It’s a vain activity; one indulges in near the beginning of the year looking back the year that went by. In retrospect, the impression of 2009 is that of a very weak year. Flops rained left right and center. Some of them, big high budget duds. The producers - multiplex crisis didn’t help as well.
However personally I felt it was a pretty good year in terms of the music. So without much ado, let’s get to the songs. The songs aren’t ranked in any particular order:
1.
Nayan Tarse: Amit Trivedi is undoubtedly the superstar of this year, with a breakout album in DevD. 18 OSTs, all of them from different genres were sung by a bunch of new singers. Trivedi wields the megaphone himself and the song is magic right from the first second. This is THE song for the new age Devdas’.
2.
Emotional Atyachaar: Amitabh Bhattacharya and
Anurag Kashyap should probably get the credit for introducing a new phrase into colloquial language. This song featured majorly in the early promotions for the film. Bony Chakravarthy was a fresh new voice. It had some funky lyrics to go. I loved the Rock version as well with some great instrumentation. (Of course, the unrated X version became very popular underground and on youtube).
3.
Rehna Tu: Rahman’s first album of the year, in a year where he got 2 Oscars. Delhi 6 was gold all out. Rahman generally sings at least one song in every album of his. There have been quiet mutterings that maybe Rahman reserves the best songs for himself. But if the results are anything like this song, no one’s complaining for sure. The last 2 minutes are just pure bliss.
4.
Sapno se bhare: “Sukh Hai Alag Hai Aur Chain Alag Hai
Per Yeh Jo Dekhe Woh Nain Alag Hai
Chain To Hai Apna Sukh Hai Paraye”
These lines stayed with me a long time. The visualization is so poignant and the setting so low-key (In a realistic way). The expression on Farhan Akhtar’s face after he washes his face is probably the epitome of restrained brilliance.
5.
Duniya: This one is an underrated gem. Piyush Mehra composes, writes the lyrics and sings this song. Inspired by Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, the song mocks at our society and the degradation it has suffered. It’s almost poetic, almost surreal and almost depressing. But it rescues you in the end and we are saved. You know what, just forget all this and listen to the song, eyes closed.
6.
Iktara: Shankar Ehsan Loy composed a decent album for Wake Up Sid with 3 nice numbers, but then from nowhere comes Amit Trivedi and composes a bummer of a song. Right from the first beat till the end, it’s a beauty. Kavita Seth renders it in a way that just makes one cozy and happy.
7.
Dhan De Nan: It’s a song that just stormed the charts and refused to leave the lips. I was doing Dhan De Nan at every excuse of a surprise. And when you see the song on the big screen that is when Vishal Bharadwaj rips you with not just the music but the visualization. Psychedelic and edgy all at once.
8.
Pankhon Ko: “Rocket Singh, Salesman of the year” is one of my favorite films of the year. The movie is an example how to make an honest film. This song got lost somewhere I guess as the movie itself was. Everything was just beautifully underplayed. Salim and Suleiman are probably the most underrated amongst the current music directors. They have always made good music, but somehow they never got the respect they deserve. The lyrics by Jaideep Sahni are simple and yet inspiring. One particular line which I would like to point out: “.. Ulje nahi to kaise suljhoge, bikhre nahi to kaise nikhroge..”
9.
Dil Ibaadat: Tum Mile had an amazing knockout of an album. All the songs were chartbusters. Sung by KK, this Pritam composition was an instant delight. The lyrics were just average though. Emraan Hashmi just has this knack of getting great songs for all his movies.
10.
Jaao Na: Whats your Rashee was a weird movie, almost 4 hours long, rambling in parts and just a plain boring yawn fest. Coming from Ashutosh Gowarikar, one definitely had better expectations. Music always has been one of the big strengths of his movies. This time he didn’t have Rahman on board and went ahead with a new comer in Suheil Sen. I thought he was unfairly compared to Rahman and panned badly. The music was definitely not bad and had a lot of interesting compositions. This one was a breezy number sung by Sen himself (What is with all these composers singing the best songs themselves). Some great strumming and an overall nice instrumentation make it a nice number.
11.
Behti Hawa: Alright, wasn’t this supposed to be a top 10 list? Yeah, but I decided to add a couple of bonuses. Coming right at the end of the year in the biggest hit of all time; the music underwhelmed many who wanted a Rahman – Aamir combo again. But Shantanu Moitra has a quiet confidence in his work, and somehow his songs always seem to work well when seen with the movie itself. Spectacularly shot on a road trip to Shimla and then Ladakh, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears together.
12.
Arziyan: I remember reading at Moifightclub about this song being probably a part of Rahman’s conversion process coming in the lines of Khwaja and Piya haji ali. Funny as it might be, one has begun to start waiting for that next soulful melody coming from the master. Javed Ali has had such a good year he is just so brilliant in each of his efforts.
There were a few other good songs:
- Pardesi, Payaliya from DevD,
- ‘Masakalli’, ‘Dilli hai mere yaar’ from Delhi-6
- Couple of great songs from Raaz and Jashn,
- Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani had a super album with 5 great songs
- ‘Give me some sunshine’ from 3 Idiots
- All songs from Gulal
- A nice all round album in Love aaj kal
- Couple of good songs in Radio (Himesh baba is still not done yet)
