Music composer Jatin Pandit and son Raahul Jatin have collaborated on a song expressing the pain of millions in the country due to the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 disease) pandemic. The song, ‘Prabhu Humko Kshama Kar,’ features both and was shot on the terrace of their building.
Jatin Pandit said the song got written 'unintentionally' as he was supposed to write a romantic song. “I had set out to compose a romantic track on the lines of ‘Pehla Nasha’ [from the film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992)] upon a request from a producer friend. I have genuinely been very heavy-hearted with the situation we are facing today and despite sitting for hours, I just could not get to thinking romantic because this has been weighing upon me,” he said in an official statement.
“As I kept sitting there, in front of my instruments, all I could think of is how millions of people are suffering all over the country and in the world at large. That is when I wrote the song and started humming, when Raahul walked in,” he continued.
Speaking about the song, Raahul said, “I heard my dad humming the melody and picked up his notebook to read the lyrics. I joined him to sing the song and realized that this should reach everyone, it must be recorded. I felt a sudden sense of calm and strength while singing the song and instantly felt that everyone needed that dose of calmness and, above all, strength.”
Elaborating on the process of creating the song, he added, “We got to the recording studio and in a few hours ‘Prabhu Humko Kshama Kar’ was reverberating in it. I finished the music programming part and it sounded divine.”
The song is an appeal to god to forgive the people of the world and set them free from the COVID-19 pandemic. It features video footage of poor people and daily-wage labourers who are been affected the most, particularly by the lockdown.
For those who came in late, Jatin Pandit is one half of the renowned composer duo Jatin-Lalit. The two have a long list of hit Hindi film albums from the 1990s to their credit.