When a composer duo, with a very good body of work behind them, and a fine wordsmith join hands for the first time, you can’t help but have high expectations from the album. ‘Hum Do Hamare Do’ is the first collaboration between Sachin-Jigar and lyricist Shellee and given the quality of work they have, individually, delivered in the past, one looks forward to a memorable soundtrack. Also, Sachin-Jigar have worked very well with Dinesh Vijan in the past on films like ‘Badlapur’, Stree’ and ‘Roohi’, among others, most of which had good music.
The album opens with “Bansuri”, the promotional number of the film which has been getting good airtime of late. While the music video is well-choreographed, “Bansuri” leaves a mark as a standalone audio track too. Though four singers (along with Sachin-Jigar who seem to insisting on being credited as singers on each song they compose despite not singing them) have been credited on the song, the two voices that are heard prominently are that of Asees Kaur and Dev Negi. The tune is catchy, the lyrics are impressive and the rendition by the two lead vocalists is good.
After a playful dance number, one gets to hear a lilting romantic melody in the form of “Kamli”. The tune is simple, likeable and leaves an impression in the very first hearing. The antara, in particular, is quite immersive. Jubin Nautiyal’s velvety voice is exactly what the song needed. Divya Kumar is more of a back-up vocalist here and contributes by singing the ‘sargam’ portions and some short lines. The song is entire written in Punjabi and Shellee writes the kind of lines that even non-Punjabi speaking listeners would find endearing.
Sachet Tandon and Parampara Thakur, who had recently sung “Jug Jug Jeeve” for Sachin-Jigar in ‘Shiddat’, come together behind the mic again to sing “Mauj-E-Karam” for the duo. The tune is pleasant but doesn’t break any new ground. The song should help take the narrative forward but doesn’t have much recall value as an audio track. The highlight of the song are the lyrics written by Shellee.
Barring Daler Mehndi’s spirited rendition and some playful lines written by Shellee (“Ajj beeji ne jo madira chadhayi baaraatiyaan cha raula pai gaya”) that make you chuckle, there is hardly anything about “Raula Pae Gayaa” that stays with you. A situational song that is expected to be played in the film during a wedding sequence, it has a very ordinary tune by Sachin-Jigar and the arrangements are no better.
The soundtrack gets back on track with “Dum Gutkoon”, a somber number sung by Master Saleem. Though Divya Kumar has also been credited as one of the vocalists, just like “Kamli”, he gets limited scope here. Sachin-Jigar have weaved in a robust tune around the Punjabi verses written by Shellee and the final product is quite impressive. Master Saleem carries the song very well on his shoulders and it’s good to see the talented singer lending his voice to Hindi film song more frequently as compared to the past.
The album ends on a good note with “Vedha Sajjeyaa”, a celebration song with several emotions running through it. In the same mould as a “Din Shagna Da” (‘Phillauri’), boasts of rich lyrics and a well-structured tune. Rekha Bhardwaj, who has sung a couple of songs for Sachin-Jigar in the past, lends a certain gravitas to the song. The song goes in a new direction as newcomer Varun Jain, whose voice bears a resemblance to singer-composer Vishal Mishra, makes an entrance. Varun gives a good account of himself and one looks forward to hearing his voice in more songs.
‘Hum Do Hamare Do’ is a good album though it doesn’t quite meet the kind of expectations one had from it. Sachin-Jigar continue their tradition of making songs that gel well with the narrative of the film. Though a couple of songs (“Mauj-E-Karam” and “Raula Pae Gayaa”) don’t really boast of interesting tunes, the album has good variety and is largely engaging. As a lyricist, Shellee writes high-quality lyrics for each song in the album.