Since ‘Go Goa Gone’, Sachin-Jigar have composed the music for a dozen (or more) films produced by Dinesh Vijan. While ‘Go Goa Gone’ was produced by Illuminati Films, a company Dinesh co-owned with actor Saif Ali Khan, most of the other films were other films were produced under Maddock Films. After scoring some interesting music for the producers in the recent past on films like ‘Bhediya’ and Hum Do Hamare Do’ and the show ‘Saas Bahu Aur Cocaine’, Sachin-Jigar are now back to compose the music for Maddock Films’ newest offering ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’.
For this romantic comedy set in Indore, Sachin – Jigar have teamed up with lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya with whom they had collaborated on a bunch of films in the past including ‘Bhediya’. ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ marks director Laxman Utekar’s first collaboration with Sachin – Jigar. The cinematographer-turned-director had got multiple composers on board to put together the soundtrack of ‘Luka Chuppi’ (2019) and had teamed up with A. R. Rahman for ‘Mimi’ (2021). The album has a runtime of around 16 minutes and features four original tracks.
The albums opens with a song that became a hit as soon as it came out. Sung by Arijit Singh, “Phir Aur Kya Chahiye” is a romantic number that is steeped in passion and intensity. While the entire song is highly enjoyable, the highlight for me was the opening lines (“badle tere maahi….”) which features a very heartfelt rendition by Arijit backed by minimal background music. You heart might skip a beat when you hear him sing “kise duniya chahiye…”. This is the kind of song that is designed carefully to ensure it becomes popular in little time contributes towards the film getting a healthy opening at the box-office.
You continue to get impressed as “Tere Vaaste” arrives. The thought or brief behind this song was, perhaps, to create something that would sound like a cross between a contemporary love song and a traditional qawalli. Sachin and Jigar put together a very likeable composition and create a nice concoction of modern and traditional sounds as well. “Dekha jaaye to vaise apne to saare paise reh ke zameen pe hi vasool hain…”, Amitabh Bhattacharya writes the kind of lyrics that are romantic and quirky at the same time. The song also works very well because of the wonderful rendition by newcomer Varun Jain who had made his debut as a playback singer with the song “Vedha Sajjeyaa” from “Ham Do Hamare Do” which was also composed by Sachin –Jigar.
By getting Sachet Tandon and Shilpa Rao on a song, Sachin – Jigar make a very interesting vocal casting decision that eventually works well for the song. As a soft rock ballad, “Sanjha” works quite well and keeps you engrossed as a listener throughout its entire duration. The free-flowing tune is easy to like and doesn’t give you space to complain anything about. Amitabh Bhattacharya does an excellent job at bringing out the pathos in the song through his thoughtful lyrics. Sachet and Shilpa complement each other’s voices well.
Himesh Reshammiya doesn’t really sing for other composers. In an interview given to a portal some 16-17 years ago, at the peak of his composing-singing career, Himesh stated that A. R. Rahman is the only composer he would sing for. Rahman never got Himesh behind the mic. However, he did render a song (‘Photocopy’) for Sajid – Wajid for the Salman Khan starrer ‘Jai Ho’.
In ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’, Himesh haslent hisvoice to “Baby Tujhe Paap Lagega” that has been composed by Sachin – Jigar. Himesh’s voice suits the song and it can be said that Sachin – Jigar were justified in their decision of roping in the composer – singer for this peppy number. While the tune is reasonably catchy, it does remind you of a few other songs composed by Sachin – Jigar in the past like “Milegi Milegi” from ‘Stree’.
With ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’, Sachin – Jigar deliver yet another album for Dinesh Vijan/Maddock Films that comprises of songs that are likeable, of the popular variety and should be remembered for at least a few years. The music label (Sa Re Ga Ma, in this case) has released the album the same day as the film has released. While it is not as bad as T-Series releasing the full album of a film weeks after its release, making the album available to the listeners a few days prior to the release of the film would have been better. Sa Re Ga Ma should also consider crediting the musicians and technicians who have worked on the album while releasing it on YouTube.