This Indian film holds world record for most songs, had 72 tracks, more than DDLJ, Taal, Rockstar, Mohabbatein combined

An Indian film that released in 1932 had 72 songs, with every major character their own entry track.

Despite the release of musicals like Amar Singh Chamkila, Lootera, and Qala in recent years, one may argue that the era of Hindi films with over a dozen songs is in the past. As recently as the 90s and early 2000s, many Indian films had 10 or more songs, with Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Taal both exceeding a dozen each. But neither of them can hold a candle to this 1932 release, one of the first talkies from India that had a staggering 72 songs. (

A still from the 1932 film, Indrasabha. (NFDC)

The film with the most songs

Indrasabha, a 1932 film that heralded the era of musicals in Indian cinema, had 72 songs. Some sources say that the tracks' number was 69, while others put it at 71 due to the presence of different versions of one song in the film. The Guinness Book of World Records recognised it as the film with the most songs in 1980. The film was released just a year after Alam Ara, the first Indian film with sound, and is largely considered instrumental in popularising the concept of songs and dances in Indian films.

Directed by Manilal Joshi, Indrasabha was a mammoth film, 211 minutes long, largely because of the many musical interludes. Based on Inder Sabha, an Urdu play written by Agha Hasan Amanat, Indrasabha followed the play's tradition of using music to introduce characters. In The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre, James R Brandon wrote that the play included "31 ghazals, 9 thumri of gaya and Benares gharana, 4 holis, 15 songs and two chaubolas and five chhands with enough scope for dances as well". Limca Book of Records noted that the film had a song for every major character.

How Indrasabha fares against modern Bollywood musicals

Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Sooraj Barjatya's 1994 musical drama, was noted for 14 songs. Subhash Ghai's Taal had 12 songs, while Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein had nine tracks, including instrumentals. Similarly, Imtiaz Ali's 2011 rock ballad Rockstar also had 14 songs. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenga, in comparison, had just 7 songs. These films are considered among the most music-heavy Indian films in recent years, and yet, their combined track count is 56, just three-fourths of what Indrasabha had.