Slowly moving out of the pandemic, we are coming to realise that all of us have lost something or the other. People, energy, jobs, zeal, the list goes on given that every person’s encounter with these two years have been so different. Yet, it is the pain of loss that we collectively share. Coke Studio’s Tu Jhoom, then, feels like water to a throat dying with thirst. Released on January 14, it seems like the song was destined to sing to gather themselves feeling lost.
Uncertainty, the word was on the tip of everyone’s tongue in these two years surviving the pandemic. Once we thought we were over the traumatizing first wave, the deadly second wave marked its entry slaughtering millions, shattering thousands along its way. Tu Jhoom, in a world where anxiety is lingering in the air, is like a mystical power pulling us back to the ground. Asfa Sultan, writing for the Tribune, Pakistan described the song as “soul-stirring” which it undoubtedly is.
The contrasting grave voice of Abida Parveen and the high-pitched one of Naseebo Lal does not only surprisingly feel complimentary to one another, but has the power to allure its listeners and carry them to a realm where they can actually swirl in a trance, filled with joy. The troupe of dancers swaying to the song adds a cherry on the top. It feels like a deliberate addition to depicting the act of letting go and entering a state of spiritual ecstasy. All in all, the light peeping through the jharokhas in the ceiling, the choir dressed up in white, the dancers swirling round in perfect synchronization, and the jugalbandi (performance of two singers together) of two renowned singers has made its home in everyone’s hearts.
Several celebrities, like Mahira Khan, Pooja Bhatt, and Parminder Singh took to Twitter and expressed the magical effect of the song they experienced. But it would be unfair to only talk about the visuals and the voice and not the message the song entails. Living an isolated life, with work, schooling, and everything else from home, people have either started to dread their own company or have begun to understand the patterns of their mental health and thereby, oftentimes finding themselves stuck in this traumatic cycle. Tu Jhoom romanticizes the idea of aloneness and invites its listeners on a journey of self-love, but moreover, of self-acceptance. For, certainly, the former has its foundation in the latter. Naseebo Lal’s enrapturing smile while singing the chorus makes the process feel even more light and at ease as if one was always meant to stumble upon these words and lose oneself in order to find control.
The song does not exactly delve into the triviality or cruelty of the world or those around us, rather it focuses on the singing about a state where one has risen above all of it and has completely surrendered to the beauty of life, as it is. It talks of letting go for it clearly states, “what is yours shall come to you” and rising above the auqat (status) ascribed to you by the world. This song embarks on an expedition to find oneself beyond the definitions the world assigns. With very apparent spiritual tones, the song urges us to look inside ourselves, beyond what is worldly, materialistic, and tangible, and find healing there. Healing from the wounds we don’t talk too often about. This song, debatably, is healing in itself.
Tu Jhoom, to be sure, is and will be successful in saving thousands in their unbearable, overwhelming days. It won't be an exaggeration to call this song an art in its purest form.