Excel Music Launches With Mirzapur and a Haryanvi Rapper's Debut [Explained]

Excel Entertainment has started its own music label, and the way it chose to announce it tells you more than the announcement itself. Excel Music launched on the poster of Do Numbari, the first song from Mirzapur: The Movie, sung, composed and written by Haryanvi rapper Dhanda Nyoliwala in his Bollywood debut. Not a Bollywood playback name. Not a legacy composer. A regional rapper who came up entirely outside the film music system.

Why a production house wants a label

Indian recorded music has always been a strange business because film soundtracks dominate it in a way they do not anywhere else in the world. For decades that meant a small number of labels held enormous leverage over an enormous number of producers. A studio made the film, then handed its most valuable recurring asset to somebody else and took a fee.

Excel is now on the other side of that arrangement. The company keeps the catalogue it generates, controls how and when it releases, and can use the label to break artists rather than just license songs. For a studio that has been running since 1999 and has more than forty films and scripted shows behind it, that back catalogue and future pipeline is a real asset to own outright.

The Universal connection

The label does not exist in isolation. Universal Music Group put $80 million into Excel Entertainment for a 30 percent equity stake through Universal Music India, in a deal that also handed UMG global distribution rights to every future original soundtrack attached to an Excel project. Launching an Excel-linked label, one that would let UMG and Universal Music India artists appear across Excel titles, was named as a future plan in that same announcement. Excel Music is that plan arriving.

Universal has form here. It launched VYRL Originals in India in 2018 specifically to build non-film music in a market that barely had any, and that label went on to release around forty singles across twenty-five artists. India was the fifteenth largest recorded music market globally at the time of the Excel deal, with Excel itself valued at roughly $290 million. The strategic read is straightforward: a global major buying into the supply side of the world's most film-dependent music market, then building the infrastructure to release music that does not need a film at all.

Do Numbari, and why the choice of artist matters

The debut release brings Haryanvi beats to the Mirzapur sound world, which is a sensible fit. The franchise has always been rooted in the north Indian heartland and its dialogue has been a substantial part of why it travelled. A Haryanvi rapper is closer to that register than any conventional Bollywood arrangement would be.

It also signals what the label intends to do. Handing the first release of a brand new imprint to an artist making his Bollywood debut, and letting him write and compose it rather than just perform it, is a statement about where Excel Music expects to source talent. The regional rap and hip hop scenes across Haryana, Punjab and Delhi have been generating the country's most commercially potent music for several years with almost no involvement from film studios. Excel is going there first rather than last.

What is coming with the film

Mirzapur: The Movie releases worldwide in cinemas on September 4, 2026, with the trailer set for August 11. It is directed by Gurmmeet Singh, who directed a large chunk of the series, and written by series creator Puneet Krishna. Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar produce under Excel Entertainment, with Amazon MGM Studios presenting and Kassim Jagmagia and Vishal Ramchandani co-producing.

The principal cast returns, including Pankaj Tripathi as Kaleen Bhaiya, Ali Fazal as Guddu Pandit and Divyenndu as Munna Tripathi, alongside Rasika Dugal, Shweta Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, Ravi Kishan, Jitendra Kumar and a large supporting ensemble. It is one of the first cases of an Indian streaming series making the jump to theatres, and the film will move to Prime Video across 240 territories after an eight-week theatrical window. Season 4 of the series follows the film.

Which puts a fair amount of weight on this soundtrack. A new label's first release, attached to the first theatrical outing of one of the country's biggest streaming franchises, on a film that has to prove the streaming-to-cinema move works at all. Do Numbari is carrying more than a song usually does.

FAQs

What is Excel Music?

A new music label from Excel Entertainment, the production house founded by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar. Its launch was announced alongside the first song from Mirzapur: The Movie.

Who sings Do Numbari?

Haryanvi rapper Dhanda Nyoliwala, who also composed and wrote the track. It marks his Bollywood debut.

When does Mirzapur: The Movie release?

September 4, 2026, in cinemas worldwide. The trailer arrives on August 11, and the film moves to Prime Video across 240 territories after an eight-week theatrical window.

What is Universal Music Group's stake in Excel?

Universal Music India acquired a 30 percent equity interest in Excel Entertainment for $80 million, a deal that also gave UMG global distribution rights to future Excel soundtracks.

Who directed Mirzapur: The Movie?

Gurmmeet Singh, who directed a large number of episodes of the series. Series creator Puneet Krishna wrote the film.