बन्ने वो गलियाँ (लाइव)

Lyricist-filmmaker Mahmood Farooqui — best known for Peepli Live and for his solo Dastangoi performances — writes 'Banne Wo Galliyan' with the grain of folk song deeply embedded in his work. Composer Simran Hora's setting is appropriately communal and celebratory. The 'Live' designation suggests this was performed by the film's actual cast, giving it the quality of a genuine shared family experience rather than a professional music recording.

Mahmood Farooqui's lyric draws on the deep Urdu-Hindi tradition of 'mohalla songs' — celebrations of neighbourhood, of familiar streets, of communal belonging. The Shamsuddin family of the film's title is a Muslim family in Delhi, and the song embeds their specific cultural geography — the lanes of their mohalla — in a form that resonates universally.

Mahmood Farooqui is the co-director of Peepli Live (2010) and is also the life partner of director Anusha Rizvi. His return to creative collaboration with Rizvi — fifteen years after their debut — gives 'Banne Wo Galliyan' a deeply personal resonance.

Songs performed by the film's actual cast — rather than professional playback singers — have a particular authenticity that has been explored in films from 'Dil Dhadakne Do' to 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. 'Banne Wo Galliyan (Live)' continues this tradition in the context of an intimate family comedy.