Muskurane () is a romantic Hindi song from the 2014 Bollywood film, '' CityLights''. Composed by

Jeet Gannguli Jeet Gannguli (, born Chandrajeet Ganguly, on 24 May 1977), is an Indian score composer of Bengali and Hindi movies. Early life and education Born in a Bengali Brahmin family, Gannguli was initiated into the world of music at the age of ...

, the song is sung by

Arijit Singh Arijit Singh (born 25 April 1987) is an Indian singer and music composer. He sings predominantly in Bengali and Hindi, but has also performed in various other Indian languages. He is the recipient of a National Award and six Filmfare Awar ...

, with lyrics penned by Rashmi Singh. The music video of the track features actors

Rajkummar Rao Rajkummar Rao (born Raj Kumar Yadav; 31 August 1984) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. He has appeared in more than 30 films since 2010, and is the recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, thre ...

Patralekha Patralekha (born 20 February 1989) is an Indian actress. She made her acting debut with '' CityLights'' alongside Rajkummar Rao for which she won Screen Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer. Paul made her web debut with the 2017 ALT Bal ...

and Arijit Singh.

Background

The song was composed by

with lyrics written by Rashmi Singh. The song was the last composed track from the album. The producer of the song

Mukesh Bhatt Mukesh Bhatt (born 5 June 1952) is an Indian film producer and actor who has produced several Bollywood films. He is the younger brother of Mahesh Bhatt, and also the co-owner of the production company Vishesh Films, set up in 1986. He is the ...

wanted an 'easy to hum but with depth' melodic song. It was, Ganguly's wife Chandrani who found the composition 'fantastic' while Ganguly was strumming his guitar. Immediately, he called Bhatt and played the 'mukhda' to him which he liked instantly. The following day, Ganguly composed the '

antara Antara is an Indonesian news agency organized as a statutory corporation. It is the country's national news agency, supplying news reports to many domestic media organizations. It is the only organization authorized to distribute news material ...

' of the song and played it to Bhatt and director of the film

Hansal Mehta Hansal Mehta (born 29 April 1968) is an Indian filmmaker. He started his career with television show ''Khana Khazana'' (1993–2000) and later moved on to directing films like '' Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!'' (2000), '' Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?'' (2002) a ...

, which they loved on hearing. Rashmi Singh wrote the opening lines of the song in a few hours. According to Ganguly "'' Citylights'' is not a teenage love story, it's about a couple whose love has depth and character. Rashmi's lyrics are simple, heartfelt and conversational". The song was recorded at Phatbox Studio,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, at night. The song was recorded in two to three hours. The song is a guitar-based song which fuse a

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

i folk idiom with modern music in a

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

touch. Piano was dominantly used in composition of the song with additional use of Violin in the first antara and

Esraj The (from the pa, ਇਸਰਾਜ) is an Indian stringed instrument found in two forms throughout the Indian subcontinent. It is a relatively recent instrument, being only about 300 years old. It is found in North India, primarily Punjab, wh ...

in the second antara.

Release and success

The song was released in Indian Television show '' Beintehaa'' which airs on

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment broadcast network owned by Viacom18. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, youth-oriented reality shows, shows on crime and television films. History It was launched on ...

, before releasing it on any music channel. It was released on 2 May 2014. The video of the song was officially released on the same day through the YouTube channel of

Sony Music India Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. is the record label operated by Sony in Chennai, India. The company began operation in 1997, and it was the first record company in India to be 100% foreign-owned, with Sony being a Japanese corporatio ...

. The video features Arijit Singh as well as select scenes from the film. The full song was also released as a single, the same day. During the released days, the song was positioned in many charts, and was one of the most downloaded songs during that time.

Critical reception

The song received positive response from the critics. Rajiv Vijayakar from

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provide ...

praised Singh's rendition in the song for bringing the right haunting tenor and right emotion in the song. Priya Adivarekar reviewing from Indian Express complimented vocals in the song and further stated "The melody is soothing and Rashmi's poetic lyrics perfectly suit the brilliantly-composed romantic track". Joginder Tuteja reviewing for

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

described the song as "lyrical and poetic with a lot of fluidity".

Unplugged Version

An unplugged version of the song was included in the soundtrack, composed and written by

and Rashmi Singh respectively. The song is sung by

Mohammad Irfan Ali Mohammed Irfan is an Indian playback singer who sings predominantly in Hindi. He has also sung in Tamil, Kannada, Odia, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi. Life and career Early life Irfan was born in Hyderabad and completed his schooling at ...

. The song was released along with other tracks in the soundtrack of the album on 9 May 2014.

Background

Director of the film,

wanted to incorporate two versions of the song. The romantic version being sung by

, the composer of the song

Jeet Ganguly Jeet Gannguli (, born Chandrajeet Ganguly, on 24 May 1977), is an Indian score composer of Bengali and Hindi movies. Early life and education Born in a Bengali Brahmin family, Gannguli was initiated into the world of music at the age of th ...

picked

to sing the unplugged version. The song was recorded at Phatbox Studio,

. The song was recorded in two to three hours. The lyrics of the song was slightly changed, when compared to the original song. Piano and Violin were used in the composition unlike the version rendered by Singh which used

in the second antara.

Critical reception

Joginder Tuteja reviewing for

felt the version is "equally enjoyable" as of the original. Rajiv Vijayakar from

felt this version lacks the 'vital small nuances' in the vocals which make the crucial difference compared to the romantic version of the song, though Priya Adivarekar reviewing from Indian Express felt the version of the song is "also good".

Live performances

performed the song "Muskurane" in many of his concerts. On 29 November 2014, Singh performed the song in ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' presented "NOBO –

Atif Aslam Atif Aslam is a Pakistani playback singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He has recorded many songs in both Pakistan and India, and is known for his vocal belting technique. Aslam predominantly sings in Urdu, but has also sung in Hindi, ...

& Arijit Singh Live in Concert" held in Gurgaon. Singh also performed the song live during his "

Tum Hi Ho "Tum Hi Ho" () is an Indian Hindi-language romantic song from the 2013 Indian movie '' Aashiqui 2'', sung by Arijit Singh. It was composed and written by Mithoon. Picturised on Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor, it was released by Bhushan ...

Live Concert" on 9 August 2014 at the

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

Event Center and on 10 August at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Authority control Hindi songs Hindi film songs Arijit Singh songs Songs written for films 2014 songs Songs with music by Jeet Gannguli Indian songs Songs with lyrics by Rashmi Singh