# Ready (soundtrack)

Ready is the soundtrack album to the 2011 film of the same name directed by Anees Bazmee, starring Salman Khan and Asin. The film's soundtrack featured eight tracks composed by Pritam, with one song by Devi Sri Prasad, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Ashish Pandit, Neelesh Misra and Kumaar. The soundtrack was released through T-Series on 29 April 2011 to positive reviews. The songs "Dhinka Chinka" and "Character Dheela" achieved widespread commercial success.

## Development

The original soundtrack to Ready was composed by Pritam, who had collaborated with Bazmee on Singh Is Kinng (2008), No Problem (2010) and Thank You (2011). Ready is also Pritam's maiden collaboration with Salman; the album featured three original songs with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Neelesh Misra and Kumaar. The film score is composed by Sandeep Shirodkar. Upon the completion of the film's music, Bhushan Kumar, head of T-Series, presented him a BMW car as a gift of appreciation.
Salman had listened to the item song "Ringa Ringa" from the Telugu film Arya 2 (2009) and eventually liked it and discussed with Bhushan to reach out the original composer Devi Sri Prasad. Since it was difficult to buy the rights, they insisted Prasad on creating a Hindi version of the song. Prasad being interested in Bollywood, agreed to remake the song as "Dhinka Chinka" and made the hook remain intact, but the lyrics were tweaked to meet with the North Indian sensibilities. However, they had to convince Pritam who was initially selective on being the sole composer and displeased on how others share credits with him. When Salman and Bhushan discussed with Pritam on the need for the song and explained how "Munni Badnaam Hui" composed by Lalit Pandit, became the center of attraction, while the rest of the album were composed by Sajid–Wajid. Pritam agreed at one condition that Prasad's inclusion should be confirmed only after the first look poster release, to which both Salman and Bhushan agreed.

## Release

The soundtrack was launched at the Film City, Mumbai on 29 April 2011 with the cast and crew being present at the event.

## Reception

Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated the album favourably, awarding it four stars out of five, stating that despite the limited number of songs, he found that both "Dhinka Chika" and "Character Dheela" have a potential to be "not just huge hits musically but also turn out to be massive crowd pullers." Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com while giving it two and a half stars out of five stated that, despite not being a song-heavy album, it got "at least two potential mass favourites, complementing its leading man's stylish, crowd-pleasing personality, to offer."
Shivesh Kumar of India Weekly awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars and ranked "Character Dheela" in the fifth position in his weekly music chart. Rahul Gangwani of Filmfare gave it 4 out of 5 stars quoting "Rarely do we come across music albums which completely personify the lead actor's personality. Ready does that." A reviewer from Indo-Asian News Service wrote "the soundtrack is packed with fun tracks that are meant to liven up your evenings and parties." Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog wrote "Composer Devi Sri Prasad clearly owns this soundtrack with his single, tried and tested material".

## Awards and nominations

| Awards | Category | Recipients and Nominees | Results |
| Stardust Awards | Standout Performance by a Lyricist | Ashish Pandit for "Dhinka Chika" | Won |
| Zee Cine Awards | Best Song of the Year | "Character Dheela" | Nominated |
| 4th Mirchi Music Awards | Best Item Song of the Year | "Character Dheela" | Nominated |
| Ghanta Awards | Worst Song | "Dhinka Chika" | Won |

## Controversies

Composer Anu Malik alleged that the song "Character Dheela" is an unauthorised copy of his "Mohabbat Naam Hai" from the 2001 film Ajnabee. He told the media that he will likely file a suit against Pritam for plagiarism. The songwriter Turkish Mohammed Azam filed a plagiarism suit against Pritam, claiming the lyrics for "Character Dheela" were copied from a song he wrote in 2007. The Bombay High Court dismissed the case, ruling that since Pritam is not the lyricist he could not be held liable.

## Impact

Bhushan claimed that despite the trends in music sales being shifted to streaming, downloads and ringtones, the album fetched record sales which was termed as "phenomenal push in terms of actual album sales" and attributed it to the music compositions and the prowess of Salman. "Dhinka Chika" and "Character Dheela" topped the music charts after its release.
Prasad who expressed his interest in composing Bollywood films, had denied such offers because of time constraints, and wanted to work with big stars and big banners for a Bollywood breakthrough. He further added that the success of "Dhinka Chika" helped him to start a full-fledged career in Bollywood. Prasad then composed for Maximum (2012), Jai Ho (2014), Bhaag Johnny (2016), Radhe (2021), Drishyam 2, Cirkus (both 2022) and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (2023). Most of his sole compositions except for Jai Ho, Drishyam 2, Cirkus and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, were remakes of his Telugu compositions.
The success of "Dhinka Chinka" also prompted Khan to perform the hook step at multiple events.
"Character Dheela" was later recreated by Pritam as "Character Dheela 2.0" for the Kartik Aaryan-starrer Shehzada (2023).