The music album of Karan Johar’s upcoming romantic drama Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is inspired from the soundscape of Hindi movies made in the ’60s and ’70s, composer Pritam revealed on Thursday.
Taking to social media, he wrote at length about What Jhumka? — the second song from the Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt-starrer — which is based on the iconic song Jhumka Gira Re from Mera Saaya (1966).
“For the Rocky and Rani background soundscapes, we decided to use 60s and 70s film music. In fact, the entire film is a homage to those great musicians and great songs—the music both of us (referring to Karan) have grown up with. This goes perfectly with the script and setup of the movie,” Pritam wrote on Twitter.
“The song What Jhumka is an extension of that homage to one of our favourite songs, Jhumka Gira Re, by Madan Mohan Ji, Asha Bhosle Ji, and Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. Besides, it’s an honour to be able to put my name beside Madan Mohan Ji's name in the credits,” he added.
"The initial idea in the shoot mix was to use only the instrumental melody of the song for the shoot (thus there’s no lip sync by Ranveer in the hook), but later Arijit really wanted to sing the actual song in the end, and I really liked the idea. Amitabh (Bhattacharya) doesn’t agree, and he wants only the instrumental as a hook, and we’re still fighting,” Pritam further said.
The composer also praised Karan for his “strong sense of music” and mentioned that the filmmaker “knows exactly what he wants”. Before signing off, Pritam asked his fans whether they like the instrumental melody at the end of the song or prefer the lyrics.
Alongside Ranveer and Alia, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani also features Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Churni Ganguly, Tota Roy Choudhury and Namit Das in pivotal roles. The film is slated to hit cinemas on July 28.
