Jasleen Royal: My voice has never been a disadvantage

Listen to Kho Gaye Hum Kahan from Baar Baar Dekho or Love You Zindagi from Dear Zindagi, and it’s Jasleen Royal’s pleasant and soothing vocals that you take away with you. For the singer-composer, her voice has never been a disadvantage. “It’s my natural voice and it is what it is. Shankar Mahadevan sounds different and brilliant. Lucky Ali, AR Rahman, Amit Trivedi — all sound different and that’s the beauty of it,” she says. Jasleen has recently composed songs for Rani Mukerji’s upcoming film and is excited about the collaboration.

She tells us more...

How was the process of composing all the songs for Hichki? 

It was a challenging film to do and a great deal for me to compose for the entire film. The brief for every song was different as the music had to help the narrative of the film. 

There are not many female music composers in the playback industry. Do you think the scenario is changing or that much more needs to be done to encourage more female composers? 

I honestly don’t have an answer to that! It’s not like people are biased towards male composers. I have always looked up to Sneha Khanwalkar.

For one of the songs, you collaborated with the Dharavi rappers. How was the experience of creating that song? 

It’s the prank song in the film, where the kids play all sorts of pranks on their teacher. The film gave me scope to experiment and while researching for different sounds which would justify the world of the film, I got to meet the rappers — David Klyton, Yoku and his friends. We jammed and it was like a party to be working with them!

Are you interested in cutting a private album or putting out some singles, as is the trend these days?

I just want to make music. I have released singles in the past and those have got picked up by films and now, I am composing for films. I am still doing what I love. I don’t have indie and film categories in my head. 

You’re a self-trained musician? Does that restrict you in any way or is it creatively liberating?

There are pros and cons. I have learnt by observing and experimenting. I just do anything without restricting myself. There is never enough. The idea is to keep learning.