Flipperachi: The Bahraini rapper whose FA9LA became Dhurandhar’s surprise anthem

Flipperachi: The Bahraini rapper whose FA9LA became Dhurandhar’s surprise anthem

When Dhurandhar began travelling beyond its core Bollywood audience, it was not only the plot or the cast that started trending. A big part of the chatter centred on one sharply cut moment: a dramatic entrance sequence carried by a thumping Arabic hip-hop track called FA9LA. The song’s energy, and the way it lands in that scene, has turned it into the film’s unexpected calling card. It has also pushed a new name into Indian pop culture conversations: Flipperachi.

Flipperachi is the stage name of Hussam Aseem, a rapper from Bahrain who has been active in the region’s hip-hop circuit for years. His sound sits inside the Khaleeji tradition, which draws from the music culture of the Arabian Gulf while borrowing freely from modern rap, trap and club rhythms. The result is music that feels local in tone and language, but global in pacing and production style.

Aseem’s career has been a slow build rather than an overnight breakout. He began rapping in his teens and kept at it through the early 2000s, growing his profile track by track. Over time, he has collaborated within the region and beyond it, and his catalogue has gathered millions of streams across platforms, helped by listeners who follow Gulf rap as a scene rather than as a novelty.

FA9LA was originally released in 2024, but the track’s profile changed sharply once it was placed inside Dhurandhar. Film music often works like that: a song can live quietly for months, then explode when it becomes attached to a character moment people want to replay. In this case, the combination of a hard beat, a chant-like hook and a visually memorable entry scene created perfect material for short clips and edits.

That social-media afterlife is now part of why FA9LA is being heard far beyond the Gulf. Listeners who do not understand the lyrics still respond to its punch and rhythm, and that has made it travel in the same way many viral “scene songs” do, cutting across language and geography.

Flipperachi’s profile is not only tied to one track. He has been recognised in Bahrain’s music ecosystem and has other songs that have performed strongly with Middle East streaming audiences, including Ee Laa, Shoofha, Shino AlKalam Hatha and Nayda. Dhurandhar, however, has given him something different: a gateway into a massive new audience that is curious, reactive and quick to share what it likes.

For Flipperachi, FA9LA is now more than a song. It is a crossover moment that shows how easily a Gulf rap track can slip into a mainstream Indian film and come out with a second life.