Chhapaak title track, featuring Deepika Padukone as Malti, recounts horrors of acid attack

The makers of  Chhapaak have dropped the title track from the movie. Featuring Deepika Padukone as Malti, the title track recounts the protagonist’s painful journey of coming to terms with her altered physical appearance after a horrific acid attack and braving all odds to advocate curbing of acid sale in India.

By focusing on that one life-altering moment of being ‘splashed,’ the song underlines the extent of the gruesomeness of the crime.

The soulful number has been sung by Arijit Singh, composed by the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and written by Gulzar.

Check out the song here

Here's the title track of #Chhapaak. Sung by #ArijitSingh, the music is by @ShankarEhsanLoy with lyrics by #Gulzar. The film starring @deepikapadukone & @masseysahib releases on Jan 10, 2020. @ZeeMusicCompany https://t.co/Z5SzkuAGzD

— Box Office India (@boxofficeindia) January 3, 2020

Ahead of releasing the song, Deepika Padukone shared a still from the Chhapaak title track. Check it out here

Director Meghna Gulzar had once spoken about choosing the title Chhapaak for her film, stating how the word “lends itself better to music and lyrics” than the other title she was considering —gandhak. She opened up to Scroll about planning a theme song for the film and selecting her final title. She said, “I knew that I was going to have a theme song, and the word chhapaak lends itself better to music and lyrics than gandhak (sulphuric acid). There is a lyrical quality to chhapaak, it has got a rhythm to it.”

Deepika had earlier said  she hopes her cinematic voice can help bring about lasting change in how society perceives acid attack survivors, and Chhapaak should ideally be so impactful there would not be a need for another story on acid violence. “I hope we won’t have to constantly tell stories on acid attack survivors for us to see change. I hope with our film we begin to see that change for ourselves as a society and for acid attack survivors,” she said.