Main Vaapas Aaunga is the soundtrack album composed by A. R. Rahman to the 2026 Hindi-language romantic drama film of the same name directed by Imtiaz Ali starring Diljit Dosanjh, Naseeruddin Shah, Sharvari and Vedang Raina. The album featured eight songs with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil and released through Tips Music on 10 June 2026.

Production and composition Main Vaapas Aaunga marked the reunion of the successive collaboration between Imtiaz, Rahman and Irshad. Rahman considered the soundtrack as an extension to communicate the film's unspoken emotions shown in the film's story while Imtiaz described the music as the heart of the film as how music being the heart of Punjab. Imtiaz further added the music of Punjab in 1947 had folk and western influences in the music which Rahman felt excited to showcase and admitted that he and Irshad dwell deeper on the soundscape of the film's music.

Lyrics Irshad added that the situations in the film were unique, which led to the writing process made more exciting. Having liked to add multiple layers in songs, Irshad added that the idea of "Vo Nahin" came with the thread being woven to mean many things, like "a plea to the beloved and a representation of the pain of the Partition" as that song captures the longing of Keenu who separated from his lover. "Vo Nahin" begins as a love ballad but switches into Sufism thereby becoming a harmonious blend of the spiritual oneness. Irshad wrote 4–5 lines of the song and gave it to Rahman, who worked on it and then Kamil had to tweak the lyrics further to suit the music thereby having a broad idea that allows them to travel and completes in an organic way.

"Kya Kamaal Hai" performed by Diljit Dosanjh, was described by Irshad as the writer's dream that wonders on the beauty of the world without any pain, tears and fears. "Tere Paas Main" comes in the crucial point related to the conflict of love and the partition, that provided a simplistic and melancholic ballad. Having liked Rahman's tune, Irshad wanted to bring a particular kind of romantic simplicity and the longing which he underlined with the emotion through its lyrics. "Ishq Mastana" borrowed its lyrics from Kabir's famous poem "haman hai ishq mastana" owing to the directness of the poet that suited the emotional underlining and added that any other lyricist would not provide the same emotional impact. It was the last song that Irshad wrote for the film.

Singers The album accompanied 10 debut singers. "Vo Nahin" was performed by Adithya RK in his Hindi playback singing debut. Adithya recalled that Rahman asked to record another song for a film in Hindi, while associating with the composer; having not well-versed in Hindi, Rahman's musical crew helped Adithya on the pronunciations. Adithya recalled that it was surprised for him that the song was included in an Imtiaz Ali film as he was inspired by the director's Rockstar (2011) to foray into playback singing.

The song "Tere Paas Main" featured two version. Deepali Sahay, a former Indian Idol contestant, performed the song's female version. She recalled that during a birthday wish to Rahman (who coincidentally share the same birth date), one of Rahman's musical team contacted him and asked to record a song. She then performed one of the song at Rahman's home studio in Chennai and the song was transitioned multiple times with rearrangements of notes and change of voices. Prior to the trailer launch, it was then decided that the scale of the song was to be modified, thereby demanding a re-recording of it. Rahman then gave her fifteen minutes to record the song which she did in twenty minutes.

The male version of "Tere Paas Main" was performed by Vipin Aneja. He performed two versions of that song at Rahman's studio in Chennai, along with a final version of the song in Mumbai. Nilanjana Ghosh Dastidar, a bassist performed the duet song "Maskara" with one of the lead actor Vedang Raina. Nilanjana performed the song during a concert tour at United States and recorded the vocals at the makeshift recording studio in the hotel room. Vedang who performed the male portions considered a dream come true moment on singing for Rahman, while also channelizing on Kishore Kumar's way of singing for his character. Other debutant singers involved Nilanjana Ghosh Dastidar, Antara Nandy, Heer, Nargis Teji, Armaan Khan, Sameer Khan.

