"Dilbar" is a single by Indian playback singer

Alka Yagnik Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. One of the most prominent singers of 1990s era Bollywood, she has received several accolades, including two National Film Awards, two Ben ...

, originally featured in the soundtrack of the 1999 Hindi film ''

Sirf Tum ''Sirf Tum'' () is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romance film directed by Ahathian. It was released on 11 June 1999. The film features Sanjay Kapoor, Priya Gill, Sushmita Sen, Jackie Shroff and Mohnish Behl. Shot in Nainital, Kerala and Houst ...

''. The song was composed by the music duo Nadeem-Shravan with lyrics by

Sameer Samir (also spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. In Arabic, Samir () means "holy", "jovial", "loyal", or "charming". In Albanian, it literally means "so good" but loosely "exquisite", ...

. The music video of the original song featured

Sushmita Sen Sushmita Sen (; born 19 November 1975) is an Indian actress and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Miss Universe 1994, becoming the first Indian people, Indian woman to win the title. Sen has since predominantly worked in Hindi films, ...

and

Sanjay Kapoor Sanjay Surinder Kapoor (17 October 1965) is an Indian actor and film producer. He works in Hindi cinema, Television in India, Indian television and web series. He is a member of the List of Hindi film families#Kapoor family (of Surinder Kapoo ...

. The soundtrack album of ''Sirf Tum'' sold approximately 2.2million units, making it the ninth best-selling Hindi film music album of 1999. The song later inspired a popular remake version by

Nora Fatehi Nora Fatehi (born 6 February 1992) is a Canadian dancer and actress based in India. She has appeared in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. Fatehi made her acting debut with the Hindi film ''Roar: ...

, featured in the film ''

Satyameva Jayate Satyameva Jayate (; ) is a part of a ''mantra'' from the Hindu texts, Hindu scripture ''Mundaka Upanishad''. Following the independence of India, it was adopted as the national motto of India on 26 January 1950, the day India became a Republic ...

''.

Remake version

The recreated version of the song was released with the title "Dilbar" in Satyameva Jayate under the banner of

T-Series T series or T-Series may refer to: Technology * Apple T series, a family of processors * Canon T series, a line of single lens reflex cameras * Juniper T series, a core router * Sony Ericsson T series, a series of cell phones * SPARC T series, ...

on 3 July 2018. It was written by Shabbir Ahmed and

Ikka Singh Ankit Singh Patyal (born 2 September 1988), better known by his stage names Ikka and Ikka Singh (formerly Young Amli), is an Indian rapper and lyricist. Career Ikka was a childhood friend of fellow rappers, Raftaar and Lil Golu and their e ...

, composed by

Tanishk Bagchi Tanishk Bagchi (born 23 November 1980) is an Indian music producer, composer, singer and lyricist in Hindi films. He is known for tracks like "Vaaste", "Bolna", "Ve Maahi", " Aankh Maarey" (recreated), " Dilbar" (recreated), "Jehda Nasha" (recr ...

, choreographed by Adil Shaikh and

and sung by

Neha Kakkar Neha Kakkar Singh (; née Kakkar; born 6 June 1988) is an Indian singer. She is the younger sister of playback singers Tony Kakkar and Sonu Kakkar. She began performing at a very early age at religious events. In 2005, she participated in the ...

and

Dhvani Bhanushali Dhvani Bhanushali (born 22 March 1998) is an Indian pop singer and actress. Born in Mumbai, she gained popularity with her single ''Vaaste'' in 2019 which has crossed 1.7 billion views on YouTube, making her the youngest and fastest Indian ...

, with rapping by

. Bagchi made use of the

Oud The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have ...

, a fretless

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

stringed instrument, along with

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

drums to re-envision the classic song for the new film. The music video of this song features Moroccan-Canadian dancer Nora Fatehi in an

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or special song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films ( Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu c ...

. The video heavily references

Arabic culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, in a region of the Middle East and North Africa known as the Arab world. The various religions the Arabs have adopted throughout their ...

, and the actor

John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Known for his stoic action hero persona, he is a recipient of a National Film Award along with nominations for four Filmfare Awards. Abraham ha ...

also makes an appearance. In the music video, Nora Fatehi performs belly dancing, an Arabic dance style that was previously featured in a number of popular Bollywood item numbers, performed by actresses such as Helen in "Mehbooba O Mehbooba" from ''

Sholay ''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian epic action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), hired ...

