Nafarat Ke Bans by Khesari Lal Yadav

Some songs are made for a single moment. Nafarat Ke Bans is made for all of them. Behind the melody is the work of Avinash Jha (Ghunghru Ji), whose composition choices give Nafarat Ke Bans its distinctive texture.

Khesari Lal Yadav delivers the lyrics with a nuance that turns an already strong song into something genuinely moving. The connection between Khesari Lal Yadav, Akshra Singh and this song is part of what makes it resonate beyond the film itself.

2016 was a strong year for Bhojpuri music, and Nafarat Ke Bans was among the reasons why. The emotional register of Nafarat Ke Bans is wide enough to fit celebration and solitude equally well.

In 3:34 minutes, Nafarat Ke Bans builds, opens up, and resolves in a way that feels complete rather than truncated. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Bhojpuri in recent memory — and the numbers agree.