Jab Tak Hai Jaan is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2012 Hindi film of the same name, directed by Yash Chopra that stars Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. The film was produced by Aditya Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. The album has nine tracks and was released on 10 October 2012 on the firm's official record label YRF Music.
Development
The soundtrack was the first collaboration between Chopra, Rahman and the lyricist Gulzar. In May 2011, Rahman was signed to compose the music as well as the background score of the film. The first song of the soundtrack was completed in December 2011. In February 2012, Rahman said in an interview with The Times of India that he had completed three songs for the film. Rahman summarised the soundtrack album, saying, "It's a combination. They wanted to do my kind of songs at the same time they wanted the old charm and soul of music that Indian audience would love and which I wanted to do for a long time."
Overview
The Punjabi lyrical song "Challa" was filmed on the lead character Samar Anand (played by Shahrukh Khan). The song was mainly shot in Trafalgar Square and at Canary Wharf and the Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, in London. At the promotion of the film he said, "I love ‘Challa’ – its a Punjabi, Sufi kind of song. Doing it was different for me, to play the guitar in the way its supposed to be strummed." The song also had Katrina Kaif alongside Khan. The song portrays the daily routine life of the character Samar who lives in London. The lead actor learnt the guitar chords of the song to seem authentic while strumming it. Released as a single track prior to the album launch, it met overwhelming positive reviews on the Internet, especially on YouTube. Several media reports claimed that the opening notes and guitar strummings of the song were loosely inspired by Eagle-Eye Cherry's song "Save Tonight". However, these allegation were denied by the singer, Rabbi Shergill, claiming that the two songs only shared acoustic guitar, bass and tempo, and nonsensical insinuations had come up.
The song "Saans" was titled "The Breathe of Love" by Khan when it opened as video promotion on the day of music launch. Rahman said that, initially, the patch version of the song was composed with dummy lyrics. He added that the song highlights traditional beats but has an edge to it. According to the plot of the film, the song needed tautness that is exemplified by the tensed violins. In the film, Samar helps Meera (played by Katrina Kaif) to revive her maternal bondings so she knows more on love through her mother. This makes Meera reciprocate her feelings to Samar, expressed as the song "Saans". The reprise version of the song occurs when Meera and Samar meet after ten years.
"Ishq Dance" and "Ishq Shava" are dance-oriented numbers sequentially filmed, the former with the leading duo and nearly 80 freestyle dancers in an underground club, and the latter on board a barge on the River Thames, essentially keeping Tower Bridge as the backdrop during the night. The composer said that instead of a trance or dubstep genre, he fused tribal and contemporary with acoustics. The song also involves more strummed Spanish guitars in its preludes.
"Heer Heer" is a solo performance in the film by Meera. Initially the song was recorded as patch, to be used only in the film. However, Gulzar insisted Rahman record it as a complete track after adding more lines to the folk poetry. In the film, Meera learns Punjabi and the song through Samar. She performs the song to impress her father and show that, though in London, her roots are still in her Indian culture. On the counterpart, the song also relates the heartfelt situation between her and Samar. The straight Punjabi lyrical track implicitly refers to the folklores of Mirza Sahiban and Heer Ranjha where the lyricist claimed to put imagery in several lines of the song.
"Jiya Re" is sung by the character Akira (played by Anushka Sharma) in the song. Gulzar said that the song was character-oriented. The song was shot in the landscapes of Ladakh and Kashmir. Akira's further documentary filming journey with Samar began after this song. The singer, Neeti Mohan, made her debut as a playback singer with this song in the soundtrack.
Often regarded as the swan song, the title track, "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" marks the union of the lead characters and was planned to be shot with a large budget in the Swiss Alps. The death of the director led the cancellation of filming and the song was used in the closing credits.