartbreak or embracing new beginnings. 

A woman has reunited with her lover, a wedding is underway, a man has accepted the loss of his girlfriend. And yet, why isn’t anybody truly happy? Kohrra is about the messy nature of passion, and finds the perfect song to express its overarching themes.

The increasing importance given to music by web series can sometimes be distracting – surely this isn’t what we signed up for? But when a song is right and is properly timed, the impact can be tremendous.

The Prime Video show Jubilee, which was released before Kohrra