After 40 years in Film Music, Udit Narayan Releases Solo Song ‘Tere Bagair’

With a total of 1.04 billion streams on YouTube, veteran singer Udit Narayan has been holding the second place on the video platform’s Top artists India chart for four years (with fellow evergreen voice Alka Yagnik taking the top spot).

The prolific voice behind some of Bollywood’s biggest hits – “Bole Chudiyan” from family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and “Pardesi Pardesi” from Raja Hindustani – released his debut single called “Tere Bagair” on August 31st on his own YouTube channel, something he was encouraged to create by his son Aditya Narayan. With just over half a million subscribers, Narayan senior has certainly made a formidable first step into the world of music outside of film with a slickly produced electronic-leaning, sprawling love song.

Featuring lyrics by Prashant Ingole (a seasoned penman in the Bollywood world), “Tere Bagair” still plays up Narayan’s instantly recognizable croon but also gradually builds up to the chorus instead of just rushing to it. Composed by Shreyas Puranik (a voice heard on songs from Hindi movies like Bajirao Mastani and Romeo Akbar Walter), the track’s indie connection comes in the form of co-producer Eeshan Tripathi, the keyboardist from erstwhile rock band The Beatroute who now performs and composes for Aditya Narayan as well as Bollywood duo Sachin-Jigar. While producer Shamita Bhatkar has also co-produced, sound engineer Akash Sawant (a regular behind the console for metallers Zygnema) has mixed the track.

While there’s a music video in the works for “Tere Bagair,” Narayan has been much more choosy about the film projects he lends his voice for in recent years. In an interview with Asianet, the singer said it’s not that offers are fewer now. “For them, we have become seniors. They wrongly believe that we don’t get what this generation wants, that we are out of touch with the listeners today. But that’s not the case. Our shows wouldn’t be successful if that was so. Thanks to the Internet, youngsters are rediscovering us. Young people sing along with me in my shows both here and abroad. I guess you can’t fight perception,” he says.

Watch the lyric video for “Tere Bagair” below. Stream on more platforms here.