"Samjhawan" () is a romantic song from the 2014

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 '' Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania''. Re-created by Sharib− Toshi, the song is sung by Arijit Singh and

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 Awards ...

, with lyrics by Ahmad Anees and Kumaar. The song was originally composed by

Sahir Ali Bagga Sahir Ali Bagga (born 10 April 1980) is a Pakistani singer, music director and composer from Lahore, who composes music for Lollywood and other independent singers.Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Punjabi, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Singer, primarily of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the biggest and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ...

for the Punjabi film '' Virsa''. An "unplugged" version of this song sung by the leading actress of the film,

Alia Bhatt Alia Bhatt (; born 15 March 1993) is a British actress of Indian descent who predominantly works in Hindi films. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Alia Bhatt, several accolades including four Filmfare Awards. One of I ...

, was released on 2 July 2014.

Development

Producer Karan Johar bought rights to the original hit song "Main Tenu Samjhawan", which was sung by Pakistani singers

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Punjabi, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Singer, primarily of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the biggest and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ...

and Farah Anwar in the Punjabi film '' Virsa''. Music for the song was re-created by Sharib− Toshi and produced by Stewart Eduri at YRF Studio, with Vijay Kumar and Deepesh as recording engineers.

Release and chart performance

"Samjhawan" was released online on

Gaana Gaana (or Gānā) is a genre of Tamil music, which is sung in the Madras Bashai dialect of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is rap-like "collection of rhythms, beats and sensibilities native to the Chennai people." It evolved over the past two ...

on 12 June 2014 as a single, and as part of the film soundtrack on 16 June 2014. The song stayed on top of the Indian charts for many weeks. It retained the number one position on Indian iTunes charts for a few weeks, followed by the "unplugged" version, and topped many radio charts.

Critical reception

The song received a mixed response from critics and was highly compared with the original song. Surabhi Redkar of '' Koimoi'' commented, "While this Arijit Singh track will blow your mind away, the original song "Main Tenu Samjhawan" by

is unforgettable and leaves you with the question, why revise such a beautiful number. With the vocals of Arijit Singh,

, the sanctity of the song is not lost, yet all those who enjoy classics will agree the original track sounds better." Rajiv Vijayakar 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 provide ...

'' remarked, ""Samjhawan" is the true killer on the score—a soulful expression of a besotted lover, with lyrics that strike straight at the heart and a deep melody exquisitely rendered by Arijit Singh—arguably the finest singing discovery of the times—and Shreya Ghoshal, the last great singer to come into cinema as of today." Devesh Sharma of '' Filmfare'' wrote, "Instead of Rahat and Farah Anwar, the singers here are Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal. Their mellifluous voices give a different twist to the original. The song is sure to get like a million downloads in days to come." Sheetal Tiwari of ''Bollyspice'' commented, "While they (Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal) both do a good job rendering the number, Rahat is sorely missed." Srishti Dixit of ''Bollywoodlife.com'' stated, "This soulful track by Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal touches the listeners' hearts but not quite like how Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's original version did. The words are the same, the melody is intact but this time even Arijit Singh fails to create magic." Rafat of ''Glamsham'' remarked, "Super singer, Arijit Singh has been chosen to do a Rahat but he simply fails to create the same magic. Even 'surili' Shreya's presence does not lift the song to that level."

Accolades

References

{{Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Hindi songs Hindi film songs Songs written for films Shreya Ghoshal songs Arijit Singh songs 2014 songs Rahat Fateh Ali Khan songs Punjabi-language songs Urdu-language songs Sahir Ali Bagga songs Songs with lyrics by Kumaar