निकर चलो रे

Nikar Chalo Re (निकर चलो रे) is one of three original tracks composer Ram Sampath wrote for Kathal – A Jackfruit Mystery (2023), the Netflix satirical comedy-thriller starring Sanya Malhotra as a small-town police inspector investigating the theft of a local MLA's prized jackfruits. Sung by Sona Mohapatra with lyrics by the film's own writer-director Ashok Mishra, the song draws on Uttar Pradesh's folk textures — rhythmic percussion and melodic phrasing evocative of rural devotional and work-song traditions — to underline the film's small-town setting. Released digitally on 9 May 2023 ahead of the film's 19 May Netflix premiere, the track marked Ram Sampath's return to film scoring after a six-year break, and was later recognised by Rolling Stone India among its Top 30 Hindi Film Songs of 2023.

Ram Sampath, returning to Hindi film scoring after a six-year hiatus, built Nikar Chalo Re around rhythmic, percussion-forward folk instrumentation evocative of Uttar Pradesh's rural soundscape — a deliberate departure from the urban, electronic-leaning sound of his earlier hits like 'Ambarsariya.' Sona Mohapatra's earthy, powerful vocal delivery — the same pairing that produced 'Ambarsariya' (Fukrey) and 'Jiya Laage Na' (Talaash) — anchors the track, giving it a rooted, grounded energy suited to the film's small-town, on-foot investigative momentum.

Writer-director Ashok Mishra, penning the lyrics himself, keeps the language plain and dialectal — the repeated refrain 'nikar chalo re' (step out, set forth) uses a rural Awadhi-inflected turn of phrase rather than standard Hindi, grounding the song firmly in the small-town Uttar Pradesh milieu the film inhabits. The recurring river imagery ('nadiya sa baho re' — flow like a river) frames forward motion as natural and inevitable, giving what is essentially a plot-advancing folk number a gentle poetic register rather than a purely functional one.

Kathal – A Jackfruit Mystery, written and directed by Yashowardhan Mishra from a script by Ashok Mishra, follows Inspector Mahima Basor (Sanya Malhotra) as she is assigned to investigate the theft of two prized jackfruit trees belonging to local MLA Munnalal Pateria — a case whose absurd triviality masks sharper satire on caste, gender, and small-town politics. Nikar Chalo Re appears as a folk-flavoured accompaniment to the investigation's on-the-ground, small-town texture, alongside the album's other tracks 'Radhe Radhe' (Rituraj Mohanty) and 'Lalla Lalli' (Sona Mohapatra with Amjad Nadeem). The film, produced for Netflix, released on 19 May 2023 and later won Best Hindi Feature Film at the 71st National Film Awards.

Nikar Chalo Re was recognised by Rolling Stone India among its Top 30 Hindi Film Songs of 2023, a notable nod for a folk-rooted, non-chart-topping track from a satirical mid-budget Netflix film. The song also carries the significance of marking Ram Sampath's return to Hindi film composing after a six-year break, following his earlier landmark work on Talaash and Fukrey. Kathal itself went on to win Best Hindi Feature Film at the 71st National Film Awards, adding institutional recognition to a soundtrack that had already drawn critical attention for its folk authenticity.