"Param Sundari" () is a 2021 Indian

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 ...

-language song composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

for the film '' Mimi''. Based on the Marathi film ''

Mala Aai Vhhaychy! ''Mala Aai Vhhaychy!'' (, ) is a 2011 Indian Marathi-language film produced and directed by Samruoddhi Porey. The story deals with growing surrogacy practices in India where women are used as surrogates by foreigners. The film is an emotional d ...

'' (2011) by Samruddhi Porey, the film was directed by

Laxman Utekar Laxman Utekar is an Indian filmmaker, cinematographer and director known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. Utekar started his career as a director of photography in Hindi cinema with films such as ''English Vinglish'' and ''Dear Zindag ...

and starred

Kriti Sanon Kriti Sanon (born 27 July 1990) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu-language films. After pursuing a degree in engineering from the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, she briefly worked as a fashion model. Sanon began h ...

in the lead. The song is written by

Amitabh Bhattacharya Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. He shot to fame with the film ''Dev.D'' with the song "Emotional Atyachar" turning an instant hit. He sang this song under the ...

and sung by

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awar ...

. The song was released as the lead single along with the soundtrack album on 16 July 2021. The music video for the song was released on the same day, and had viewed more than 500 million times across

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

as on 25th January 2022. The song peaked at No. 184 on the

Billboard Global Excl. U.S. The ''Billboard'' Global 200 is a weekly record chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The chart ranks the top songs globally and is based on Music download, digital sales and Music streaming, online streaming from ove ...

chart.

Music video

The song was filmed at a huge set erected at

Film City Film City may refer to * Film City, Mumbai * Noida Film City * Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad * Prayag Film City The Prayag Film City, also known as the Midnapore Film City or Chandrakona Film City or Bengal film city is an i ...

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- ...

. Initially planned to be shot during March–April 2020, it was delayed eventually due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It was later shot during January 2021. Utekar, said in an interview with ''

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 ...

'', that "the song was initially planned to be shot in Rajasthan, but travelling with a big crew and cast will not be feasible, especially during the pandemic restrictions. The international cast of the film will be flying to Mumbai for the shoot as they are required for the continuity of the film." He further added that the song is important for the narrative. For the song,

who gained 15 kilograms to play a role of surrogate mother, had trained intensively for three months to reduce weight. The song was filmed with more than 600 dancers in the background, along with Kriti and

Sai Tamhankar Sai Tamhankar (Pronunciation: əiː t̪aːmɦəɳkəɾ born 25 June 1986) is an Indian actress known for her work in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam language films and television. She is the recipient of two Filmfare Marathi Awards and one F ...

(who played Shama, Kriti's friend in the film). The song was choreographed by

Ganesh Acharya Ganesh Acharya is an Indian choreographer, film director, and actor who prominently works in Bollywood. He won the National Film Award for Best Choreography for his work on the songs "Hawan Kund" from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and "Gori tu lat ...

Release and reception

"Param Sundari" served as the lead single from the soundtrack album, was released on 16 July 2021, by

Sony Music India Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. is the record label operated by Sony in Chennai, India. The company began operation in 1997, and it was the first record company in India to be 100% foreign-owned, with Sony being a Japanese corporatio ...

, along with the entire soundtrack, which featured seven songs. The song and the album was released in spatial and

lossless Lossless compression is a class of data compression that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data with no loss of information. Lossless compression is possible because most real-world data exhibits statistic ...

audio formats supported with

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

. Vipin Nair of ''Music Aloud'' stated ''Param Sundari'' is "

nailing the “mass entertainer” formula in a way that he hasn’t done in a while". He appreciated Shreya Ghoshal's vocals, but found "equally praiseworthy is the chorus that matches her brilliantly". A review from ''Humming Heart'' said that "Param Sundari opens with a mischievous and energetic (uncredited) chorus that lends way to a brief but arresting bassline, and to the cracking vocals of

laden with tantalizing verses. The song launches into the full item number zone and holds us hooked for its judiciously short runtime of three and a half minutes. That is Rahman delivering a trademark Bollywood hit number." Sankhayan Ghosh of ''

Film Companion Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

'' stated "The song has a catchy hook, a good chorus, but see how Rahman and Amitabh Bhattacharya subvert the “item number”. Bhattacharya’s lyrics, sung by Shreya Ghoshal, are in a constant mode of shirking away unwanted male attention". Joginder Tuteja of ''

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

'' said that "The tremendous rustic sounds of the music with that base of the drum beats and the wicked modern line is what makes the song so good."

