Replay: 'Tadap' And The Arijit Singh Ballad That Outlived Its Film

There are three Hindi films called Tadap. This is the 2021 one, Milan Luthria's romantic action thriller for producer Sajid Nadiadwala, which introduced Ahan Shetty opposite Tara Sutaria. A remake of Ajay Bhupathi's Telugu film RX 100, it was moved from September and reached cinemas on 3 December 2021. Reviews were mixed. The music was one of the things critics did like.

Pritam wrote the songs and Irshad Kamil the lyrics. John Stewart Eduri handled the background score. T-Series released the singles one by one through November and the eight-track album on the film's opening day. The setting is Mussoorie, and the songs suit it: big-hearted, unfashionable romance with the hills behind it.

'Tumse Bhi Zyada'

The first single, released on 3 November, is the reason people still search for this album. Arijit Singh sings a slow-building ballad, with Ashish Pandit sharing the lyric credit. The session list is a pleasure to read: Alan Hertz on drums, Ridu Shaw on guitar, Roland Fernandes on bass, Shirish Malhotra on sax, flute and clarinet, and a row of dholak and tabla players, all arranged and produced by Prasad Sashte. With that many players, you can hear the room. The vocal floats over strummed acoustic guitar and hand-played percussion, and Singh doesn't oversell a lyric that's already doing the work. The opening minute takes its time getting to the point, a patience the radio edit never quite had, but by the first chorus the band has earned it. Few people now could tell you the film's plot, yet T-Series' lyric video alone is past 180 million views, which is the cleanest proof that a song can outlive its picture.

'Hoye Ishq Na'

The fourth single, out on 27 November, sold the film's turn from romance to grief. B Praak sings with the cracked, wounded edge that's his trademark, and Dino James and Akashdeep Sengupta are credited with him. Kamil's lyric about love that won't let go gives Praak plenty to push against. Pritam keeps the arrangement out of his way, mostly strings and a heavy, patient beat. It's the song that turns up on late-night heartbreak playlists, the one people admit to playing in the car with the windows up. It is a song pitched at full volume from the first line, which suits a lover at the end of his rope, and Praak knows exactly how far he can push before the ache tips into shouting. He stays just this side of it.

'Tere Siva Jag Mein'

Shilpa Rao, Darshan Raval and Shashwat Singh share the tune, and Charan adds a rap. At under three and a half minutes it's the tightest of the originals and the most current-sounding song here, all bright pop sheen. Rao and Raval play off each other nicely. Charan's verse arrives like a guest who knows the playlist better than the film, and the song is bright enough to absorb him. Raval later cut a solo edit of his own, which says the tune travels.

'Tu Mera Hogaya Hai'

Jubin Nautiyal gets the most openly 1990s song on the album, a swooning love song you could drop into a Kumar Sanu film without anyone noticing. Nautiyal sings it wide open, the way the style demands. It was the quiet one at release, and it has crept up on people since, the kind of song that gets requested at a wedding by someone who can't remember the film it came from. Kamil gives him a lyric of moons and promises that a 1994 audience would have recognised instantly, and Pritam leans into the nostalgia rather than apologising for it. Javed Ali's encore of the song, later on the album, proves how sturdy the melody is in another voice. It's the song that most rewards a second listen.

(Source: official soundtrack credits, T-Series release, Spotify and YouTube)