In today’s times, Yash Raj Films is one of the very few production houses that still believes in releasing the music of their films several days before the latter arrives in theatres. The music of ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’, their newest film featuring Ranveer Singh and Shalini Pandey in the lead roles, has been scored by Vishal and Sheykhar. The composer duo has collaborated with the company on several films in the last seventeen years. With this album, Vishal and Sheykhar team up again with lyricist Jaideep Sahni whom they had worked with earlier on films like ‘Salaam Namaste’ and ‘Befikre’, both produced by Yash Raj Films. One song in the film has been jointly penned by Kumaar and Vayu.
The electronic beats that mark the arrival of “Firecracker”, the first song on the album, remind one of a couple of tracks composed by Vishal and Sheykhar in the recent past including “Jatt Ludhiyaane Da” (‘Student Of The Year 2’). Even though the song has a heard-before feel to it, the composition is quite catchy. Also, the spirited rendition by Vishal Dadlani and Sheykhar Ravjiani help significantly in keeping the listener hooked to the song. The lyrics, written by Kumaar and Vayu, are highly entertaining.
The song makes one wonder whether the makers decided to put together a soundtrack that would have the kind of sound that would serve as an interesting contrast to the small-town/traditional set-up of the film. After a couple of songs, one also gets to hear the English version of the track. Along with writing the English lyrics, Vishal also takes charge of the track as a lead vocalist and does well in both the roles assumed by him. Interestingly, the Hindi lines, rendered by Sheykhar in the original track, have been used in the English version as well.
“Dheere Dheere Seekh Jaaunga” begins with a bunch of Gujarati lines rendered by Priya Saraiya. Then, Sheykhar takes over the song and does a good job as a vocalist. Though not ground-breaking, the simple composition makes an impression as soon you hear it for the first time. Given the kind of lyrics Jaideep has written here, one assumes the song to arrive at a point in the film when Jayeshbhai (Ranveer Singh) is readying himself to assume the responsibilities of a first-time father.
The third track “Jordaar” is the one snippets of which we heard in the film’s trailer. While Keerthi Sagathia’s rustic voice belting out a folk song is heard at the beginning of the song, it goes into a completely different direction as Vishal’s robust voice and an electric guitar riff make an entrance. The producer’s brief to the composers was, perhaps, to create an anthem-like song. While it is far from being a song that you would like to hear on a loop, it does have a punch that should make a better impression with the visuals.
The best track on the album is “Dil Ki Gali”, which has been sung by Katyayani and Sheykhar Ravjiani. What works in favour of the song is its unpredictability. It takes several twists and turns, none of which you see coming your way and that’s what makes listening to it so much fun. The lines sung by Sheykhar (“Haan mauj haan….”), which have been played out at different points in the song, has an addictive quality to it. Katyayani’s voice has a very interesting texture and she, definitely, is a talent to look out for. Abhijit Nalani’s arrangements contribute greatly towards making the song a pleasure to listen to.
With tracks like “Implosive Silence” (‘Highway’), Jonita has proved that she can leave an impression even in a word-less song. “Nanki’s Theme”, however, is so unimaginatively composed (Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara) that the vocalist fails to lift it beyond a point. The music piece might work better when accompanied by visuals. As a standalone music piece, it doesn’t really manage to impress.
‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ is far from being Vishal and Sheykhar’s best musical effort in recent times. The album doesn’t really have the kind of songs that one would expect to become chartbusters. However, the duo manages to put together an album which is consistently engaging and serves the film well.