Top Songs -2005

Actually I shouldn’t be really doing the compilation this year. Music has undergone a tremendous change in the past year, and for me all of it has been bad. Neither the instrumentaions, nor the singing, nor the beats motivate me enough. Moreover, this year I spent a considerable bulk of my time on catching up and acquiring some beautiful oldies by Lata Mangeshkar. I am just doing this post as part of a tradition started in the previous two years. 

These are some songs that I enjoyed, and are presented here in no particular order of liking. 

Lukka Chhupi Bahut Hui – Rang De Basanti - This one reaches the list purely because of Lata Mangeshkar’s immensely evocative singing. ‘Dard’ and ‘Ummeed’ combine in her honey-sweet voice, overlapping and parting just like the mother who has lost her son. I wish AR Rahman had used some proper voice rather than forcing his awful pronunciation down our throat. Thank God for the lyrics on the CD jacket sleeve, else I would never have thought that he had uttered the word ‘gunchha’ – to me it sounded like ‘tucha’ ‘lucha’. In 2005 this is twice that someone has murdered this beautiful word. Earlier Mohit Chauhan sang ‘guncha’ with a drawl, curling and wriggling, as if he had landed straight from New York to render the song. (This was in an otherwise decent ghazal from Mai Meri Patni aur Woh)

Shaayad Yehi Pyar Hai – Lucky No Time For Love- The only other film release by Lata Mangeshkar. In this she teamed with Adnan Sami for a sweet romantic rendition. Other than this, Lucky was a satisfying album overall too. My music review available here. 

Kyon Ki itna pyaar – Kyon Ki – I adore these Udit-Alka duets that Himesh Reshammiya composes. Musically, Kyon Ki is an extension of Aitraaz and Tere Naam, and is equally listenable. The title song stands tall. In Alka’s solo version I flipped for the sitar riffs. When was the last I heard this instrument in Hindi music? Finally, I also enjoyed Kunal Ganjawala in Dil kah raha hai. My other favorite is Dil ke badle sanam dard-e-dil le chuke. Himesh is the best music director in commercial film mould currently. Sadly, he is getting popular for all wrong songs! 

Dheere jalna – Paheli- Complete album-wise, personally I would rate Paheli, Kyon Ki and Lucky as the top troika of 2005. Dheere Jalna was Sonu Nigam’s tour-de-force this year. My album review here. 

Kajra Re – Bunty aur Bubli – This song is here for two reasons a) the sheer hype that it generated, despite it being quite a mediocre composition overall. No party in 2005 was complete without shaking a leg to the ditty. b) For Gulzar’s astonishingly young lyrics and usage of ‘pershonal se sawaal’. Otherwise, I enjoyed Chup chup ke better. