Tend To Your Lonely Heart – Sanwaar Loon – Lootera

The moment the strings of guitar start strumming, followed by the rhythm, soft piano notes along with the violin intervened by the flirty flute… you are yanked into the 1950’s and a scene is automatically created in front of your eyes. A cigar-chewing, hat-wearing handsome man is seen along with a saree-clad, demure, dusky damsel. Although aware of each others’ presence, they pretend not to look at each other directly, but steal a glance or two in between. Lootera’s this song, like its other, manages to create this effect on our mind and our imagination slowly turns into the actual scene where Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha take the huge responsibility of presenting us the feel of a period film romance. Huge responsibility because the lyrics are clean and the music is soulful, so the entire burden of making it alive onscreen by pure performance is certainly difficult; so applause for the sheer effort put in by the two along with the director.

The film is inspired by O Henry’s story The Last Leaf. Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, the film was appreciated for attention to details regarding the sets, costume and language of the era. The music and background score is by Amit Trivedi while the lyrics are by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Hawa ke jhonke aaj mausamo se rooth gaye
Gulon ki shokhiyan jo bhawarein aake loot gaye
Badal rahi hai aaj zindagi ki chaal zara
Isi bahane kyun na main bhi dil ka haal zara… sanwaar loon..

The gentle breeze is upset with the changing season today
As the bees have stolen the glow of the beautiful flowers
The path of my life is approaching a new turn
So under this pretence, why don’t I tend to my lonely heart, cheer it by dressing it up a little…

Then follows small interlude of the chime along with the vocal rhythm giving it a little tribal effect which reminds us of the Madhumati era, but in a subtle way; even the visuals might remind us of few yesteryear films without looking like a copy, but only inspired in a good way.
We seldom see a romance like this these days. The hero is away for work and the heroine tiptoes into his room to take a look at his belongings, wears his coat, gets hold of his cigarette and enjoying being close to him, yet being apart.

Baramde purane hai nayee si dhoop hai
Jo palkein khatkhata raha hai kiska roop hai
Shararatein kare jo aise bhool ke hijaab
Kaise usko naam se main pukaar loon
Sanwaar loon…

I know my love from a long time
But he has come today in the form of a new sunlight
Knocking on the doors of my eyelids I see him in this new form
How can I call him by his name, he is in a flirtatious mood today, forgetting all the boundaries of society
But I will get hold of my heart and tend to it a little

Trivedi stuck to the typical 1950’s style of songs where there were only two stanzas in the song. His use of the violin and piano gave the much needed touch of the era where one can be easily mistaken the songs for belonging actually to those years. Monali Thakur received the Filmfare Award for best female singer that year for this rendition.
So let us tend to our neglected hearts a little by listening to this beautiful song and set ourselves free for some time and embrace the love which is like the warm sunlight on a chilly December morning.