"Kesariya" is a song by Indian singer-composer

Pritam Pritam Chakraborty (born 14 June 1971), also popularly known mononymously as Pritam, is a National Award winning Indian composer, instrumentalist, music producer and singer. Graduating from FTII in Sound Engineering, he worked as an ad jin ...

, featuring singer

Arijit Singh Arijit Singh (; born 25 April 1987) is an Indian playback singer. A leading figure in contemporary Hindi film music, he is the recipient of several accolades including two National Film Awards and seven Filmfare Awards. He was conferred the P ...

. Written by

Amitabh Bhattacharya Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian Bengali lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. At the beginning of his career back in 2000's, he was working for few musicians as a singer & met Pritam, who gave him ...

and produced by Pritam, it was released as a single on July 17, 2022 via

Sony Music India Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian music record label operated by Sony and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company began operations in 1997 and was the first record company in India to be fully foreign-owned, with ...

, and was featured on the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

of the 2022 Indian film '' Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva''. The song was also released in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

as "Kumkumala", in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as "Theethiriyaai", in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

as "Kesariya Rangu" and in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

as "Kunkumamaake". "Kesariya" peaked at #1 on Billboard India, and UK Asian charts. Song crossed over 500 million views on

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 ...

as of October 2023. In April 2024, the song surpassed 500 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, marking the first Indian song to achieved this milestone.

Release

On 10 April 2022, the first single of the film's soundtrack, titled "Kesariya" was unveiled. Three days later, a teaser of the song was released. "Kesariya" was released on 17 July 2022. Official lyrical video was released on 22 August 2022, through YouTube. Dance mix of the song, recorded by Shashwat Singh and

Antara Mitra Antara Mitra (born 10 July 1987) is an Indian playback singer. Currently she is a judge on the Zee Bangla reality show, ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2024''. Early life and struggles Mitra was born in a Bengali Hindu Family in Maslandapur, West Bengal, ...

was released on 1 October. Film version of the song was released on 9 December.

Music video

The music video features

Ranbir Kapoor Ranbir Kapoor (; born 28 September 1982) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi-language films. He is one of the highest-paid actors of Hindi cinema and has featured in ''Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list since 2012. Kapoor is the re ...

and

Alia Bhatt Alia Bhatt (; born 15 March 1993) is a British actress of Indian descent who predominantly works in Hindi films. Known for Alia Bhatt filmography, her portrayals of women in challenging circumstances, she has received List of awards and nomin ...

. It was choreographed by

Ganesh Acharya Ganesh Acharya is an Indian choreographer, director and actor who works in Hindi cinema. He won the National Film Award for Best Choreography for the songs "Hawan Kund" from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and "Gori tu lath mar" from Toilet: Ek Pr ...

. The music video was shot at

Kashi Vishwanath Temple Kashi Vishwanath Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. It is located in Vishwanath Gali, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The temple is a Hindu pilgrimage site and is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines. The presiding deity is kn ...

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

and in River

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

Critical reception

Bhavna Agarwal of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' wrote "Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt present love ballad of the year". ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' wrote "Alia Bhatt promises to always stand by Ranbir Kapoor in their love anthem." ''

ABP News ABP News is an Indian Hindi-language free-to-air television news channel owned by ABP Group. Initially launched as Star News in 1998, it was later acquired by the ABP Group (ABP). It won the Best Hindi News Channel award in the 21st editi ...

'' wrote "the track showcases love-filled chemistry of Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt".

Plagiarism

The tune and composition of the song were plagiarised from songs "Laree Chootee" and "Charkha".

Other versions

The song was released in Telugu as "Kumkumala" with lyrics written by Chandrabose. The song was released in Tamil as "Theethiriyaai" with lyrics written by

Madhan Karky Madhan Karky Vairamuthu is an Indian lyricist, screenwriter, research associate, software engineer, and entrepreneur. A holder of a doctorate in computer science from the University of Queensland, Karky began his professional career as an as ...

. The song was released in Kannada as "Kesariya Rangu" with lyrics written by

Yogaraj Bhat Yogaraj Bhat (born 8 October 1972) is an Indian film-maker, director, screenwriter, lyricist and producer who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He is most known for the 2006 film '' Mungaru Male''. The film recorded the highest box-office coll ...

. The song was released in Malayalam as "Kunkumamaake" with lyrics written by

Shabareesh Varma Shabareesh Varma is an Indian lyricist, playback singer and actor who works in Malayalam films. Personal life Varma was born to P. K Nandan Varma and Sulekha Varma in North Paravur, Ernakulam. After completing his graduation from MES College ...

. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam versions of the song was sung by

Sid Sriram Sidharth Sriram (born 19 May 1990) is an Indian Carnatic musician, music producer, playback singer. He is an R&B songwriter and has been working in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and English music industry. He regul ...

alongside

Sanjith Hegde Sanjith Hegde is an Indian playback singer. Hegde has sung songs in Kannada, Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. His rendition of "Gunu Gunuguva" from the film ''Dalapathi'' composed by Charan Raj (composer), Cha ...

and

Hesham Abdul Wahab Sayyed Hesham Abdul Wahab (born 14 October 1990) is an Indian music composer, music producer and singer who predominantly works in Malayalam and Telugu cinema. He is best known for the compositions of ''Qadham Badha'' (2015), '' Hridayam'' (202 ...

Impact

The song received positive reception from audiences, praising the music. The hook step, performed by Kapoor and Bhatt, went viral on social media.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

. *

composer *

lyricist *

vocal *

Nikhita Gandhi Nikhita Gandhi (born 1 October 1991) is an Indian playback singer who has worked in Indian films in five different languages. She has worked in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, and Kannada film projects. She sang as the face of Deepika Padukone ...

additional vocal *

choreographer *

Shadab Rayeen Shadab Rayeen is Indian sound engineer. His best known work is the mix of ''Ae Dil Hai Mushkil''. He has received the "Best Recording Engineer Award" in the category of Technical Awards for the mix of ''Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'' by International Ind ...

mixing engineer, mastering engineer *

Dhrubajyoti Phukan Dhrubajyoti Phukan is a National Film Award winning musician who has worked as a Music Producer, Music Arranger and Music Programmer in Hindi Films. Widely known as DJ Phukan, he has also worked as a music director for several films. Composing ...

sound design, music arrangement

Accolades

Charts

Notes

References

External links

* {{Arijit Singh 2022 songs Songs written for Hindi-language films Songs in Hindi Songs with music by Pritam Chakraborty Arijit Singh songs Number-one singles in India Songs with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya Indian songs