When the trailer for Dhurandhar: The Revenge dropped on 7th March, the internet not only talked about Ranveer Singh. Within minutes, social media was flooded with a single question: What is that song?
Meet the voice and minds behind Ari Ari – Bombay Rockers
The track featured in the trailer is a recreated version of an early-2000s pop hit by Bombay Rockers — a band that, for many millennials, needs no introduction. For everyone else, here is the story.
Bombay Rockers is a Danish-Indian live duo. Their debut album, Introducing, went five times platinum with sales of over 100,000 copies. That is not a small number for an independent act straddling two continents.
It began, as many things do, with an unlikely meeting. In 2003, Danish-Indian singer Navtej Singh Rehal, known as Naf, was introduced to the Danish producer duo Thomas Sardorf and Janus Barnewitz of the Scandinavian production team WCA, leading to their initial collaboration in Denmark. The three began jamming, and what came out of those sessions was something that did not fit neatly into any one box.
Their first collaboration, Ari Ari, got extensive national airplay in Denmark and became a pick of left-field DJs. It was a track rooted in Punjabi folk tradition but wrapped in Western pop and electronic production — the kind of sound that felt fresh because, simply put, nobody else was making it.
The Danish-Indian pop duo consists of Navtej Singh Rehal on vocals, guitar and keyboards, and Thomas Sardorf on vocals and keyboards. Together with Danish producer Janus Barnewitz, the band aimed at creating a fusion between bhangra and Western musical expressions such as R&B, pop, and hip hop.
In July 2003, Bombay Rockers went on stage with the house duo Filur at Roskilde Festival in front of roughly 25,000 people. A month later, they were playing at the Images of Asia Festival, as well as performing numerous shows in Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark. They also performed with the famous English DJ project Panjabi MC in 2003.
By 2005, the band had broken well beyond Scandinavia. The album quickly became a commercial hit in India, achieving platinum certification and topping the Indian album charts for 15 consecutive weeks. Their debut was eventually released in more than 32 countries worldwide.
Their live shows were equally memorable. Bombay Rockers put on an electrifying live performance which included breakdancers, Indian folk and belly-dancers. It was spectacle and substance in equal measure.
In 2016, Bombay Rockers contributed original music to the Bollywood action film Rocky Handsome, including the high-energy track “Rock Tha Party,” performed with visuals featuring stars John Abraham and Nora Fatehi. This soundtrack appearance marked their most notable output in nearly five years, revitalizing their presence in the Indian film music scene.
Ari Ari itself had already been revived once before. The song appeared again in the 2019 film Satellite Shankar starring Sooraj Pancholi. Even after years, the original vibe of the track continued to attract listeners.
Now it has come back again, bigger than ever. Music composer Shashwat Sachdev worked on the new version while original singer Navtej Singh Rehal returned for vocals. The song also includes the voices of Khan Saab, Jasmine Sandlas, and Sudhir Yaduvanshi, with lyrics credited to Irshad Kamil along with Bombay Rockers.
What many people may not realize is that “Ari Ari” is originally rooted in the traditional Punjabi folk tune Baari Barsi, which has been sung at festive gatherings for generations. The song’s bones are old. Its energy, it seems, is timeless.
After the trailer was released, the band’s official Instagram account posted: “The iconic ‘Ari Ari’ by Bombay Rockers returns in Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge. If you love it… share it. Full track dropping soon.”
The band currently has just over 1,400 followers on Instagram — a modest number that will almost certainly not stay that way for long.
Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge releases in cinemas on 19th March 2026.
