Ed Sheeran enters Bollywood with ‘Tu Mil Jaaye’, thanks to an evening at Mannat
Photo: Collected
An evening get-together at Mannat, Shah Rukh Khan’s home in Mumbai, is what opened the way for British singer Ed Sheeran to step into Bollywood. He has sung ‘Tu Mil Jaaye’, a song from the Bollywood Badshah’s upcoming film ‘King’, at Shah Rukh’s request. It needed no lengthy planning or formal proposal.
Ed Sheeran had never sung in an Indian film before. He recently shared the experience of his Bollywood debut by posting a video from a recording studio on social media.
The story began around Ed Sheeran’s India tour. During that time, his friendship with Shah Rukh grew deeper. Ed had gone to Mannat to film a special scene for Shah Rukh’s song ‘Sapphire’. It was there that, through Shah Rukh, he was introduced to the popular composer duo Sachin-Jigar.
Ed Sheeran said that at their very first meeting Shah Rukh told him he wanted his voice in his next film. In the end, that is exactly what happened.
Describing the experience, Ed said his friendship with Shah Rukh had developed over the years. Last time, while filming a special scene for the music video at Mannat, it was Shah Rukh who introduced him to Sachin-Jigar. That same night he wrote and recorded his part of ‘Tu Mil Jaaye’.
Joining Ed Sheeran on the song is popular Indian singer Arijit Singh. Ed is quite excited about two artists from different musical genres working together. He also said it was a joy for him that Arijit lent his voice alongside him.
Shah Rukh Khan is also pleased with his friend’s work. He thanked him by sharing the video Ed Sheeran had posted on his own Instagram page. Expressing special gratitude for singing the Hindi portion of the song, Shah Rukh wrote, ‘Thank you so much, my friend, for doing this song. Especially for the Hindi parts. Love you.’
‘Tu Mil Jaaye’ was released on 2 November, Shah Rukh Khan’s 61st birthday. Since then, the song has drawn huge interest among listeners. It has reportedly been viewed 60 million times across various platforms in the first 24 hours after release. On YouTube alone it received more than 36.3 million views on the first day, with more than 430,000 likes.
With this, ‘Tu Mil Jaaye’ has broken the first-24-hour viewership record of ‘Zinda Banda’, the popular song from another Shah Rukh film, ‘Jawan’. It is a new record in the world of Indian film music.
Shah Rukh’s much-awaited action film ‘King’ is scheduled for release on 24 December. Starring alongside Shah Rukh are Suhana Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Arshad Warsi and Raghav Juyal. Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Deepika Padukone are expected to appear in special roles.
Source: Anandabazar
Background
According to a report by The National on 6 June 2025, Arijit Singh also worked on ‘Sapphire’, a song from Ed Sheeran’s album ‘Play’, playing the sitar on it. The song’s video was filmed during the 2025 India tour.
At a glance
According to a report by The Business Standard on 26 January, ‘King’ is being directed by Siddharth Anand of ‘Pathaan’ fame and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Marflix Pictures.
Sources
Background sources: The National, 6 June 2025; The Business Standard, 26 January 2026
