Baatein Kuch Ankahee: unplugged

Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si is one of the finest songs that never gets old, and this is my raw, unplugged cover of it. It is a song about things left unsaid — and sometimes the best way to sing a song like that is with as little as possible around the voice.

The original

The song is from Life in a… Metro (2007), Anurag Basu’s film about several lives crossing in a big city, produced by Ronnie Screwvala for UTV, with an ensemble cast that includes Dharmendra, Shilpa Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Shiney Ahuja, Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sharman Joshi and Kangana Ranaut.

The music is by Pritam and the lyrics by Sandeep Shrivastava. The song has more than one version on the album: the main one sung by Adnan Sami, and an unplugged version sung by Suhail Kaul — the version my cover follows. The soundtrack sold more than a million copies, and the film won Filmfare awards for Irrfan Khan and for its screenplay.

What the words mean

Baatein kuch ankahee si means “some words, unspoken”. The song is about the moment feelings begin to speak without words — when things you have never said, and things you have never heard, start happening between two people, and the heart slips out of your control. Perhaps, the song says, this is what love is.

That idea fits the film perfectly: a city full of people who feel a great deal and say very little.

Why unplugged

An unplugged song has nowhere to hide. Without a big arrangement, every breath and every small bend in the voice can be heard, and the words come to the front. I recorded my cover in that spirit — a raw version, close and simple, the way you might sing it for a friend late at night. It also leaves room for the listener: you hear the words as if someone is saying them to you, rather than performing them.

My version

My cover went up on my channel on 21 October 2022. It is one of my earliest covers, and it runs a little over three minutes. I hope you like it.

When to listen

This is a song for the end of a long day, for a quiet train or car ride, or for a moment when you are thinking about someone you haven’t said everything to.

If it touched you, please share it and subscribe to my channel — and tell me in the comments which unplugged song I should sing next.

Credits at a glance

Original: Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si, from Life in a… Metro (2007). Main version: Adnan Sami. Unplugged version: Suhail Kaul. Music: Pritam. Lyrics: Sandeep Shrivastava. Director: Anurag Basu. Producer: Ronnie Screwvala (UTV Motion Pictures). Label: Sony Music India.

My version: Vocals: Sushmita Srivastava. Released on YouTube on 21 October 2022.