DSP for songs, Thaman for BGM: Mythri Movie Makers splits music duties on Ustaad Bhagat Singh, cites scheduling conflict

The announcement did soften the news with genuine enthusiasm for what is already on the table. The film’s first single “Dekh Le Gey Saala” and the follow-up track “Aura of Ustaad” had both received strong responses since their release, with director Harish Shankar and DSP’s combination once again proving popular with the audience. A third song, the statement suggested, was also on its way.

For anyone following the history between DSP and Mythri Movie Makers, however, Wednesday’s announcement carried a sense of familiarity. This is not the first time the two have navigated a complicated musical arrangement, and it is not the first time Thaman’s name has entered the picture as a last-minute solution.

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During the making of Pushpa 2: The Rule, directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri, reports surfaced that DSP’s background score had not fully satisfied the director, leading the production house to bring in Thaman, Ajaneesh Loknath, and Sam CS to rework portions of the score. Thaman himself later confirmed that he had worked on the film’s score for over ten days, only for Sukumar to eventually go back to DSP and Sam CS’s version for the final cut.

The situation came to a head at the Pushpa 2 pre-release event in Chennai, where DSP publicly blamed the producers for repeatedly claiming he had failed to deliver the background score and songs on time, saying the producers had more complaints than love for him. Producer Ravi Shankar denied the rift publicly, saying there were no issues and that they were like a family. The controversy with DSP extended beyond Pushpa 2 as well, with Mythri replacing DSP with GV Prakash Kumar on another one of their productions, Good Bad Ugly.

The pattern points to a recurring pressure point between one of Telugu cinema’s most commercially successful composers and one of its busiest production houses. DSP’s songs have rarely disappointed. It is the background score pipeline, with its tighter, post-production deadlines, that has repeatedly created friction.

The film, which marks Pawan Kalyan’s return to a full-blown commercial entertainer alongside director Harish Shankar after their 2012 blockbuster Gabbar Singh, stars Sreeleela and Raashii Khanna in the female leads with a supporting cast that includes Parthiban and Ashutosh Rana. It is scheduled for a worldwide release on March 26.

With the music team now finalised and the release date locked, the focus shifts entirely to whether the film can deliver on the considerable weight of expectations riding on it.