Urdu Is the Soul of Indian Music feat. Swanand Kirkire, Varun Grover & Naghma Sahar | Sunday Special

Urdu sits inside a lot of Indian music, even when the song is billed as Hindi. In this Sunday Special session, lyricists Swanand Kirkire and Varun Grover speak with Naghma Sahar about how Urdu gives songs their emotional vocabulary. They discuss writing choices, rhythm, meaning, and why certain words carry weight that is hard to replace. The conversation moves between craft and culture. What makes a line feel honest? How storytelling changes when the language changes. And why the Bollywood golden era still shapes how we hear love, grief, and longing today.