याद आते हैं

'Yaad Aate Hain' is the opening vocal track of 120 Bahadur (2025), composed by Amit Trivedi with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Released on 31 October 2025 under Zee Music Company, the ensemble male chorus features Subhadeep Das Chowdhury, Chirag Kotwal, Obom Tangu, and Utkarsh Wankhede. Running 3:24, the song serves as a sonic memorial to the 120 soldiers of Charlie Company, 13 Kumaon Regiment who died defending Rezang La in 1962. The film stars Farhan Akhtar as Major Shaitan Singh, the posthumous Param Vir Chakra awardee.

Amit Trivedi's composition for 'Yaad Aate Hain' is a masterclass in cinematic restraint. The ensemble male chorus — assembled from singers associated with different regional traditions — creates a sense of collective national grief. The orchestration builds gradually from spare strings to a fuller brass-and-string climax, echoing the way memory accumulates. Trivedi's trademark harmonic innovation is tempered here by the solemnity of the subject.

Javed Akhtar's lyric is characteristic of his mature patriotic mode — no jingoism, only the quiet weight of remembrance. 'Yaad aate hain' as a recurring phrase functions both as a statement (they are remembered) and an appeal to the listener's conscience to keep remembering.

The album was launched at a ceremony in Lucknow on 28 October 2025, attended by Farhan Akhtar, Javed Akhtar, Sukhwinder Singh, and families of the martyrs of Rezang La. This context — the presence of the soldiers' families at the music launch — gave every song on the album an extraordinary weight.

120 Bahadur revives the tradition of serious patriotic war films with commissioned original scores — a tradition that includes Haqeeqat (1964) and Border (1997). Though the film underperformed commercially (₹20 crore), its soundtrack stands as a sincere artistic tribute.