हसरतों के बाज़ार

Hasraton Ke Baazar (हसरतों के बाज़ार) is the most atmospheric and unconventional track on the Tehran (2025) soundtrack, composed by Dhruv Ghanekar — known for his rock and indie scoring work — with lyrics by poet-actress Ishitta Arun and sung by Niranjan Menon. Released by Zee Music Company, it runs two minutes and forty-one seconds, serving as a sonic meditation amid the spy thriller's action. It contrasts sharply with Tanishk Bagchi's more mainstream compositions on the same album, giving Tehran a musical range beyond the commercial.

Dhruv Ghanekar brings an indie-alt sensibility to Tehran through Hasraton Ke Baazar — acoustic guitar fingerpicking anchors the track, with ambient string pads and restrained piano adding depth without weight. Niranjan Menon's voice, trained in Carnatic tradition but fluent in indie-pop registers, maintains a near-whispered intensity throughout. At 2:41 it is the shortest vocal track on the album but perhaps the most replayable: brevity creates a loop-like quality. Lyricist Ishitta Arun — better known as an actress in art-house cinema — demonstrates her literary gifts.

Ishitta Arun treats desire as a marketplace — 'hasraton ka baazaar' — where longings are displayed, bargained for but rarely purchased. The image is classical (bazaars of the heart appear in Ghalib and Faiz) but her treatment is minimalist rather than ornate. Every word earns its weight in this compact lyric.

Dhruv Ghanekar joined Tehran as co-composer handling its more atmospheric sonic moments. His background in rock scoring (band Parikrama; D-Day 2013) gave the film a range that a purely commercial composer might not have. Ishitta Arun, primarily known for art-house acting (Masaan 2015), contributed a lyric that reflects her literary sensibility.

Hasraton Ke Baazar is the kind of song cult listeners discover on repeated listens — an album track that outlasts the film's theatrical moment by accumulating depth over time. It underscores a growing trend of including one art-film-sensibility song alongside mainstream chart entries in Bollywood soundtracks.