Soundtrack

Raunak Kaul arrives in Mumbai to pursue his musical dreams. He starts as a DJ in his uncle Surendra's nightclub Tango Charlie, which is run by Charlie. This job marks the beginning of his rise in the city’s music scene.

He expands from DJing to establishing his own recording studio. He also begins composing the score for a film by Anurag Kashyap. This signals his move toward formal music production.

The first signs of trouble appear when a high-pitched ringing drowns out a TV interview. Raunak initially refuses to acknowledge that his hearing is failing.

Raunak continues making music with his friends Banjo and Biscuit, but his hearing deteriorates rapidly. As the album work stalls, he struggles to hear the cues and rhythms that guide the production.

At a club gig, he cannot hear the second channel in his headphones and fails to beatmatch. The crowd boos, he loses composure, and his equipment is thrown onto the dance floor before security ejects him.

A doctor confirms he has lost hearing in one ear and only 30% left in the other. He warns that continuing exposure to loud noise and drug use will render him completely deaf.

During a recording session, he confesses the full extent of his hearing loss and demonstrates with a hearing aid. A freak accident when Biscuit smashes a guitar into a maximized amplifier triggers deafening feedback, leaving him permanently deaf.

Without hearing, he loses his recording contract and Charlie abandons him, followed by Shonali leaving. He sinks into depression, nearly harming himself, and has a hallucinatory vision of a menacing badger that he ultimately defeats.

Raunak meets Gauri, an instructor for the deaf, who coaches him in lip-reading. She helps him perceive sound again through visual and tactile methods, and they form a close bond.

He devises a method for mixing songs by watching an oscilloscope and resting his feet on pulsating speakers. Using this system, he produces a new mix CD titled Raunak Is Hear.

Charlie persuades Raunak to perform live as a comeback. The gig is a surprising success, with many praising his artistry and resilience.

After the comeback, Raunak and Gauri retreat from the media and the music scene. They disappear from the public eye, stepping away from Charlie and the press. Their quiet departure hints at a new life away from the limelight.

In the epilogue, Raunak is shown teaching deaf children to perceive sound. He continues to send a CD to Charlie every 6–8 months, and a final scene shows him walking with Gauri and a child down a street, inconspicuous.