The music of Main Vaapas Aaunga won’t turn a profit for five years. That’s not a typo. Kumar Taurani said it flat. Not a hope, not a projection. Five years to recover cost. The film made Rs. 70-80 crores. It was a sleeper. No one saw it coming. Not even the producers. The songs? ‘A bit sad,’ Taurani admitted. The first few didn’t move. The box office wobbled. Then came the shift. Imtiaz Ali stepped in. Not as director. As promoter. Taurani pushed him hard. ‘You’re the celebrity now,’ he told him. Three weeks before release. Three weeks after. No breaks. No safety net. And then — silence. Until the audience spoke. People loved the Partition angle. The film survived. The music? Still counting. The numbers don’t lie. But the story does. Ramesh Taurani recalled how Shibasish Sarkar, one of the producers, called him directly. ‘I’ve worked with so many music companies,’ Sarkar said. ‘But Kumar ji gave real support. I can call you myself. In other films, the manager left by release day.’ That mattered. No middlemen. No delays. Just access. To Taurani. To the process. To the film. Imtiaz Ali carried it. Usne picture ko khada kar diya. The phrase echoes. Not because it’s poetic. Because it’s true. The film wasn’t saved by star power. Not by budget. By presence. By someone stepping up when no one else could. Diljit Dosanjh was busy. The others were new. So the man who wrote the script became the face. The voice. The engine. And the album? Still waiting. Five years. That’s what it’ll take. The next question isn’t whether it will be remembered. It’s whether anyone will pay for it in time.