The makers of Anurag Kashyap’s new film Mukkabaaz have released the video for its first single, Paintra, which also doubles up as the trailer. The movie stars Vineet Kumar Singh, previously seen in Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur and Ugly (2014), and newcomer Zoya Hussain. Co-produced by Aanand L Rai’s Colour Yellow Production and Phantom Films, Mukkabaaz will be released on January 12, 2018.
Produced by homegrown EDM sensation Nucleya and sung by Mumbai rapper Divine, Paintra is the motivational track in sports films that became a staple of the genre thanks to Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger from Rocky III (1982). However, while such songs mostly belong to the rock genre, Mukkabaaz’s Paintra has gone for EDM-laced hip-hop.
The video for Paintra lays down the plotline and its chief characters in under three minutes: Low-caste boxer Shravan Kumar (Singh) falls for Sunaina Mishra (Hussain), the niece of local strongman Bhagwan Bas Mishra (Jimmy Shergill). When Bhagwan Das and his men gang up against Shravan Kumar, the pugilist, trained and motivated by his coach Sanjay Kumar (Ravi Kishen), takes on the establishment to prove his worth.
Paintra, written by Vineet Kumar Singh, is held together by Nucleya’s characteristic blend of Indian percussion and EDM. Kishen’s dialogue underlines Shravan Kumar’s fight against his overlords.
Though Divine and Nucleya have produced the film’s lead single, newcomer Rachita Arora is in charge of the soundtrack.