Sometime in 2021, on their way back from a promotional activity, filmmaker Mohit Suri and composer-lyricist Mithoon were sharing a ride when the director shared a brainwave for what would become Saiyaara, the romantic musical whose songs have broken into global Billboard and Spotify streaming charts in the past week.
Mithoon, who has worked with Suri right from the latter’s directorial debuts Zeher and Kalyug in 2005, says, “He thought about how a musician, or any artist, may not have the world, but their art is the world to them. It could be the poorest person in the world. I’d say, at the same time, their art makes them the richest. This value of art and this value of music is something that we wanted to translate into a song.” It led to the airy, dreamy song “Dhun,” sung by Arijit Singh, and more importantly, a starting point for the music and story of Saiyaara.
Suri tells Rolling Stone India, “I don’t think the honesty and the simplicity that I needed for ‘Dhun’ could be done by anyone other than Mithoon. His music has that in it.”
A story revolving around a musician and a poet in love surely needed a solid soundtrack, and Suri recognized that. While the soundtrack album was released on July 4, the songs got more impetus after the theatrical release of Saiyaara on July 18, 2025. The rock-driven title track, composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah, and Arslan Nizami, written by Irshad Kamil and featuring Abdullah as singer, charted at No. 10 on the Billboard Global 200 and went from the 177th place to number 4 on the Global Excl. U.S. chart. It also went to the top spot of the Spotify Top 50 Global Viral charts last week.
Abdullah, who was tapped for his first film project after his millions-streamed song “Ishq” from 2024, says, “Just like when ‘Ishq’ first made it to the charts, it felt unbelievable. And now seeing ‘Saiyaara’ breaking records and being the first Hindi/Urdu song to be at number 4 globally, it is no less than magic.” Nizami adds, “For both of us, it’s also deeply personal. We come from Kashmir, from a place full of stories, silence, and songs. To carry even a little bit of that into a film that reaches so many, it means everything.”
Deeply intertwined with the visual storytelling of Suri, and also perhaps a clutter-breaker in the Punjabi music-dominated Bollywood songs, the Saiyaara soundtrack was entirely led by Suri in a hands-on fashion, much like with his previous film songs. It also served as a secret PR weapon for the film ahead of its release, luring in audiences before they could catch a glimpse of the rookie actors’ debuts.
Suri says, “Considering there were no known names attached to the star cast, we actually cast the music first. I remember telling my producer that we will not start shooting till we have recorded all the songs because this is the star of the film.”
The sound of Saiyaara is also an outcome of Suri thoroughly loving the music-making process. He calls it one of the most important parts of filmmaking, and disagrees with filmmakers who only focus on the movie and leave it up to labels and music companies to “plant the music and push the kind of songs they want in the film.” “But that’s somehow never happened to me,” he adds. “Maybe I enjoy that whole process of meeting a musician, jamming with him, getting a singer on board, getting a lyric writer on board, fighting, struggling, and then something magically comes out in the air and that’s a great song.”
The soundtrack also brings in Vishal Mishra and Hansika Pareek with lyricist Raj Shekhar on the electro-pop “Tum Ho Toh,” a sprawling pop-rock song called “Humsafar” by Sachet-Parampara (with lyrics by Kamil and Prashant Pandey), and a shimmering R&B-informed song “Barbaad” by The Rish and sung by Jubin Nautiyal. Reprise versions of “Barbaad” and “Saiyaara” feature Shilpa Rao and Shreya Ghoshal, respectively, making for one star-packed lineup of new and seasoned artists working with Suri.
For seasoned artists like Mithoon and Bagchi, it was about taking on a new storytelling challenge, but with the comfort of a familiar collaborator like Suri. Mithoon says, “The situation changes every time, but our principles, our work ethic, and the way we [Suri and I] bond over music hasn’t changed over 20 years.” While they originally wanted a newer, younger voice for “Dhun” to reflect the fresh-faced male protagonist essayed by Ahaan Panday, they didn’t want to necessarily portray a vulnerability in the voice on the song. “I wanted to put the command and the maturity that Arijit has, for this character. It was a very interesting decision that Mohit and me took together, and I’m glad that it’s paid off so well,” Mithoon says.
Bagchi, for his part, adds, “I really wanted to strike a balance between depth and simplicity, something that could feel timeless, yet rooted in emotion. We used a lot of live instruments, and I was very particular about every sound, and every voice—each layer had to feel like it belonged to the journey of the characters.”
He’s particularly happy that Suri gave him the freedom to work with Abdulah and Nizami on the song. “This film is about artists, and I believe that’s why the music connected: it came from a place of truth,” Bagchi points out.
Abdullah, for his part, says he had no idea what to expect when the title track from Saiyaara went up. “That is the best thing about doing something for the first time. For someone who comes from an indie background, film music can be a new learning curve. I wanted to see how I function when I am put into a different box.”
Lyrically, Kamil says he first wrote the poem that appears during the opening scenes of the film, which led him into “the innocent, fragile and complex nature of love that this film is evoking.” Writing the title track as well as “Humsafar,” Kamil adds, “Every situation in the film was a battlefield of emotions for me. I was gravitating towards purity, rawness, and vulnerability.”
The Rish’s “Barbaad” with Jubin Nautiyal and Shilpa Rao came from the artist being introduced to Suri via Saiyaara’s music supervisor, Yash Anand. The Rish had the song idea in his vault. He says, “I remember when I first made the song, I’d played it to my peer, who’s a producer, and we were both saying how Mohit Suri-coded this melody is.”
In addition to working with Nautiyal (“His soul made the song what it is,” Rish says), the artist also created a female version for Shilpa Rao, offering lyrical counterpoints that made each version feel like a thinking-out-loud yet intimate conversation between the two protagonists in the film. “The female version lyrics are special to me. I feel like while the male version ends on the thought of surrender, the female version (“Haari main, haari main”) ends on the thought of defeat. Both, while sounding negative, are written by me as feelings that are good for the person that’s going through them,” The Rish says.
Suri describes “Barbaad” slightly differently: “‘Barbaad,’ contrary to the word which, in isolation, feels all about destruction, it is actually a song about falling in love. It’s a guy reluctant to fall in love, [that] is what the [current] generation is catering to.”
Often drawn to working with newer musicians (it started out of frustration when a “senior music director” would not sign on with Suri), the filmmaker says he’s always going to launch “one new music director and one new voice in every film.” He adds, “I think when we get successful and we have a lot of praise, we tend to distance ourselves from the people who are really making the music on the ground, in the streets, in the bars, in the clubs, in the coffee shops. We start moving in cars and sitting in high-rise buildings and not hearing them. I think by looking and seeking out that one new person all the time, you are always keeping your music relevant. So honestly, I don’t think I have given these new people a chance… I think they have kept me relevant for 20 years.”
Inspired by the music of Aashiqui and intending to craft the music of Saiyaara as a tribute to romantic movie soundtracks, Suri cites Yash Chopra films like Chandni and Veer Zara as well as his mentor Mahesh Bhatt’s films, including Phir Teri Kahaani Yaad Aayi. He says, “There could be some films of his that the film didn’t do well, but it was never that the music didn’t succeed.” There’s also the works on Nadeem-Shravan, A.R. Rahman, and soundtracks like 1942: A Love Story by R.D. Burman.
“I have never strived to hit the charts,” Suri says. “I’m very happy they [the songs] have. It’s just a validation that the work that you put in, the love that you put into the music, has been accepted and is making a mark in history. But it also adds the pressure, like, ‘When will be the next time?”
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