"Raabta" () is a romantic song from the 2012 Hindi film, '' Agent Vinod''. Composed by

Pritam Chakraborty 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 ...

, the song is sung by

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 ...

, with lyrics penned 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 ...

. The music video of the track features actors

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. The titular head of the Pataudi family since 2011, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore a ...

and

Kareena Kapoor Khan Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress. A prolific leading lady of Hindi cinema since 2000, she is noted for her roles in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas. Kapoor is the recipient ...

, and the remix video of the song stars

Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone (; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She is India's highest-paid actress, as of 2023, and List of awards and nominations received by Deepika Padukone, her accolades include thre ...

Sushant Singh Rajput Sushant Singh Rajput (21 January 1986 – 14 June 2020) was an Indian actor best known for his work in Hindi cinema. He earned acclaim for his performances in several notable films, including ''Kai Po Che!'' (2013), ''Detective Byomkesh Bakshy ...

Kriti Sanon Kriti Sanon (born 27 July 1990) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She has received a National Film Award and two Filmfare Awards, and was featured in ''Forbes India'' Forbes Celebrity 100, Celebrity 100 list of 2019. Af ...

and

Jim Sarbh Jim Sarbh (born 27 August 1987) is an Indian actor known for his work in films and stage productions. He has received several awards including a Filmfare OTT Award, and an IIFA Award with a nomination for an International Emmy Award. Addition ...

from ''Raabta''.(2017). The song has 3 other versions included in the soundtrack of the album titled, "Raabta (Night in a Motel)", "Raabta (Siyaah Raatein)" and "Raabta (Kehte Hain Khuda Ne)" which features vocals by

Aditi Singh Sharma Aditi Singh Sharma is an Indian playback singer. She made her playback singing debut in Bollywood with Anurag Kashyap's ''Dev.D''. Sharma is known for her work in movies like ''Dev.D'', ''No One Killed Jessica'', ''Dhoom 3'', ''2 States (2014 f ...

Hamsika Iyer Hamsika Iyer (born 12 April 1972) is an Indian singer based in Mumbai. She is a regular voice with ad world jingles and Marathi tele-serials, and has sung songs in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali movies. International collaborati ...

and

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (; born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and influential singers of India. Often referred to as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable voc ...

respectively, and also has another version titled, "Raabta Title Song" from the film ''Raabta'' which features vocals by

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 ...

, with additional vocals by Singh for all 4 versions.

Release

The first 4 versions of the song were released on 10 February 2012 along with other tracks in the album. The music video of the song was officially released on 9 March 2012, through the YouTube channel of T-Series. The version of the song used in this music video is the original version by

. However, the "Night in Motel" version, sung by

along with Singh, is used in the film. The first 4 versions of the song collectively, were ranked at #7 in the list of "Best Songs of 2012" published by ''Bollywood Spice'' on 8 January 2013.

was included in the list of "Best Male Singer 2012" published by ''Koimoi'' on 2 January 2013. The song was placed at #3 in the list of "The most popular love song on ''

Gaana Gaana (or Gānā) is a genre of Tamil music, which is sung in the Madras Bashai dialect of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is Rapping, rap-like "collection of rhythms, beats and sensibilities native to the Madras people." It evolved over the pa ...

''" which was published by ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian 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, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' on

14 February It is observed in most countries as Valentine's Day. Events Pre-1600 * 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the A ...

2013. The remix version of the song was released on 27 April 2017 alongside much fanfare with the new trend of remixing old songs taking over movies. The song has more than 35 million views on YouTube within a month's time. It was also praised for its beat and the video.

Critical reception

The composition of the song by

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 ...

, lyrics by

Irshad Kamil Dr. Irshad Kamil (born 5 September 1971) is an Indian poet and lyricist. His songs appeared in Bollywood films including ''Jab We Met'', '' Chameli'', '' Love Aaj Kal'', '' Rockstar'', '' Laila Majnu'', ''Aashiqui 2'', ''Raanjhanaa'', ''Highw ...

and renditions by the singers in their respective versions were well received by the reviewers. ''

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

s Joginder Tuteja praised all 4 versions of the song and commented: "Special mention for lyricist Bhattacharya who indeed ends up getting something new to cheer about and demonstrates once again that he has a good knack of playing around with words".

