Kalank title track, beautifully rendered by Arijit Singh, features Alia & Varun

There has been a Pritam void in Hindi film music since Jab Harry Met Sejal was released in August 2017. The music composer took a break to rejuvenate himself and has returned with Kalank (2019).

The title track has been sung by Arijit Singh and Shilpa Rao, though here we only hear Singh's vocals. The visuals' focus is on the budding romance between Varun Dhawan's Zafar and Alia Bhatt's Roop, which we can already sense is doomed.

Arijit Singh is in his element here with Pritam's lilting score. The singer beautifully renders the impossible romance of the young couple.

Lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya brings home the point of the title track with lines like "kalank nahin ishq hai kajal piya".

The song flows easily with Arijit Singh's mellow vocals and grows to a lovely chorus that highlights the lead singer again. Interestingly, Pritam has woven unusual instruments like a Spanish guitar into the score which blends nicely with the Indian tune. Since the composer is Pritam, the composition feels familiar.

The visuals of the track show Roop and Zafar meeting often in Hiramandi, with Bhatt being intrigued by Dhawan. Later, the other couples of the film, Sonakshi Sinha and Aditya Roy Kapur and Madhuri Dixit Nene and Sanjay Dutt, are shown briefly, Sinha and Kapur in happier times while Dutt's Balraj Chaudhry seems to be angry with Dixit Nene's Bahaar Begum. It raises the curiousity of how all these characters are connected to one another.

The period film set in pre-Independence India is directed by Abhishek Varman and due to be released on 17 April. Watch the title track below: