I will admit, I came for the nostalgia and stayed to see whether Aanand L Rai can actually pull this off. Nakhrewaalii, the new “womantic” comedy from Colour Yellow Productions and Jio Studios, is not hiding what it is: a playful, slightly old-school romance with a young lead pair, Ansh Duggal and Pragati Srivastava, directed by Rahul Shanklya. It releases in cinemas on October 30, 2026.
The big swing is the title song. The makers have gone back to Kishore Kumar’s “Nakhrewaalii” from New Delhi (1956), the Shankar-Jaikishan tune written by Shailendra, and rebuilt it with Priyankit Jaiswal’s voice sitting beside archival vocals of Kishore Kumar. Vayu and Vaibhav Pani handle the new music and lyrics, and the result is not a flat remix. It is a conversation between two eras.
“Kishore Kumar ji’s voice has a beauty that is truly eternal. There is so much warmth, mischief and charm in this song, and it has stayed with us across generations.”
That quote from Aanand L Rai tells you exactly what the song is selling: warmth, mischief and charm. What it holds back is plot. You see energy, banter, small-town texture and a heroine with proper nakhre, but you do not get the full emotional stakes. That is probably the right move for an early title-song drop — it makes you hum before it has to make you feel.
The one moment everyone will talk about is not a dance step; it is the moment the old Kishore Kumar vocal surfaces inside a new arrangement. If you grew up hearing the original, that little flicker of recognition is the hook. For younger viewers, it might sound like a clever piece of retro engineering. Either way, it gives the title song a reason to exist beyond familiarity.
For Aanand L Rai, this sits in a familiar lane: he has built films on rooted characters, emotional hooks and songs that do real storytelling. After a run where his bigger swings have divided people, Nakhrewaalii looks like a reset toward the intimate, crowd-pleasing space he knows best. For Colour Yellow, it is a chance to launch two fresh faces without making them feel like stand-ins for bigger stars.
My honest verdict: the song does its job. It makes the film feel warm, mischievous and eminently watchable. Whether that becomes a reason to buy a ticket depends on the next full trailer giving these characters a real conflict, not just a vibe. Right now, Nakhrewaalii looks like the kind of film you hope is as charming as its title track. I am cautiously sold.
Watch the original: JioStudios and Colour Yellow on YouTube
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
