MUMBAI: In a symbolic gesture, the music of Amrit Sagar’s prisoner of war (PoW) saga, 1971 was released on board naval museum INS Vikrant (now renamed Indian Museum Ship (IMS) Vikrant) by vice admiral Sangram Singh Byce Western naval Command, on Wednesday.

Says Sagar, “INS Vikrant saw combat against Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistan 1971 war, hence we thought it would be the appropriate setting for the music release.”

1971 highlights its aftermath of the Indo Pak skirmish and traces the condition of 54 prisoners of war (PoW). It stars Manoj Bajpai, Ravi Kissen, Chitaranjan Giri, Manav Kaul, Kumud Mishra and Deepak Dobriyal and is slated to release on 9 March 2007. The film has been jointly produced by Sagar Arts and Studio 18.

The film’s music has been composed by the 19 year old scion of the Sagar family, Akash Sagar. The album has three songs, of which the theme song Sehlenge Hum, has been rendered by Shibani Kashyap. The other two songs have been sung by Kailash Kher and Harshdeep Kaur. The theme song is already on air, picturised on Kashyap and interspersed with scenes from the film. Kashyap was present at the music release and even delivered a live performance with navy officials and the film’s cast for an audience.

When quizzed about the delay in releasing the film’s music when the film’s launch is just 10 days away, Sagar says, “It was a conscious decision taken by me and Studio 18. Firstly, we did not want to over publicise the film, and secondly, we wanted audiences just to become aware of the music and get to watch it soon after.”

The music of the film is on Times Music.