"Ishq Ka Ghulaam" landed on Zee Music Company's YouTube channel and streaming platforms this week, the latest single off Prem Keetanu's soundtrack and arguably its most nakedly emotional one yet. B Praak and Sukriti Kakar share vocals on the track, composed by The Rish with lyrics from Kunaal Vermaa.

B Praak, never one to undersell a heartbreak song, called it a chance to bring "the feeling of love a full circle through heartbreak, followed by the grief that comes with it." His words: the song "will make you feel the pain of heartbreak over and over again with the intention to rekindle the feeling of hope and love all over again."

That's a lot of intention for a few minutes of music. But going by the film's pitch, restraint was never really the plan.

Prem Keetanu is carrying seven songs into its October 2 release, and the credits list reads like a fixture card for playback singers working today. Sachet Tandon, Parampara Tandon, Armaan Malik, Papon, Jubin Nautiyal, Madhur Sharma, Altamash Faridi, Shashi Suman and Brijesh Shandilya all feature, alongside B Praak twice over. Rappers Little Bhatia and Mazemusicc show up too, which suggests the makers are hedging across more than one generation of listeners.

Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki and produced by Gaurav Verma under Avanika Films, with Phars Films co-presenting alongside Bhavana Studios, the movie follows a group of young people through friendship, first love, one-sided love and the heartbreak that tends to follow all three. It stars Veer Pahariya, Aafiya Sayed, Aparshakti Khurana, Rakesh Bedi and Nikhil Vijay.

Pahariya has been putting in the pre-release rounds too, including a visit to the Kamakhya temple ahead of the film's opening, per earlier Bollywood Hungama reporting. Whether that kind of visibility translates into opening-weekend numbers is a separate question, one Bollywood asks of every young lead trying to build a foothold with a coming-of-age ensemble film.

For now, the strategy is straightforward. Release the album track by track, let each song find its own audience on YouTube and streaming, and hope the accumulated goodwill carries into theatres. "Ishq Ka Ghulaam" is clearly aimed at listeners who like their heartbreak set to strings and B Praak's particular brand of ache, a lane he's owned for years now.

With about two weeks left before release, expect at least one or two more singles to drop, and a trailer push soon after. October 2 will settle whether seven songs and this many voices add up to a soundtrack people carry past opening weekend, or just a very crowded one.