Renowned Bollywood Music Composer Mannan Shaah Releases His First Independent Single ‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’, Collaborating With Javed Akhtar And A 50-Piece Live Orchestra.
Renowned Bollywood music composer Mannan Shaah marks his entry into the independent music space with his first single, ‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’, featuring lyrics by Javed Akhtar and vocals by Anuradha Juju. The song brings together a 50-piece live string ensemble, with musicians from Chennai Strings and the Sunshine Music Orchestra, founded by A.R. Rahman, making it an expansive and distinctly organic musical experience.
‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ explores the idea that silence can be the language of love — the stillness between words where so much remains unspoken, yet nothing remains unheard.
For Mannan, the song is also a return to the warmth and authenticity of the golden era of Indian music. Recorded with 55–60 musicians, the track is completely live, with no digitised sound and no synthesizers. Alongside the 50-piece string ensemble, the recording features live sitar by Sweekar Katti, solo Carnatic violin by legendary violinist Shri Embar Kannan, santoor and Indian percussion by Krishna Kishor, among other live instrumentation. The result is a richly layered orchestral sound rooted entirely in live musicianship.
Speaking about the song, Mannan Shaah says, “‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ is a traditional semi-classical raga-based song with influences of Carnatic music at its core. It is purely a romantic love ballad, with a traditional melody powered by Javed saab’s profound lyrics. I wanted to explore traditional musical roots through modern-day storytelling.”
He adds, “‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ felt like the perfect song to mark my entry in the indie space. It represents our cultural roots and expresses love with a certain etiquette — ‘adab’, as we call it in Urdu. That is the beauty of the song.”
For Mannan, recording the song entirely live was equally important. “I had always dreamt of creating an independent song completely live, without any digitisation and totally synth-free. This is probably one of the few Indie songs in India in at least two decades to have been recorded completely 100% live.”
Speaking about his collaboration with legendary lyricist Javed Akhtar on the song, Mannan Shaah reflected on the special bond they share, describing Akhtar as not just a creative collaborator but also a mentor and father figure in his life. He further shared, “He’s like a mentor, a father figure to me, and working with him feels effortlessly creative. I created the melody first, and Javed saab wrote the lyrics on it. It was one of the fastest songs he has written — he completed it in just 20 minutes.”