Ae Watan () is an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

song from the soundtrack of the 2018

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film ''

Raazi ''Raazi'' (''Agree'') is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller film directed by Meghna Gulzar and produced by Vineet Jain, Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta under the banners of Junglee Pictures and Dharma Productions ...

''. The song is sung by Arijit Singh and

Sunidhi Chauhan Sunidhi Chauhan (pronounced ; born 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer. Born in Delhi, she began performing in local gatherings at the age of 5 and made her career debut at the age of 13, with the film ''Shastra'' (1996). During the ye ...

. Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composed the music, and

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

and Allama Iqbal wrote the lyrics. The music video for the song stars Sehmat Khan (played by

Alia Bhatt Alia Bhatt (; born 15 March 1993) is a British actress of Indian descent who predominantly works in Hindi films. She has received several accolades including four Filmfare Awards. One of India's highest-paid actresses, she has appeared in ''F ...

). The song was praised for "delivering

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

" by multiple critics. Gulzar has expressed his belief that Ae Watan should become "the song of our nation". The song won the IIFA Award for Playback Singer (Male and Female) at the 2019

International Indian Film Academy Awards The International Indian Film Academy Awards, popularly known as IIFA, is an annual awards ceremony for Bollywood. Produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the winners of the awards are decided by fans, who vote online for th ...

Development

''Raazi'' features four songs. Both "Ae Watan" and "Dilbaro" serve as the title tracks for the film.

Ehsaan Noorani Ehsaan Noorani is an Indian composer and guitarist. Music career Noorani is the part of the '' Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy'' trio, which consist of Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa and himself. He was the guitarist for many music directors before h ...

of the musical trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy described the song as being "crucial to the story".

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tami ...

of the same trio, talking about the song, told ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', Lyricist Gulzar has said he wants the song to become "the song of our nation". In an interview with ''

'', Gulzar explains: "It speaks for all of us and it speaks without any prejudice. People keep asking what nationalism is all about. Well, one can define nationalism through this song". Gulzar later stated that the song is a tribute to the poet

Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

Music video

The music video features actress

as Sehmat Khan, explaining why she choose to become a spy for India.

Reception

Critical response

Writing for ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', Vipin Nair praised the song, calling it the first "patriotic song to have come out of Bollywood in a long time".

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

, an Indian news and media website, wrote: "'Ae Watan' celebrates the true spirit of patriotism – where one places one's motherland before anything, even oneself". Sankhayan Ghosh of the Film Companion expressed that the song "stands out for its simplicity, and context". He further added "Ae Watan appeals to the hardened cynics from both sides of the ideological centre; it reminds us that patriotism isn't necessarily a bad thing, all the while showing the price we pay for it". Priyanka Vartak of ''

The Free Press Journal ''The Free Press Journal'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper that was established in 1928 by Swaminathan Sadanand, who also acted as its first editor. First produced to complement a news agency, the Free Press of India, it was a su ...

'' wrote that: " rijit Singhhis soulful voice will surely give you goosebumps".

Popular reception

Ehsaan Noorani commented that people upload "at least two-three cover versions" of the song via social media platforms. He further added that the song has "achieved a different level of popularity" and he has never "seen reactions" like this before.

Chart performance

Accolades

References

External links

* {{authority control 2018 songs Songs written for films Film songs in Hindi Arijit Singh songs Sunidhi Chauhan songs Songs with music by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Songs with lyrics by Gulzar