Release The first single titled "Kya Kamaal Hai", was announced on 5 April 2026, where it was recorded on the same date, and the single released on 17 April. The second single "Maskara" was released on 5 May 2026. The third single "Vo Nahin" was released on 14 May. The song "Ishq Mastana" was released as the fourth single on 2 June, coinciding Raina's birthday.

On 7 June 2026, Imtiaz, Rahman, along with Raina, Mohit Chauhan, Nilanjana Ghosh and Pooja Tiwari performed the songs live at the Attari–Wagah border ceremony. The soundtrack album was released through Tips Music on 10 June 2026.

Track listing

Reception Vipin Nair of Music Aloud summarized that "15 years since their first outing together, the Imtiaz Ali-A R Rahman-Irshad Kamil team shows no signs of slowing down. And looking purely at ARR’s portfolio as well, this is the best soundtrack that the man has delivered in a long time!" Zico Ghosh of Billboard India wrote "Main Vaapas Aaunga is, among other things, a reminder of the value of artistic continuity. Fifteen years after Rockstar, Ali, Rahman and Kamil are still engaged in the same conversation — about longing, wandering, faith, memory, homecoming — only from a different vantage point. The questions remain the same; the answers keep changing. And sometimes, all it takes to make them feel new again is two ordinary words: Oh yeah." Fenil Seta of Bollywood Hungama, however, considered the film's music being "underwhelming" and failed to created buzz as with most of Rahman's albums, although the film emerged as a sleeper hit thereafter.

Personnel Credits adapted from Tips Music:

Music composer, arranger and producer – A. R. Rahman Additional programming – Sarthak Kalyani, Shubham Bhat Music editor and supervisor – Hiral Viradia Studios – Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai; Panchathan Studios, Mumbai; YRF Studios, Mumbai; The Sanctuary, Mumbai Recording engineers – Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Sathish V Saravanan, Bharath Arjunan, Sarath Santhosh, Nitish R. Kumar, Naval Chikhliya, Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal, Vedant Uttarkar Mixing – Pradvay Sivashankar, P. A. Deepak, Suresh Permal, Nitish R. Kumar Stem mastering – Nitish R. Kumar, S. Sivakumar Dolby Atmos mastering – Riyasdeen Riyan, Nitish R. Kumar Head of technical services – Riyasdeen Riyan Musicians Guitars – Keba Jeremiah, Shrey Gupta Bass – Nilanjana Ghosh Dastidar Flute – Ashwin Srinivasan, Ashish Venkateswaran, Naveen Kumar, Kamalakar Cello – Seenu Violin – Rangapriya, Prabhakaran Harmonium – Shubham Bhat Indian strokes – Tapas Roy Indian rhythm – Sanket Naik Dholak and dhol – Dipesh Verma, Ratnadeep Jamsandekar Percussions – Rajarshi Mitter, Dipesh Verma, Ratnadeep Jamsandekar Sarod – Rohan Prasanna Sax, rabab and mandolin – S. M. Subhani Sitar – Asad Khan Tumbi – Hiral Viradia Choir – Hriday Gattani, Arjun Chandy, Sarath Santosh, Aravind Srinivasan, Aparna Harikumar, Malavika Rajhesh, Deepthi Suresh, Romy, Soubhagya Mohapatra, Lavita Lobo, Ishan Rojindar, Manikandan Chembai Choir arrangement and conductor – Arjun Chandy Strings – Budapest Scoring Orchestra, Prague Philarmonic Orchestra, Sunshine Orchestra Budapest Orchestra personnel Recording Studio – Rottenbiller Hall, Budapest Conductor – Abel Tompa Orchestra Indian representative – Balasubramanian G Session producer – Bálint Sapszon Engineer – Viktor Szabó Librarian – Anna Sapszo, Kati Reti Orchestrators – Samarth Srinivasan, Nipun Bhatnagar Mumbai String Orchestra personnel Performers – Jitendra Hansraj Javda, Dharmendra Jawda, Chandan singh, Raju Padhiyar, Leo velho, Margarita Gapparova Recording Studio – Studio 504, Mumbai

References