Meenakshi Sundareshwar

Karan Johar, who produced the film under Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital arm of his studio Dharma Productions, roped Justin Prabhakaran for the film's soundtrack and score, after being impressed by his work in Dear Comrade (2019), where he had bought the rights for the Hindi remake.[11] Since, the film is set in the backdrop of Madurai, Johar wanted a South Indian musician to create authentic music based on that culture, which will also have a "Bollywood touch".[12] In an interview with the Chennai-based magazine Ananda Vikatan, Prabhakaran said that "he used Carnatic and South Indian instruments imported from Tamil Nadu, to have this approach and wanted to be liked by all kinds of audiences, irrespective of language barriers".[13]

The album has a running time of 37 minutes, which has 11 tunes; seven songs and four themes composed by Justin Prabhakaran. Raj Shekhar served as the primary lyricists for all the tracks. Benny Dayal, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Madhushree, Shreya Ghoshal, Sadhana Sargam, Romy, Aanandi Joshi, Goldie Sohel, Lavita Lobo amongst others, along with South Indian artists Bjorn Surrao, Mohana Bhogaraju, Hemambika and Anthony Daasan performed the vocals.[10]

Four tracks from the album were picturised on the perspective of the lead pair (Abhimanyu and Sanya), traversing from their marriage to long-distance relationship.[14] The tracks "Vaada Machaney" and "Thalaivaa" featured Tamil lyrics. "Thalaivaa", a song serving as a tribute to the actor Rajinikanth, featured as Meenakshi's (Sanya) character being a hardcore fan of the actor.[15] "Down and Dirty" is a reggae track, a popular music genre originated in Jamaica.[lower-alpha 1] The theme tracks picturised on the separation of the lead couple.[17] Out of the four themes, the instrumental "First Kiss" is highly inspired from the flute theme composed by Harris Jayaraj for Minnale (2000).[17] "Waltz With Meenakshi", another track from the instrumental score was produced and orchestrated by Budapest Scoring Orchestra, which worked in several Indian and International albums.[18]

On the pop-culture event Tudum Festival sponsored by Netflix on 25 September 2021,[19][20] a musical promo of the film (featuring the song "Tu Yahin Hai") was unveiled through the official YouTube channel of Netflix India.[21] Later, on 1 October 2021, Sony Music India released the full song through the music streaming platforms.[22] The song had vocals by Abhay Jodhpurkar, Madhushree and Resmi Sateesh.[22] Describing about the song, India Today stated it as "a soulful track that will stir your heart".[22] Hindustan Times, gave a positive review praising the composition and the vocals of Madhushree, the female singer, saying it as "pleasant" and "sweet to hear, reminding of old classical songs".[23] The songs "Tittar Bittar" (featured an animated lyrical video released through YouTube) and "Mann Kesar Kesar" were released on 15 and 25 October 2021.[24][25]

The soundtrack received highly positive response from music critics and listeners, praising the melodious compositions and also the use of Tamil lines in the song lyrics. Writer Sankhayan Ghosh of Film Companion opined that the album — which has seven songs and four instrumentals — adds flavour and lends authenticity to the film, with a single soundscape: "fresh, lively, with a flair for symphony orchestra and Indian folk, sometimes classical, but also rambunctious and groovy – a dash of A. R. Rahman and a whole lot of Ilaiyaraaja".[26] He further wrote "The album is not only an encouraging sign for Hindi film music, but makes more of an impact when a new composer (albeit from another industry) does it. While Hindi film music has hit a creative low, it’s curious how verdant the music in South Indian films has managed to stay, and it was perhaps only a matter of time that Bollywood looked Southward for inspiration. With his strong sense of melody, and his approach to clutter-free arrangements, Prabhakaran’s songs are a refreshing change."[26]

Planet Bollywood-based reviewer Anish Mohanty stated it as "the best Hindi film soundtrack one has come across in the recent past". Writing further, he stated that "The soundtrack boasts of high-quality tunes and rich poetry and has the kind of songs that not only sound good but also remain faithful to the narrative and milieu of the film."[27] A reviewer from The Times of India, praised the soundtrack, calling it as "pleasant to the ears" and stated that the lyrics written by Raj Shekhar "displayed a fine range".[28] Devarsi Ghosh of Scroll.in stated that "the soundtrack has a sharp contrast to the recent albums that churned out in Hindi film music every year" further directing praise to Prabhakaran's "orchestration and composition".[29]

Vipin Nair of Music Aloud, giving a rating of 4 out of 5, stated the album as "Prabhakaran's best work yet" and also "one of the best composing debuts in Bollywood (along with singer Arijit Singh's debut film album Pagglait), at a time where the Hindi film music has been disappointing for the year".[17] Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog stated it as an "excellent outcome from Justin Prabhakaran"; while choosing "Mann Kesar Kesar" and "Tu Yahin Hai" as his picks, he stated that other tracks from the album are "quite letdown".[30]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds an approval rating of 43% based on its 7 critics reviews, with an average score of 4.80/10.[31] Hiren Kotwani from The Times of India gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and stated,"Discounting the dragging parts, Meenakshi Sundareshwar is worth a watch for it’s hatke subject of long-distance marriage, Sanya and Abhimanyu’s effective performances, Justin Prabhakaran’s fabulous soundtrack, and the right southern flavour for this Madurai and Bangalore based story."[32] Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave 2.5 stars rating out of 5 and said,"The film is not interested in either satirizing or sending up the whole arranged marriage thing. It is what it is, and it is the lived reality of millions of young Indians who live in their parental homes with their wives and children, squabbling and harmonising as they go along. The lovely song “Tittar Bittar”, shot with a sense of fun, captures some of that life — lived around in-laws, bratty kids, and their myriad moods, really well. Meenakshi’s minor pushback against a domineering aunt-in-law is also nice even if dramatized: young brides who live in joint families know how hard it is to acknowledge that they may have had a romantic life before they came by their legal mangalsutras."[33] Anuj Kumar from The Hindu website wrote,"It is a kind of film that won’t keep you awake but provides talk-points for dinner table discussion" [34]

Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV gave the film 2.5 stars (out of 5) rating and stated, "Meenakshi Sundareshwar isn't a complete washout. Although the two leads never look like they are made for each other - but that, to be fair, is what the film is about - individually they do look the part. Abhimanyu Dassani conveys the gawkiness of a man with limited social skills. Sanya Malhotra exudes enough charm and controlled vivacity not be swamped by the occasional verbosity around her."[35] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave 2/5 rating and wrote, "Meenakshi Sundareshwar has many of its nuts and bolts in place, but is lost to poor writing and to direction that confuses uneventfulness with realism, made worse by the inexorable 2 hours and 21 minutes running time. Even its goal of upholding one of the fixtures of Indian culture – the arranged marriage – remains unmet since it has no compelling arguments to offer.It may well be argued that this unquestioning acceptance of tradition accurately reflects most Indian homes. True enough, but if this film’s aim was to romanticise tradition, then its lack of energy and spark makes it a really bad ad for arranged marriages."[36] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote, "Since Hindi movies are overstuffed with Punjabi slang and big fat Delhi weddings and all things North Indian, the makers of Meenakshi Sundareshwar find a new land and culture to fetishise: the Tamil Brahmin community in Madurai. However, Vivek Soni’s debut feature isn’t a comedy about community stereotypes. Rather, the film embraces the stereotype and then tries to subvert it with a zeal that can only be admired."[37]