Most television viewers will remember her as the 18-year-old participant who made it to the semi-finals on India’s Got Talent in 2009. Back then, Jasleen Royal, was a hot favourite because of her ability to play multiple instruments. Today, nine years, later, Jasleen has made a mark in the Hindi film industry as one of the youngest female composers. Jasleen’s claim to fame is the fact that she is the sole music composer for Rani Mukerji’s recent hit Hichki.
“It was a dream come true to work on a Yash Raj film,” says the young composer, adding, “I read the script and was told to work on music and songs that are character-driven.” All the songs from the film’s album have been well-received but it’s the title song that has been trending because of the strong message. Jasleen reveals it was a tough song to compose. “It was quite challenging because the music had to be catchy yet with a simple melody that complemented the meaning,” she says. Jasleen has also worked on quite a few films such as Khoobsurat, Badlapur, Baar Baar Dekho, Dear Zindagi, Haramkhor, Fukrey Returns and Phillauri, as part of a team of composers.
Some of her songs are hugely influenced by folk music from North India. Talking about this, Jasleen says, “At home, my mother used listen to a lot of Bollywood music and she would pay keen attention to lyrics. That’s something I have picked up from her.” In fact, it wasn’t Jasleen, it was her elder brother who had been enrolled for music classes but when he wasn’t interested in learning any more, he passed on the keyboard to Jasleen. “I started experimenting with it and looked at his notes, I must have been about six years old. I kept at it, and as I grew up, I started teaching music to others. Whatever little I earned, I used to buy more instruments and I learnt on my own,” says Jasleen who has been signed for other Hindi films, which are still under wraps.