Celebrities reaction

"Param Sundari" became trending in social media soon after its release and many fans did cover versions of this song. Celebrities such as

Hina Khan Hina Khan (born 2 October 1987) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi television and films. She is known for playing Akshara in Star Plus's ''Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai'' and Komolika in '' Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2''. In 2017, she participa ...

, Rupali Ganguly, Raksha Gupta and other television actors performed cover versions. A fan of

Kim Seok-jin Kim Seok-jin (; born December 4, 1992), also known professionally as Jin, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and member of the South Korean boy band BTS. Kim has co-written and released three solo tracks with BTS: "Awake" in 2016, "Epiphany ...

(

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-produ ...

) had created a video with this song in the background, replacing Kriti Sanon as 'Param Sundari'. Actress

Kangana Ranaut Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...

, took to Instagram to praise the song and appreciated Kriti Sanon's dance moves.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

–

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, producer,

musical arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

–

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

–

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

* Sarthak Kalyani –

additional vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

* Suryansh – additional vocals *

Hriday Gattani Hriday Deepak Gattani (born 20 January 1991) is an Indian playback singer, music director, songwriter and performer from Mumbai, India. Personal life Hriday Gattani was born and brought up in Mumbai. His father Deepak Gattani has officially m ...

– additional vocals *

Nakul Abhyankar Nakul Abhyankar (born 25 May 1990) is an Indian playback singer, music composer and sound engineer. He has sung in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Tulu. He is best known for his songs "Love You Chinna" from the film "Love Mocktail" compos ...

– additional vocals,

audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic, ...

* Pooja Tiwari – additional vocals *

Rakshita Suresh Rakshita Suresh (born 1 June 1998) is one of the List of Indian playback singers, Indian playback singers known for her work in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi cinema, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada and Telugu cinema, Telugu cinema. She was the win ...

– additional vocals * Kutle Khan –

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

voice,

morsing The morsing (also mukharshanku, mourching, morching or morchang; Sanskrit: दंत वाद्यन्तरात्मसत्रस्य, Telugu: మోర్సింగ్, Kannada: ಮೋರ್ಸಿಂಗ್, Rajasthani: मोर� ...

and

khartal Khartal is an ancient instrument mainly used in devotional / folk songs. It has derived its name from Sanskrit words ‘kara’ meaning hand and ‘tala’ meaning clapping. This wooden clapper is a Ghana Vadya which has discs or plates that pro ...

* Keba Jeremiah –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Sunil Miller – guitar * Dipesh Varma – Indian

percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

* Hiral Viradia –

music supervisor A music supervisor is a person who combines music and visual media. According to The Guild of Music Supervisors, a music supervisor is “a qualified professional who oversees all music related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games ...

* Ranjit Barot – additional arrangements and programming * Suresh Permal –

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

(

Panchathan Record Inn The Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios is composer/music director A. R. Rahman's studios on his street at Kodambakkam, Chennai in Tamil Nadu. History The Inn was established in 1989, attached to Rahman's backyard, and developed into one o ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

), audio mixing, mastering ( studio mastering) * Karthik Sekaran – sound engineer (Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai) * T. R. Krishna Chetan – sound engineer (

, Chennai) * S. Sivakumar – sound engineer ( AM Studios, Chennai) * Pradeep Menon – sound engineer (AM Studios, Chennai), mastering ( Apple Digital Master) * Aravind Crescendo – sound engineer (AM Studios, Chennai) * R. Samidurai – musicians' fixer * T. M. Faizuddin – music co-ordinator * Abdul Haiyum Siddique – music co-ordinator

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* {{YouTube, id=w4ClQO0FFQg, title=''Param Sundari'' – Official Music Video 2021 songs Indian film songs Hindi-language songs Songs with music by A. R. Rahman Shreya Ghoshal songs Viral videos