“Challa ki labda phiren,

 yaaron ka ghar keyra,

lokan to puchda phire,

Challa hasda phiren,

challa raunda phiren,

 challa gali gali rulda phiren,
Challe tu sabda,

challe tera koi nahin,

challa gali gali rulda phiren,

Challa Ki Labda Phiren.”

 

Think of albums like Lagaan, Swades, Jodha Akbar or the last years musical Blockbuster Rockstar, the one name that will instantly strike one’s mind is the Oscar winning music director A.R Rahman & his supremely soulful music, music that makes us fall in love with them. Now songs like “Bulla Ki Jana”& “Tere Bin” from Delhii Heights might have already made you recall the sufiyana voice behind it i.e Rabbi Shergill. So when these two supremely talented artists come together for a song penned by another Oscar winning person Gulzar Saab in a person’s movie who is said to have a good taste in music i.e Yash Ji & that too a romantic song on King of Romance SRK, well needless to say the expectations do reach sky-high. So did the release of this years one of the must awaited songs Challa from JTHJ create that same magic that was expected or say the response related to JTHJ’s teaser & trailer has received so far?? Well lets try to analyse it here.

Starting first the music of this song is a continuation of the tone that we have heard in JTHJ’s announcement teaser trailer, which is quite good & romantic. But then Challa is purely in Punjabi which may make it difficult for Non-Punjabi people(including me) to comprehend initially. However if one hears the song a little more than a couple of times he/she will somehow start hyming the words although he may not understand everything. That’s the magic that this song creates. AR Rahman’s songs are like slow poison. They may not always strike you in the first but you are sure to get blown away if heard for few times. Much like Rahman Sir’s previous songs, this song has got that affect as well. And to be honest when I heard the song for the first time I didn’t like it much(mainly cause I couldn’t comprehend the lyrics). But now after I have heard it for almost a good 10 times, I too seem to be addicted to Challa. Challa needs the voice of a Sufi singer with Punjabi undertones and Rabbi fits the bill perfectly.

A.R. Rahman does what he generally excels at - simple melody with minimal instruments and tons of passion. He succeeds at making something so simple sound so amazing.

Challa will undoubtedly take the nation by storm and might become The Song Of The Year.