'' (1975),

Zeenat Aman Zeenat Amanullah Khan (born 19 November 1951), known professionally as Zeenat Aman, is an Indian actress and model who mainly works in Hindi films. One of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema, she established herself as one of the highest paid ...

in "Raqqasa Mera Naam" from ''

The Great Gambler ''The Great Gambler'' is a 1979 Indian crime action film directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, and Neetu Singh. It was based on the Bengali novel ''Great Gambler'' by Vikramaditya. The film's story is ba ...

'' (1979),

Mallika Sherawat Reema Lamba (born 24 October 1976), better known as Mallika Sherawat, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi language films. Known for her bold onscreen portrayal in films like '' Khwahish'' (2003) and ''Murder'' (2004), Sheraw ...

in "Mayya Mayya" from ''

Guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

'' (2007), and

Rani Mukerji Rani Mukerji (; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of multiple accolades, including eight Filmfare Awards. Mukerji has featured in listings of the leading and hi ...

in "Aga Bai" from ''

Aiyyaa ''Aiyyaa'' () is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language parody film starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Rani Mukerji in the lead roles. It was written and directed by Sachin Kundalkar and jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. The ...

'' (2012).

Reception

The remake received 20 million views on the first day of its

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

release. It became the first Indian song to reach number three on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' YouTube Music Chart. The ''Satyameva Jayate'' version of the song has received about 2billion views on YouTube, making it one of the most-viewed song on the T-Series YouTube channel. Devansh Sharma from

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

remarked, "The soul of the new track is Neha Kakkar who brings a sensual-yet-never-raunchy appeal through her vocals. Her range allows her to switch from the meditative stanzas to the uninhibited chorus like a chameleon." Shravan Shah from Missmalini said, "The original one was done so well and is so engraved in our hearts that the reprise version just doesn't match up to it." Nora's belly dancing has received wide praise, but the song has also received some mixed reactions from fans of the original song.

Arabic Dilbar

"Arabic Dilbar" is the

Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

version of this song, featuring a mix of three languages (Arabic, Hindi, and French), was released on 30 November 2018 under the banner of T-Series. Nora Fatehi made her debut as a singer in this song, as a collaboration with

Moroccan hip-hop Moroccan rap music is a Morocco, Moroccan musical style related to Rap music, rap and hip hop culture. The emergence and evolution of rap music in Morocco represent a significant chapter in the country's contemporary cultural history. While influ ...

group

Fnaire Fnaire (Arabic: فناير) is a Morocco, Moroccan hip-hop group originating from Marrakesh, Marrakech, established in 2001. The group originally consisted of four members: Mohcine Tizaf (lead vocalist and songwriter), Khalifa Mennani (composer an ...

. The song was composed by Mohcine Tizaf, with lyrics by Khalifa Mennani and Achraf Aarab, and the performance in the video for the release was choreographed by Caeser Gonsalves. Whereas the ''Satyameva Jayate'' music video heavily referenced Arabic culture, the music video for the Arabic version instead heavily references

Indian culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse nation of India, pertaining to the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and the Republic of India post-1947. ...

. In contrast to the Arabic belly dancing in the ''Satyameva Jayate'' video, Nora Fatehi and Fnaire instead perform standard

Hindi dance music Hindi dance music encompasses a wide range of songs predominantly featured in the Hindi cinema with a growing worldwide attraction. The music became popular among overseas Indians in places such as South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, the Caribbean, ...

routines in the Arabic version.

Reception

According to ''

Zee News Zee News is an Indian Hindi-language right-wing news channel owned by Subhash Chandra's Essel Group. It launched on 27 August 1999 and is the flagship channel of the Zee Media Corporation. The channel has been involved in several controve ...

'', "The song easily crossed 100 million views on YouTube within days of its release and no sooner was the social media flooded with several mashups and dance videos." Srishti Kapoor of Mumbai Mirror said, "Her debut song as a pop artist in the Middle East and North Africa, just like the original, will make one want to dance. What makes it unique though, is the use of Moroccan instruments."

References

{{authority control 1999 songs 2018 songs Alka Yagnik songs Songs in Arabic Songs in French Songs written for Hindi-language films Songs in Hindi Moroccan songs Macaronic songs Neha Kakkar songs Dhvani Bhanushali songs Pop-folk songs Songs with lyrics by Sameer Anjaan Songs with lyrics by Shabbir Ahmed (lyricist)