April 9, 1992, Bombay.
The calendar on Adil's desk had the quiet brutality of mathematics. Music recording had to finish before shooting began. Shooting would began on May first. Which meant every song needs to be; composed, arranged and recorded, In Just Twenty-two days.
Adil looked at the calendar. Then at Arjun.
"Get me Gaurav Agarwal." Gaurav arrived after a while. Gaurav is the Music director and composer of the company. They sat across from each other while Bombay hummed far below, and Adil handed him the songs. For Student of the Year, Adil decided to create a soundtrack by combining songs from both Student of the Year (2012) and Student of the Year 2 (2019). After careful consideration, he finalized seven songs that would naturally complement the film's narrative, with one additional track reserved for the end credits.
The film opens with "The Disco Song," which plays during the grand Freshers' Party, introducing the college, its vibrant atmosphere, and the main characters. This is followed by "Radha," performed during the college's annual cultural festival, adding color, energy, and friendly competition among the students.
As the relationship between the male and female leads begins to blossom, "Ishq Wala Love" captures the innocence and excitement of their growing romance. With the academic year reaching its most stressful phase, "Ratta Maar" is featured before the written examinations, portraying the students' frantic preparations in a fun and entertaining way.
Later in the story, to show Male and female attachment "Fakira" song is added. As the film reaches its conclusion and the students celebrate their graduation, "The Jawaani Song" serves as a joyous farewell, marking the end of their college journey and the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.
Finally, after the story concludes, "The Hook Up Song" plays over the end credits as a celebratory bonus track, leaving the audience on a lively and upbeat note.
Adil told Gaurav all of this in detail. He told him about the tunes he needed.Then came the budget conversation. Three crore for the entire production. The headquarters renovation had absorbed most of Zenith's liquid capital. Music had to be economical. So he made a decision.
"I'll sing the male portions myself," Adil said.
Gaurav remained silent for a while and said. "Sir, You can sing. I know this. But playback recording is different. The camera isn't there. It's only your voice and the silence around it."
"I wrote these songs from inside the story," Adil said. "Nobody else was inside the story when they were written."
A long pause occured and then Gaurav asked. "Sir, then what about th female portion?" Adil remained silent as if thinking. Gaurav suggested. Sir why not we introduce a new female singer. Adil eyes lit up. He agreed. "Ok, it's up to you. But before the first session begin, i need a singer."
Gaurav was speechless, he wanted to sew his own mouth. Where the hell he would fond a singer that soon. Now he can oly agree. Gaurav said. "Ok sir, Give me one day." Adil said " Ok."
Gaurav returned to his own office. He started calling his friends in the field for a girl who can sing but haven't received a chance. Finally one of his friend said, he knew a girl. He sent gaurav a cassette tape.The label read: Priya Menon, 22.
Gaurav played it, She sang a well-known melody without a single ornament, without the trained confidence of someone who knows they are being evaluated. She sang it the way people speak when they are telling the truth, simply, directly, as though the melody was only the shape the feeling happened to take. Gaurav immediately called his friend, Asked his friend this girl, Priya Menon to Studio Seven in Bandra.
Next day, Priya Menon arrived the following morning at Studio Seven in Bandra. A small, serious recording space above an electrical fittings shop that the music industry knew and the rest of Bombay didn't. She was carrying a cloth bag and the specific composure of someone trying very hard not to look as terrified as they were.
Adil and Gaurav met her outside the booth. Adil asked. "Have you recorded professionally before?"
"No sir." she said. "I haven't."
Adil looked at her nervousness almost laughed. "Ok. Sing this song" adil looked at Gaurav. Seeing Adil gaze Gaurav nodded and handed her a song. Priya sand well, Adil appreciated her and select her on the spot. "Take these songs we'll start recording from tomorrow." Priya was stunned. She can't believe she was selected just like that.
Next day, They began the recording. Adil's own recording came first. It was harder than he had anticipated, and he had anticipated it being hard. Acting gave you the whole body, the space, the other actor. Singing gave you only breath and the knowledge that whatever emotional truth you were reaching for, you were reaching for it entirely alone, in a small box, with a microphone that had no interest whatsoever in your intentions.
The first take was careful. The second was the same. On the third, something released, the specific surrender of a person who has stopped trying to sound like what they imagined and simply sounded like themselves. Anand, at the piano, made a small mark in his notation sheet and said nothing.
Priya's turn came in the afternoon.Her first three takes had the quality of someone performing rather than feeling, technically clean and emotionally guarded. After the third, Adil sat beside her on the studio bench, not across from her but beside her.
"You're protecting yourself," he said. "Shanaya doesn't protect herself in this scene. That's the entire point of it."
She looked at her lyric sheet. She nodded. The fourth take began. In the first line, something released. A breath let go after being held too long. The song became what it had always been trying to be, and the room on the other side of the glass went very still in the way rooms go still when something true is happening inside them.
Subbu, the engineer, did not move for the entire duration. When the last note faded he looked up and simply nodded. They used the fourth take.
The next eighteen days moved at the speed that serious work demands, fast in memory, slow in the living of them.
They recorded seven songs, blending energetic dance numbers, romantic melodies, emotional ballads, and youthful campus anthems to capture every stage of college life. Together, the soundtrack reflected friendship, love, heartbreak, academic pressure, and celebration, giving the film a vibrant and emotionally engaging musical journey.
The mixing session ended at eleven on the night of April thirtieth. Subbu removed his headphones and leaned back. Anand closed his notation book. The studio had the particular silence of a room in which the work it was built for has just been completed.
Adil sat at the far end with a glass of water, listening to the final playback of the closing song through the monitors. His voice and Priya's voice, woven together over Anand's arrangement, filled the room with the sound of something that had not existed twenty-two days ago.
Priya, seated against the wall. Asked, "Is it what you heard in your head?"
"It's better," Adil said.
She said nothing. But something shifted in her face; the quiet, private expression of a person understanding that they may be standing at the beginning of a different kind of life than the one they had been expecting.