Whats Up - Phillauri by Mika Singh, Jasleen Royal

Released as part of Phillauri, Whats Up - Phillauri announced itself as a standout the moment it reached listeners. Behind the melody is the work of Jasleen Royal, whose composition choices give Whats Up - Phillauri its distinctive texture.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Whats Up - Phillauri, Mika Singh, Jasleen Royal clearly belongs in the second group. The story told by Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma, Mehreen Pirzada in Phillauri finds its musical expression here — Whats Up - Phillauri is where the film's heart beats loudest.

In 2017, Hindi produced many songs, but Whats Up - Phillauri was one of the handful that genuinely cut through. Some music is background. Whats Up - Phillauri demands attention — not aggressively, but in the way a good conversation does.

The 3:03 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. Songs like Whats Up - Phillauri are the reason people fall in love with Hindi music and never quite fall out of it.