Harshdeep Kaur: Heer Harshdeep Kaur

In a strange way, it’s an utter surprise to find such a haunting, ethereal song like ‘Heer‘ in a film as ‘mainstream’ as the 2012 Jab Tak Hai Jaan. But there it is, sung like a ghost song by Harshdeep Kaur, giving flesh to AR Rahman‘s evocative, almost ‘banjara’ music. And the lyrics by Gulzar, transposing the doomed Heer-Ranjha and Mirza-Sahiban love stories – which along with that of Sassi-Pannu – encapsulates romance in Punjabi folklore.

Kaur’s voice remains a ripple pretty much through the song, until it soars – ‘Ho mainu le jaaye Mirza koi/ Le jaaye Mirza koi..’ (Someone like Mirza take me…). The pace is slow, because so seems its subject – a slow burn. While the picturisation in the film shows the singer (Katrina Kaif) strumming on a guitar, it’s the sheer presence of the voice and a dafli (hand percussion) that holds the number like a spider web.