'Mr & Mrs Mahi' songlist: How 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' composer Dhruv Dhalla's song 'Ranjhana' got into the Dharma Productions film

It should be out on the day of film release, when the entire album comes out.

Can you tell us some of the lyrics?

It starts with "Naina de do buey khule, rakha sari raat. Sari umar main jaaga, je tu hove saath (If you are in my eyes, I'll keep my eyes open forever. I could forgo sleep for life if you are with me).

It's got a Sufi touch to it. It's got something of a 'Heer Ranjha' feel, like Surinder Kaur from the 1980s. I am very enamoured of that kind of music. When I did the background score for 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!', one of the pieces we had was Enha Akhiyaan from Surinder Kaur - I find her to be exceptionally talented.

In fact, I grew up in Delhi. And you know that dholki sound at shaadis - that made a very big impact on me. Kaala Shah Kaala, Long Gawacha, those are the songs I remember even now.

Indeed, one can hear some of those influences in 'Oye Lucky' and 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'. How does Ranjhana in 'Mr & Mrs Mahi' compare?

I think as an artist what happens is evolution. There are certain things you like at certain ages, I guess.

Ranjhana was developed independently and later picked for the movie, is that right?

That's right. The new format of Bollywood has become that directors and producers visit music directors and ask them to play something from their bank. So when I am not working on a project, I try to create songs or scratches. I try to keep as many emotions—like love and friendship, maybe a dance track—as many as I can fit into my iTunes library (in the bank) so it's easy to play when someone asks.

That happened with this song as well. I had composed a melody. And with that melody, I called a friend, Devender Kafir—I like his Punjabi sensibilities as a writer. So I asked him to come and jam on it just to see where it goes. He liked the melody, and he wrote the song in Punjabi. I am from Delhi and I have a soft corner for Punjabi music myself.

Dhruv Dhalla

And how did the song find its way to Dharma Productions and 'Mr & Mrs Mahi'?

Once the song was ready, I invited Kavita (Seth) to the studio; I have a good rapport with her. I thought the song would sound good in her voice. She said yes, let's record. And when we finished, she said make sure you don't give this song to an average film, average producer, average director. She suggested Dharma. I told her there are so many people hoping their song gets picked by Dharma, but she was hopeful. It took four years, but the song was picked eventually.

I got a call from Shashank Khaitan, who directed 'Badrinath ki Dulhania'. He asked to meet, so I went. He was putting the song in another film (at the time). He said let's produce it nicely, which means the guitars, the strings, the drums. He also said let's make it a duet, with Kavita ji and one of our singers, Lakshya Kapoor (from DCAtalent, Dharma's talent agency).

Have you seen the song picturized?

Yes, they called me to see the edit. The song is filmed on Rajkummar (Rao) and Janhvi (Kapoor) and they showed me where it (the song) would feature. It's a love song. And they have used it during a lovers' quarrel, for a sense of separation and longing.