दूर ना करीं

Tanishk Bagchi built Duur Na Karin as a credited recreation of Nabeel Shaukat Ali's 2016 Pakistani Punjabi single 'Kooch' — the official credits retain original composer Saji Ali and lyricist Khadim Hussain alongside Bagchi and Kumaar, while Nabeel Shaukat Ali himself returns as one of three singers on the new version, joined by Vishal Mishra and Zahrah S Khan. The arrangement keeps the melancholic, folk-rooted Punjabi melody largely intact while layering in the new vocalists for the Bollywood version — a recreation approach Bagchi used twice on this same soundtrack.

The refrain 'O beeba mainu door na kari' — roughly 'oh dear, don't push me away' — carries the song's entire emotional weight: a direct, colloquial Punjabi plea rather than an elaborate metaphor. Lines like 'chaahe akhiyaan chura le par dil se, paas aaya hoon badi mushkil se' (you may look away, but not with your heart — I've come close after great difficulty) frame closeness as hard-won and fragile, in keeping with Khadim Hussain's original folk-pop lyric that Kumaar's Hindi adaptation largely preserves in spirit.

Duur Na Karin was released on 30 July 2024 as the second single from Khel Khel Mein, a comedy-drama directed by Mudassar Aziz and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vipul D. Shah and others under T-Series Films and Wakaoo Films. The film is an Indian adaptation of the Italian film Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers) — Guinness World Records' most-remade film in history — following three married couples whose secrets unravel during a phone-sharing game at a Jaipur wedding. The song is picturized on Akshay Kumar and Vaani Kapoor, whose characters are shown rekindling romance in visuals reported to have been filmed across European locations including Venice, ahead of the film's 15 August 2024 theatrical release.

The song drew attention less for chart performance than for its close resemblance to its source material — Hindi entertainment outlet India TV explicitly noted that Duur Na Karin's melody would remind listeners of Nabeel Shaukat Ali's 'Kooch' and questioned whether it was simply a copy with new lyrics. The official credits pre-empt that criticism by naming Saji Ali and Khadim Hussain alongside the Bollywood team, and by bringing Nabeel Shaukat Ali back as a vocalist on the new version — an unusually transparent handling of a cross-border recreation. The parent film, however, underperformed at the box office, collecting under ₹25 crore in its first 13 days despite its multi-star cast, limiting the song's reach relative to the year's biggest recreated hits.