Excel Entertainment Expands into Music Production with New Label Launch

Excel Entertainment — the production house behind everything from Dil Chahta Hai's breezy acoustic guitars to Gully Boy's genre-bending rap — just opened its own record label, and the first thing on my speakers better hit hard.

Filmmakers Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar have officially launched Excel Music, a dedicated imprint for original film soundtracks and scores, with Universal Music Group coming in as strategic shareholder, marketing partner and distribution arm. As reported by ANI, the move reads less like a pivot and more like a logical crescendo for a company whose soundtracks have shaped two decades of Bollywood listening.

The Deal Behind the Drop

The label grows directly out of the partnership struck earlier this year, when UMG acquired a 30% stake in Excel Entertainment at an enterprise valuation of Rs 2,400 crore. Now UMG isn't just sitting on the cap table — the global giant is putting its distribution muscle behind every track Excel Music releases. For a label built from the ground up around film music, that means worldwide reach from day one.

Sidhwani and Akhtar framed music as the through-line of their work all along — hard to argue with a resume that runs from Rock On!!'s electric-guitar sting and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara's flamenco flourishes to Gully Boy's bass-heavy streetscapes. Sanujeet Bhujabal, Managing Director of UMG India & South Asia, called Excel's place in Hindi cinema "strong" and confirmed UMG's excitement about the partnership. Importantly, the label won't just live off its own films — Excel Music will also work with outside filmmakers and production houses across India.

Dhanda Opens the Frequency

The debut release is the soundtrack to Mirzapur: The Movie — theatrical release locked for September 4, 2026 — and the lead single arrives later this week, featuring Haryanvi singer Dhanda making his Bollywood debut. For anyone who has spent time inside the Haryanvi rap and folk-pop scene, Dhanda brings a raw, throaty vocal texture that sits brilliantly against cinematic orchestration. I'm bracing for a crescendo built on dhol patterns, brooding low-end strings, and that signature Haryanvi rhythmic snap punching through a film-score wash.

What's Loading Next

Excel Music's larger play goes beyond one franchise. By keeping music production in-house rather than licensing soundtracks out to third-party labels, the production house is betting on long-term rights, catalogue control and closer sync between what's on screen and what's on streaming.

There's a context wrinkle worth tracking: UMG has separately been pushing a 72-hour subscriber-first release window for new drops in India, kicking in from end-August. So when Excel Music tracks start landing, expect tighter windows between theatrical premiere and soundtrack availability, and reportedly short exclusive windows for paying subscribers first. If you want every Dhanda hook the instant it goes live, keep that subscription primed.

For now, I'm queuing up the Mirzapur lead single with expectations set somewhere between Rock On!!'s guitar bite and Gully Boy's percussive intensity. If Excel Music opens with that kind of sonic ambition, this isn't just a label extension — it's a new chapter in how Bollywood soundtracks get made, marketed and lived with on repeat.