The original ‘Jersey’, which was made in Telugu, had a good soundtrack by Anirudh Ravichander. While Anirudh has been credited with putting together the background score of the Hindi remake of the film, the songs have been composed by the duo Sachet-Parampara. While the original film had a 5-album soundtrack, the Hindi version features four songs. Sachet-Parampara had earlier collaborated with Shahid Kapoor on ‘Kabir Singh’, a film in which they had two songs (“Bekhayali” and “Mere Sohneya”) to their credit. This time, they get to do a full soundtrack for him. The lyrics have been penned by Shellee whose recent releases include ‘Hum Do Hamaare Do’ and ‘Hello Charlie’.
The album opens with “Mehram”, a song which depicts the angst of the protagonist played by Shahid Kapoor. The theme and the soft-rock arrangements of the song remind one of ‘Bekhayali’ (‘Kabir Singh’) which had the same composer-singer-actor team. Keeping the comparisons aside, one must assert that it is a well-composed song that should arrive at an important juncture in the film. Though the lyrics are entirely in Punjabi, Shellee uses the kind of words and phrases, which apart from adding a lot of value to the song, would get on the listeners’ lips easily because of their sound. Sachet does fairly well as a singer but his stylized singing makes him mispronounce a few words (he pronounces “dhuaan-dhuaan” as “dua-dua”).
After the heady “Mehram”, arrives “Maiyya Mainu”, which has a much relaxed and brighter tone to it. It has the kind of sound that reminds one of several popular English songs from the 60s/70s. As seen in the video, the song takes us through the days when Arjun (Shahid Kapoor) and Vidhya (Mrunal Thakur) met, fell in love and get married. A sense of joy prevails throughout the song and that makes it a delight for one to listen to. This old-school-English melody strikes the right notes and gets you to tap your feet owing to its pulsating rhythm. The lyrics, again, are completely written in Punjabi. Just like the song we heard earlier, Sachet is the sole vocalist here.
Out of the four songs in the album, “Baliye Re” is the only one that features a female vocalist. Parampara Tandon joins Sachet in this pulsating romantic ballad and gives a good account of herself as a vocalist. Though Stebin Ben has also been credited as a singer here, one struggles to trace the portions sung by him. Perhaps, the “koi teri ore nahin dekhe…..” verse has been rendered by him. There is also a rap portion which has been written and performed by Mellow D. All the different musical elements come together in the form of a cohesive track that is consistently engaging.
The soundtrack goes into another zone with “Jind Meriye”, a melancholic number sung by Sachet Tandon with gusto. The song derives a lot of its emotional energy from the powerful lines penned by Shellee. The lyrics are, again, written purely in Punjabi but even if you do not follow the language, you will be able to connect to the verses written by the lyricist. While “Jind Meriye” manages to leave a good impression as a standalone audio track, it should make a more lasting impact with visuals.
‘Jersey’ is a consistently engaging soundtrack that has songs of different hues and moods despite (largely) one individual singing them all. The use of Punjabi verses in every song is justified as the film is set in Punjab. With the film getting indefinitely delayed because of the Covid-19 situation, the music should help it stay fresh in public memory before it secures a release for itself in the theatres.