Music Review: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Any Hindi film song named Kabira or anything that has the semblance of Sufi in its title comes with dangers. More often than not,manufactured Sufism has a limited shelf life. The song by the same name from Ayan Mukerji’s Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani,composed by Pritam,thankfully has soul; even though it may not have the sublime class of Iktara from Mukerji’s debut film Wake Up Sid. The singers’ robust,folksy voices (Rekha Bhardwaj and Tochi Raina),backed by a comforting guitar arpeggio,make this one of the better songs of the album. Its encore version,however,has a more imaginative arrangement — and is aptly sung by Harshdeep Kaur and Arijit Singh. Singh,one of the emerging new playback voices with a distinct personality and a Pritam-discovery,lends his confident vocals to Ilahi. The winner track from Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani,however,is the infectiously cheerful Badtameez Dil.

There is little to write about the rest of the album,apart from the mischievous sparks (in the opening chorus) of the otherwise ordinary Dilliwaali Girlfriend,or the standard foot tapping quality of Balam Pichkari. Pritam either tries too hard,as in the “desi-cool” mujra number Ghagra or too little,as in the heard-before sound of Subhanallah.