The quality of Bollywood music continued on a downward spiral in 2018 but the multi-composer soundtracks and remixes kept going north. In fact, this was the year that even biggies like A.R. Rahman and Amit Trivedi got sucked into the multi-composer vortex. One little silver lining, though, has been the ease in compiling the top songs for the year. However, if not for some soundtracks bolstering the scene in the second half of 2018 even a reasonable number of picks would have been difficult to make. Here are the 18 that stood out in 2018.
Hallaa ( Manmarziyaan )
Composer Amit Trivedi’s busiest year to date was also a rather middling one for the most part, until he reunited with the man who gave him his first break, Anurag Kashyap. While the characteritsic repetitiveness of Trivedi was a problem here too, there was more than enough great music on offer. ‘Halla’, written by Shellee, is my pick for the pulsating orchestration, Jyoti Nooran’s rendition and also for the moment in the movie where the song appears.
Dilbaro ( Raazi )
The most popular song from Raazi and quite deservedly so; SEL and Gulzar build a beautiful “bidaai” song around a traditional Kashmiri wedding piece. Harshdeep Kaur takes care of the rest, with brief but effective cameos from Vibha Saraf and Shankar Mahadevan.
Bol Ke Lab ( Manto )
The most exciting aspect about the Nandita Das film, at least to me, was the return of Sneha Khanwalkar, that too in style.
In this song, Faiz’s powerful poetry gets a raag yaman–flavoured melody from the composer. She has two classical exponents — Rashid Khan and Vidya Shah — singing it and adorns it with a rich backdrop of strings, harmonium and clarinets.
Aaj Se Teri ( Pad Man )
Among singers, Arijit Singh had the best year; as if to refute the (misplaced) criticism that he sings the same kind of songs. My favourite from the Arijit range is this beauty by Amit Trivedi and Kausar Munir, based on raag bhimplaasi that the composer has employed well in the past too.
Naino Waale Ne ( Padmaavat )
One of the best things about Sanjay Leela Bhansali movies is the visual representation of songs. It was surprising therefore that the best song of Padmaavat never even made it to the screen.
Neeti Mohan leads this lovely melody that takes on the occasional wistful tone with the raag darbari Kanada flavoured cues on sitar.
Bohot Dukha Mann ( Mukkabaaz )
Composer Rachita Arora, who showed promise in her debut last year (Newton), continued to deliver it. In this melancholic classical-flavoured piece written by Hussain Haidry, she doubles up as a singer alongside Dev Arijit, and does a fabulous job at that.
Aahista ( Laila Majnu )
With this soundtrack co-composed with Joi Barua and Alif, sitar exponent Niladri Kumar had everyone wishing he would make more music in Hindi movies.
In this song (written by Irshad Kamil, sung by Jonita Gandhi and Arijit Singh), Kumar literally takes you on a romantic journey across the Kashmir valley.
Dhadak ( Dhadak )
The problem with remakes is that you find yourself hard-pressed not to keep comparing them with the original work. Even taking that into account, the title song of Dhadak (remake of Nagraj Manjule’s Marathi hit Sairat ) holds up admirably. It is hard not to fall in love with Ajay Atul’s lush violins and haunting tune, delivered by Ajay Gogavle and Shreya Ghoshal.
Andhadhun ( Andhadhun )
While Amit Trivedi produced a competent set of songs for Sriram Raghavan in Andhadhun , my favourite still remains the guest composition by Raftaar and Girish Nakod. The piano and percussion-heavy (always a sucker for Marathi percussion!) title song perfectly captures the heady rush of the ride that the movie turns out to be.
Grey Walaa Shade ( Manmarziyaan )
A song that, in addition to introducing the lead pair’s romance onscreen, turns out to be emblematic of the movie itself. It is replete with Amit Trivedi’s trademark quirkiness, further accentuated by the dancing twins that appear in the song’s video.
Nagri Nagri ( Manto )
Shankar Mahadevan delivers this piece that, in keeping with the movie’s setting, carries a melody and a style of rendition that is evocative of the ’40s. Composer Sneha Khanwalkar does, however, by her own admission, get cheeky with the arrangement with some electronic elements finding their way towards the end. That does not in any way take away from the song’s appeal.
Chaav Laga ( Sui Dhaaga )
The team that gave us ‘ Moh Moh Ke Dhaage ’ ( Dum Lagaa Ke Haishaa ) two years back reunited in Sui Dhaaga to deliver another simple yet beautiful piece, the wonderful Ronkini Gupta being the only addition on the vocal front this time.
Mere Naam Tu ( Zero )
While the reviews of the movie have been mixed, what everyone appears to agree on is how well this song has been depicted on screen. An incredible melody backed by Ajay Atul’s trademark sweeping orchestration and a fabulous Bollywood playback debut for Abhay Jodhpurkar.
Naina Banjaare ( Pataakha )
Vishal Bhardwaj-Gulzar soundtrack for the movie was an uncharacteristically short one and not as top notch as their previous albums. In this song the duo gets everything right, with ample help from Arijit of course. A gem that in its light-heartedness takes my mind back to ‘Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji’ from Ishqiya .
Mujhe Chaand Pe Le Chalo ( Sanju )
A.R. Rahman was more active in the South this year, his two songs for Sanju’s six-song soundtrack being the only Bollywood contributions. The shoddy visual treatment the song received might have something to do with it not becoming particularly popular, but there is no denying the brilliance of this dreamy, sensual piece written by Irshad Kamil sung with a fitting verve by Nikhita Gandhi.
Raazi ( Raazi )
SEL have given us a lot of anthemic pieces over time; in Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi , the trio alongside Gulzar and Arijit Singh, channel their soundscape from Mirzya to produce this wonderfully earthy motivational piece.
Ishq Di Baajiyaan (Soorma)
Soorma ’s music may not sit too well in the combined portfolio of SEL and Gulzar but is still quite an enjoyable one; this folksy piece (where Diljit Dosanjh gets behind the mic) mostly so.
Heartquake ( Karwaan )
Composer Anurag Saikia’s promising entry into mainstream Bollywood went largely under the radar, possibly because all the movies he has been involved in so far were multi-composer. Two of those came from director Akarsh Khurana, and it is in this light and quirky track written by Khurana himself, that Saikia delivers his best of the year.
