Sachin-Jigar Discuss Making the Music for ‘Jee Karda’ With New Voices and What’s Next

When it came to working on the music for the recent romance/drama series Jee Karda, the starting point was arguably in the project’s title for composers Sachin-Jigar — it was in Punjabi. Soon enough, more aspects pointed to how they would lead with a good amount of Punjabi pop music for seven songs that made it to the series soundtrack.

Jigar Saraiya says over a joint video call that the show’s director Arunima Sharma is a Punjabi as well, with characters like a Canada-based Punjabi rapper Arjun Gill (portrayed by Aashim Gulati) also influencing the kind of songs he and Sachin Sanghvi would make. As was the case with their work on the music for thriller/crime series Farzi earlier this year, Sachin-Jigar worked with newer artists rooted in India’s independent music space as well for Jee Karda. “We get to work with all these amazing new artists,” Saraiya says.

That includes singer-songwriters like Maanuni Desai (on “Jawaniyaan”), Simran Choudhary (on “Ammiye”) and Varun Jain, pop-rock band Faridkot’s IP Singh, rapper Mellow D and pop artist The Rish, who are joined by the slightly more seasoned artist Rashmeet Kaur, who balances a variety of mainstream projects. Sanghvi is all praise for Maanuni, calling her “unassuming and extremely talented.” He adds, “She’s just one person packed with so many different voices and styles […] you’re going to hear a lot more of her in our projects.” Saraiya comes in to talk about The Rish, whom the duo discovered via one of his songs on social media. “We thought we have to try this voice out. He’s got a very glowy, R&B kind of voice but also the soul of an Indian boy. Once he sang the song [‘Ro Lehn De’], we never looked back,” Saraiya adds.

Faridkot’s Singh was a cherished, go-to connection for Sachin-Jigar, which explains why he rules on the wedding song “Yaar Di Shaadi.” Sanghvi points out how they were conscious about making a Punjabi wedding song in a world there are already so many out there. “IP is a brother, we love him. Whenever his energy is around us, we end up making a song,” he adds.

It helps that they had a long-standing rapport with director Sharma, who was working on Jee Karda as her first series. “This is a show with song and dance in the story. “We have a completely new entourage of singers and musicians. I think right from the word go, we are hearing new voices, we are hearing new instruments we are hearing new people playing and for musicians like me and Sachin, this is great and makes it full of positive energy,” Saraiya adds.

Sanghvi says, “What happens with a web show is, there is enough freedom to experiment. Also, we are looking at a target audience that does not mind that sort of experimenting. So, you are allowed to work with newer artists, you’re allowed to have a lingo that perhaps you can’t use in a Bollywood song, or any Hindi film project. Freedom is the most striking part of working for a web show.”

It still meant that they were working on the soundtrack alongside several other projects. So far, songs like “Phir Aur Kya Chahiye” from Zara Hatke Zara Bachke earned them a smash hit, even as they hop on to he next one. “It’s a good challenge to have,” Sanghvi says. He looks back to 2012, when their song “Char Baj Gaye (Party Abhi Baaki Hai)” from the movie F.A.L.T.U. was out and they carried the “biggest fear” of being typecast as party song composers. “Saibo” came around and gained popularity, followed by soundtracks ranging from dance musicals to comedy-horror flicks. Saraiya adds, “We are able to do this because there are two of us. One can switch on when the other is out of ideas.”

Up next, there are OTT movies, another collaboration with Raj-DK (following The Family Man and Farzi), plus Bollywood film The Devotion of Suspect X, which is being touted as actor Kareena Kapoor’s comeback. Sanghvi adds, “What is most exciting, though, is that we’re doing a Broadway-style theater project, which is a complete musical. I can’t really wait for that process to start and for you all to come and watch it live, because that sort of culture is now set in the city. Jigar and I always wanted to be part of the process.”

Listen to the ‘Jee Karda’ soundtrack below.