दादा किशन की जय

'Dada Kishan Ki Jai' is the lead single from 120 Bahadur (2025), released on 25 October 2025 under Zee Music Company — six days before the full album. Composed by Salim-Sulaiman and sung by Sukhwinder Singh alongside the composers themselves, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, this rousing 4:01 war anthem pays tribute to Jemadar Kishan Singh, one of the heroes of the Battle of Rezang La. The song was launched at a ceremony in Lucknow attended by families of the martyrs, giving it immediate emotional resonance.

Salim-Sulaiman are masters of the rousing Bollywood war anthem, and 'Dada Kishan Ki Jai' is a worthy addition to their canon. The composition opens with nagara (war drums) and dhol before Sukhwinder Singh's unmistakable battle-cry voice enters. His distinctive high-register vocal style — honed through 'Jai Ho' (Slumdog Millionaire) and 'Chak De India' — brings the sonic authority the song demands. The orchestration builds to a full martial choir, evoking the brass-heavy sound of classic Indian patriotic music while remaining modern in production.

Javed Akhtar's use of 'dada' (grandfather) as an honorific for Jemadar Kishan is a stroke of poetic intimacy — it transforms a military figure into a family elder, a grandfather of the nation. This shift from the grandiose to the intimate is Akhtar's consistent poetic strategy.

The song was unveiled at the music launch in Lucknow on 28 October 2025, attended by Farhan Akhtar, Javed Akhtar (father and son united in tribute), and Sukhwinder Singh. The Lucknow event was chosen deliberately — the city's connection to the 13 Kumaon Regiment and Uttar Pradesh's military heritage.

Sukhwinder Singh's war anthems — from 'Chak De India' to 'Jai Ho' — have become landmarks of early 21st-century Bollywood patriotic music. 'Dada Kishan Ki Jai' extends that tradition while honouring a lesser-celebrated battle.