2003 and Jha edited the film. The New York-based composer Wayne Sharpe, who had composed feature-film soundtracks for 15 years, composed the film's background score, marking his debut in Indian film. Sharpe used both Western and Indian instruments for Gangaajal. Soundtrack Sandesh Shandilya composed the soundtrack of Gangaajal and Akhilesh Sharma wrote the lyrics. Richa Sharma, Ustad Sultan Khan and Lalit Pandit performed the vocals, and Venus Records & Tapes released the soundtrack album. Release Jha had high expectations during the pre-release of Gangaajal, wanting it to be a commercial success and set a new trend in Hindi cinema. The release was scheduled for July 2003 but the film opened in theatres on 29 August that year. In September, during its theatrical run in Bihar, a protest was held by supporters of the political party Rashtriya Janata Dal because the film's antagonist Sadhu Yadav has the same name as Rabri Devi's brother-in-law. They also vandalised the film's posters and filed a petition to the Patna High Court to ban it. The protesters told the film's distributors not to screen the film in the state; they decided to temporarily stop screening it. The controversy ended after Yadav told Jha he did not feel offended about the villainous character who shared his name: "There are thousands of persons with the name of Sadhu. The controversy ... has been created due to a misunderstanding." Gangaajal performed moderately well at the box office. It was released on 290 screens across India and grossed on its first day. The film collected by the end of its opening weekend and after its first week. It earned in India. Abroad, the film grossed following the first week of screening and collected after finishing its overseas theatrical run. The film-trade website Box Office India estimated Gangaajal had revenues of from India and overseas markets combined, making it one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 2003. On 25 July 2010, Shemaroo Entertainment released the film on Video CD as a double-disc pack in the PAL widescreen format. Since 11 April 2019, the film has been available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. Critical reception Critics gave Gangaajal generally positive reception; most of them appreciated Devgn's performance in the film as a police but questioned about the plot's originality. Writing for the entertainment portal Bollywood Hungama, Taran Adarsh gave the film a rating of two stars, saying Devgn