Bajrangi Bhaijaan (soundtrack)

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the soundtrack to the 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film of the same name directed by Kabir Khan from an original story written by V. Vijayendra Prasad, starring Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film's soundtrack features eleven songs: with seven original, three reprises and an alternative version. All those songs were curated and composed by Pritam and written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Shabbir Ahmed, Kausar Munir, Mayur Puri, Neelesh Misra and Badshah. The soundtrack was released by T-Series on 17 June 2015.

Development
A. R. Rahman was initially considered to score music for Bajrangi Bhaijaan, but Rahman did not sign the film. Then Kabir turned to his usual collaborators: Pritam for composing the songs and Julius Packiam for the score. The title song for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) was eventually composed for the film, with another song "Tu Jo Mila". As Pritam had two options for the romantic song featuring Salman and Kareena, he chose the latter. Salman Khan was intended to sing one of the tracks, which had an "R. D. Burman kind of energy", according to Pritam. However, he did not contribute to any of the tracks in the album.

Release
The first single from the album "Selfie Le Le Re" was released on 24 May 2015, coincided with an event held during the 2015 Indian Premier League final between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, with Salman and Kabir participating. The song was picturised on Salman's character worshipping Hanuman at the Hanuman Jayanti celebration. The second song "Tu Chahiye", a romantic number picturised on Salman and Kareena, released on 2 June 2015. The third single track "Bhar Do Jholi Meri" was released on 10 June 2015; it is a revamped version of the qawwali song "Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad" originally written by Purnam Allahabadi and composed and sung by the Sabri Brothers. Adnan Sami provided vocals for the song, while the track partly includes "Dam Ali Ali" from "Dama Dam Mast Qalandar". The fourth song "Aaj Ki Party" was released on 16 June 2015; this song was however not featured in the film. The soundtrack album consists of eleven tracks, was released on 17 June 2015.

Reception
In a four-star rating, critic based at India.com said that the film has "songs of high quality" describing it as a "big hit". Rukmini Chopra of Bollywood Life called it as a "versatile and creative album" giving three-and-a-half stars. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama wrote "Bajrangi Bhaijaan has a couple of chartbusters which are there for the taking when it comes to being designed for Salman Khan". Vipin Nair of Music Aloud wrote "Pritam ends his long break presenting one of the better Salman Khan movie soundtracks in quite a long time." Aelina Kapoor of Rediff.com gave three stars and said, "Bajrangi Bhaijaan is not quite an out-and-out Salman Khan soundtrack but songs like Selfie Le Le Re and Aaj Ki Party keep energy levels high."

In contrast, A reviewer based at The Indian Express criticized the music being "run-of-the-mill" as "they vapourise just as they leave the speakers"; he rated one-and-a-half-star to the album. Surabhi Redkar of Koimoi described it as a "mixed bag" giving two-and-a-half out of five.

Controversy
EMI Pakistan and Amjad Sabri, heir to the Sabri Brothers, sued the producers of the film and the music label as they did not obtain the rights from the original artists and the label to use the qawwali song "Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad". They sent a legal notice regarding the same, which barred the producers from using the song in the film.