Night in a Motel

Background

The song marks the first time

has lent her voice for

, the next being "Main Heroine Hoon" from ''

Heroine A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

'' (2012). Sharma was nominated for the

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

New Musical Sensation Singer – Female award for her rendition in the version of the song, along with "Main Heroine Hoon". This version of the song was used in the film from the 4 versions and was incorrectly credited to

instead of Sharma on the CD cover, though Iyer's vocals are used in the digital release of "Night in a Motel". Compared to Singh's solo version, the production of "Night in Motel" is largely piano-based, with a notable

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

section preceding Singh's verse.

Critical reception

The version along with "Kehte Hain Khuda Ne" by

was picked as best tracks in the album by ''

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...

s Rachit Gupta.

Siyaah Raatein

The third version of the song titled "Raabta (Siyaah Raatein)" is sung by

. In comparison, by the composition of the song, to that of the version "Night in a Motel", an electric guitar is added to the tune and the

drum beat A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes ...

is softened, apart from the use of piano. Additional English vocals were rendered by Joi, in the version of the song.

Kehte Hain Khuda Ne

The final version of the song titled "Raabta (Kehte Hain Khuda Ne)" () is sung by

, over the same instrumental track as Hamsika Iyer's version. The lyrics included in the version by

are the same as the original version.

Critical reception

s Rachit Gupta picked the version by Ghoshal and the version "Night in a Motel" by

for the best track in the album.

2017 Remake

A remake of the song, also produced by Pritam, was used as the title track for the 2017 film '' Raabta''. The song was sung by

with

also returning. The music video stars

in a cameo role alongside the film's stars

and

. The video is produced by T-Series.

T-Series Mixtape version

Shirley Setia Shirley Setia is a New Zealand singer and actress known for her work in the Indian film and music industries. Born in Daman, India, in the former union territory of Daman and Diu, she immigrated with her family to Auckland and gained attentio ...

and

Jubin Nautiyal Jubin Nautiyal (born 14 June 1989) is an Indian playback singer and live performer. In June 2022, he won the IIFA award for "Playback Singer (Male)" for the song "Raataan Lambiyan" from '' Shershaah'' and "Upcoming Male Vocalist of the Year" a ...

sang the Mixtape version of the song "Tu Jo Mila Raabta", which is a medley of "Raabta" and "Tu Jo Mila" from ''

Bajrangi Bhaijaan ''Bajrangi Bhaijaan'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Kabir Khan, based on an original story by screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, and produced by Salman Khan, Rockline Venkatesh and Kabir Kh ...

'', which was also composed by

, with lyrics by

Kausar Munir Kausar Munir is an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer who works in Hindi cinema. Biography Munir was born and brought up in Bandra, Mumbai. She graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Munir married actor Nirmal Pa ...

Live performance

The music-composer

performed the song live in IIFA Rocks 2013 along with

and

, which also celebrated 100 years of

Indian cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

. Singh performed the song on 30 December 2013, on the concert "Salaam Dubai" which was organised by Oberoi Middle East. He also performed the song at a private concert for the Connoisseurs Club

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

on 7 November 2014. On 19 October 2014, singer

performed the song at her concert which was held at

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the ...

. Aditi Singh Sharma also performed the love ballad, at the

Atif Aslam Atif Aslam (; born 12 March 1983) is a Pakistani playback singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He has recorded many songs in both Pakistan and India, and is known for his Belting (music), vocal belting technique. Born in Wazirabad, Waziraba ...

concert which was presented by ARN Entertainment and R.V Steels and Power on 22 May 2014. She even performed the song at "

Tum Hi Ho "Tum Hi Ho" () is an Indian Hindi-language romantic song from the 2013 Indian film ''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 Ku ...

" live concert at the San Jose State University Event Center on 9 August 2014. Both Singh and Sharma performed their version of the song at Singh's London debut concert at the Indigo Arena on 29 August 2014.

Accolades

References

{{Shreya Ghoshal Songs in Hindi Songs written for Hindi-language films Shreya Ghoshal songs Arijit Singh songs 2012 songs Songs with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya Songs with lyrics by Irshad Kamil Songs with music by Pritam Chakraborty