Manzoor-e-Khuda - Thugs Of Hindostan by Ajay, Atul, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Amitabh Bhattacharya

Manzoor-e-Khuda - Thugs Of Hindostan is the kind of song that earns its place in a playlist and then refuses to leave. The music, composed by Ajay, Atul, carries the song forward with a confidence that matches the performance.

Ajay, Atul, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Amitabh Bhattacharya understood what this song required and delivered it without excess — the restraint itself becomes the emotion. Fatima Sana Shaikh, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif gave the film its soul, and Manzoor-e-Khuda - Thugs Of Hindostan is the song that most directly channels that feeling into music.

When it came out in 2018, Manzoor-e-Khuda - Thugs Of Hindostan felt timely. Years later, it feels timeless. It is the kind of track that works at full volume with friends and equally well in a quiet room alone — the mood adjusts without the song changing.

Running to 5:05, the song is exactly as long as it needs to be, which is the hardest length for a songwriter to find. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Hindi in recent memory — and the numbers agree.