Mitran De - Irada by Master Saleem, Kaur B., Earl Edgar (URL)

The Irada album has several strong tracks, but Mitran De - Irada is the one most listeners come back to first. Behind the melody is the work of Neeraj Shridhar, whose composition choices give Mitran De - Irada its distinctive texture.

The performance by Master Saleem, Kaur B., Earl Edgar (URL) is the centrepiece here — controlled where it needs to be, open where it counts. Featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Divya Dutta, Sharad Kelkar, Sagarika Ghatge, Rajesh Sharma, the song carries the weight of the film's emotional arc and delivers it with conviction.

Released in 2017, it arrived at a time when Hindi music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. Listeners have described the experience of Mitran De - Irada differently — romantic, melancholic, uplifting — which suggests the song is large enough to hold many truths.

The concision of Mitran De - Irada — just 4:26 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Hindi in recent memory — and the numbers agree.