Some of the better — crazier — songs of Jagga Jasoos aren't a part of its music album.
Anurag Basu's ambitious action-adventure story of a boy-detective, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, is a musical. The film boasts of a rich, diverse soundtrack composed by Pritam, with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Samrat Chakraborty, that has influences ranging from Manipuri folk and Shillong choir to Bengali non-sense rhyming and African Gnawa music. These aren't the most market-friendly musical trends at the moment. And in a film in which the protagonist speaks through songs, including them in the album would be akin to revealing plot-points.
What was baffling was that none of these songs were released on YouTube even months after the film's release, last year in July – which is the norm nowadays. It's as if, following the film's disastrous fate at the box office, the studio didn't want to spend a single rupee on it — how much does it cost to pull out song videos from your own film and upload them on YouTube anyway?
Pritam, who has worked for more than 3 years on the soundtrack, had earlier said that he was in talks with Disney India and T-Series (producer and music label, the parties that hold the rights to the contents of Jagga Jasoos) about releasing the entire soundtrack. On Tuesday, the composer published a song under his own channel on YouTube.
"While we are figuring technicalities to release the full audio & making of Jagga Jassos, I wanted to share few musicals which are close to my heart! Presenting 'Aflatoon' – first of the many #JaggaMusicals to come,"(sic) he wrote on his official page on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Aflatoon is a mellow, guitar based number. It is sung by a husky Nikhita Gandhi, and, has lyrics, written by Samrat Chakraborty, which are as wonderfully loony as the film – Sadpe yun khade se baal, Uska antenna... Aflatoon, hai thoda Cartoon.
Watch the song video: