One of the most heartening things about a Yash Raj film is how they sparingly opt for a multi-composer soundtrack. Instead, they invest their confidence in a single composer — fast becoming a rarity in Bollywood these days — even the relatively untested ones on occasion. On the rare occasion, a soundtrack features multiple composers, it’s been for a bold and brilliant experiment like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! With the upcoming Hichki, Yash Raj Films opt for a single composer, the young Punjabi singer-songwriter Jasleen Royal who also belongs to the relatively untested category, having composed just indie singles or a couple of songs in Bollywood movies and never a complete album/soundtrack.
With a start that’s mildly evocative of ‘Wat Wat Wat’ ( Tamasha , 2015) ‘Oye Hichki’ follows a route Royal has taken before: a happy folksy one backed by a Punjabi percussion-dominated arrangement. Except this is not a wedding song, and hence the hangover is minimal. Also Jaideep Sahni’s fine verse woven around the word hichki makes all the difference. Harshdeep Kaur leads this one with finesse, and a competent chorus supporting her. The ‘oye hichki, dum hichki’ refrain peppered throughout is a nice touch. The folk elements in the arrangement are stripped off in the more electronic reprise version titled ‘Soul of Hichki ’ where Kaur goes solo. The change in arrangement doesn’t work in favour of the track though. Royal fares better with fusing folk and electronica ‘Madamji Go Easy’ sung by Benny Dayal and David Klyton. Raj Shekhar pens what appears to be a tongue-in-cheek classroom song; though Klyton does not quite conform to the theme in his Tamil rap.
Shekhar also writes lyrics for the motivational ‘ Khol De Par ’ that features Arijit Singh on vocals. Musically there is nothing exceptional going on here, but it engages while it lasts. Royal creates another more effective pick-me-up in ‘Phir Kya Hai Gham’ . The breezy track has an interesting melody, set in a lower scale for most part, rising up around its titular hook. Shilpa Rao sounds fabulous handling the base notes, and the backing vocalists do an equally splendid job with their harmonies. Royal herself gets behind the mic for ‘Teri Daastaan’ , and it is her déjà vu inducing rendition that bogs down the neatly arranged pensive piece (written by Neeraj Rajawat). It’s also the reason why the tune works a lot better in the slower instrumental version titled ‘Naina’s Theme’. Royal restricts her vocal contribution here to simply humming which is beautifully rendered.
While Royal does need to do something about the repetitiveness in her songs, especially with her singing, Hichki is definitely a step up for her as a composer. Also, it’s great to listen to another soundtrack without remixes.
