"Meherbaan" (English: Benevolence) is a romantic Hindi song from the 2014 Bollywood film, '' Bang Bang!''. Composed by the duo Vishal–Shekhar ( Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani), the song is sung by

Ash King Ashutosh Ganguly, better known by his stage name Ash King, is a British-Indian singer, songwriter and composer. He made his playback singing debut in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Delhi-6. He is a relative of prominent Indian singer Kishore Kumar. ...

Shilpa Rao Shilpa Rao (born Apeksha Rao; 11 April 1984) is an Indian singer born and raised in Jamshedpur. She completed her Post Graduation in Applied Statistics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, before working as a jingle singer for three years. During ...

and Ravjiani, with lyrics penned by

Anvita Dutt Anvita Dutt Guptan (born 20 February 1972) is an Indian dialogue writer, screenplay writer, story writer, lyricist and director of Bollywood films. Early life and background Her father worked with the Indian Air Force (IAF), thus she grew in s ...

and

Kumaar Rakesh Kumar Pal, known mononymously as Kumaar, is an Indian lyricist active in Bollywood cinema. Some of his more successful songs include '' Rula ke gaya ishq, '' Tu bhi royega'', '' Dil ki aadat'', ''Baby Doll'','' Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan'', ...

. The music video of the soft and melodic track features actors Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif.

Development

The song was recorded at Vishal–Shekhar's Studio in Bandra,

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 second- ...

by recording engineers, Satchith Harve and Abhishek Ghatak with the tune being mixed by Praveen Muralidhar at Studio Nysa and mastering done by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge, New York. The song is produced by Abhijit Nalani. Live Acoustic Guitars is given by Sanjoy Das and

Keba Jeremiah Keba Jeremiah (born 18 October 1986) is an Indian guitarist and music producer. He works on musical soundtracks for Gospel songs, Bollywood, Tollywood (Telugu), Kollywood music industry. Early life Born and brought up in Al Karama, Dubai, Keb ...

while live Percussions is provided by Aatur Soni and Suresh Soni. Dadlani is credited as backing vocals while the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

features voice by

Suzanne D'Mello Suzanne D'Mello, formerly known as ''Suzie Q'', is an Indian playback singer of Bollywood films and other regional films. She also has voiced jingles for television advertisements. Career Over the years, Suzanne has worked with several music d ...

Thomson Andrews Thomson Andrews (born on 25 September 1987, in Mumbai, India) is India's first contemporary R&B, Pop, Funk & Soul singer-songwriter, performer, recording artist, actor, TV host and one of the newer contemporary Indian Bollywood Playback singer ...

, Keshia Braganza,

Allan deSouza Allan deSouza (born 1958) is a Kenyan-born American photographer, art writer, professor, and multi-media artist. He is of Indian descent and his work deals with issues of migration, relocation, and international travel. He works in the San Franci ...

, Leon De Souza, Gwen Dias, and Gary Misquitta. The song was the first song recorded and completed from the film. Singer of the song

was in England when he was offered by Dadlani to record the song. In July 2013, shooting for the song started in the city of

Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is the ...

in Greece. Shooting for the song was completed over a week. The opening sequence of the song was shot at Galleraki cocktail bar in

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; el, Μύκονος ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to the ...

by the blue waters of the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

. This song marks the first time actress Katrina Kaif visits Greece. She even considered this song to be one her finest romantic songs. The song is choreographed by Ahmed Khan, while styling for the song is done by Anaita Shroff Adajania.

Release and success

The first look of the song was released on social networking sites on 2 September 2014. The music video of the song was officially released on 3 September 2014, through the YouTube channel of Zee Music Company. The full song was later released on music-streaming platforms on 6 September 2014. The song received more than 2 million views in less than 4 days of its release, and over 3 million hits within 6 days.

Critical reception

Kasmin Fernandes reviewing for

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 ...

praised the composition by Vishal–Shekhar stating that "the faultless guitar-driven composition make it another glowing standout". Joginder Tuteja from

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 ...

who felt the song is "a complete contrast", praised

and stated someone other than

would have been a better choice for Hrithik (Roshan)'s voice. Surabhi Redkar from

Koimoi Koimoi is a Bollywood entertainment website providing Bollywood news, box-office reports and film reviews. In January 2021, its Alexa ranking in India was 2530. Origin On 23 November 2009, Contest2win.com and Komal Nahta's Faith Entertainment j ...

stated "Meherbaan has amazing guitar pieces and the soulful voices of Ash King and Shilpa Rao blend perfectly into it".

Reprise version

The soundtrack of the album consists of a reprise version of the song sung by Shekhar Ravjiani, who also rendered a part of the song in the original.

Acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

for the version is provided by Sanjoy Das (Bapi) and Keba Jeremiah. Rajiv Vijayakar reviewing for Bollywood Hungama stated, "Of the two versions of 'Meherbaan' we preferred the solo Shekhar Rajviani reprise over the

-Shekhar Ravjiani one, though we preferred the reprise version by alone".

Track listing

References

External links

Online streaming at Gaana.com

Online streaming at Saavn
{{authority control Hindi songs Hindi film songs 2014 songs Songs with music by Vishal–Shekhar