Soundtracker

Raunak Kaul [Rajeev Khandelwal] lives, eats, and breathes music—a gifted talent passed down from his late father, Parth Kaul, a musician who never quite hit the big time. He lands in Mumbai and kicks off as a nightclub DJ at Tango Charlie, a lively venue run by his uncle Surendra [Yatin Karyekar] and owned by the charismatic Charlie [Mohan Kapoor]. Fueled by ambition, Raunak dreams of launching his own studio, crafting his own tracks, and even scoring a film for a director as bold as Anurag Kashyap.

The rhythm of his life begins to change when a harsh, persistent ringing intrudes on his senses. Raunak is recording a new album with his friends Banjo [Ankur Tewari] and Biscuit [Siddharth Coutto], and the world of sound starts to slip away in small, unsettling ways. He pushes on, performing gigs and chasing inspiration, yet the deterioration accelerates. A band rehearsal turns ominous as he discovers he can’t hear the second channel in his headphones, and he struggles to beatmatch the tracks. The crowd’s boos cut through the noise, and Raunak lashes out, tossing the turntables aside in a moment of frustration and humiliation. He seeks help from a doctor, who delivers the hard truth: Raunak has lost hearing in one ear and has only about 30% left in the other, a warning to drop the drugs and the excessive volume before it’s too late.

In a tense, revealing moment during a recording session, Raunak confesses the full extent of his hearing loss to Banjo. He demonstrates with a hearing aid, and the sudden onslaught of sound becomes overwhelming. A near-tragic accident follows when Biscuit smashes a guitar into a maximized amplifier, the feedback blasting Raunak into unconsciousness. The damage is permanent, and Raunak realizes he will never hear the world the same way again.

Cuts in the music industry move quickly, and Raunak finds himself unable to complete his album. He loses his recording contract, and Charlie turns away, leaving Raunak to navigate the void alone. Shattered and adrift, he faces a deeper emotional toll, including the painful departure of Shonali. In the resulting spiral, Raunak grapples with depression, even collapsing under the weight of his new reality. He wipes out his supply of drugs, only to be haunted by a stark vision of a menacing badger. In a brutal moment of self-confrontation, he defeats the creature only to discover that the badger was a projection of himself.

Enter Gauri [Soha Ali Khan], an instructor who works with the deaf and teaches him to read lips. Their connection grows into something intimate as she helps him reframe sound through visual and tactile experiences. With her guidance, Raunak develops an unconventional but powerful method for experiencing music: he watches an oscilloscope trace, rests his feet against pulsating speakers, and creates a fresh approach to mixing. He composes a new collection—Raunak Is “Hear”—entirely on his own, a testament to resilience and ingenuity that he then delivers to Charlie, who recognizes the enduring potential in Raunak’s disability and the fierce curiosity it inspires.

Raunak’s comeback arrives in a live performance that resonates with audiences in unexpected ways. The set is a triumph, and the reception hints at a reinvention that might even surpass his earlier work. Yet Raunak chooses to step away from the limelight with Gauri by his side, disappearing from the media glare and the music scene. A protracted “where is he now?” chorus follows in a talking-head sequence, leaving his fate delightfully open to interpretation. The film closes with a quiet, hopeful image: Raunak teaching deaf children to perceive sound, sending a CD of his compositions to Charlie every several months, and sharing a moment of everyday life with Gauri and a child they may call their own as they walk down a street, finally unrecognized by the world around them.

Last Updated: November 22, 2025 at 15:59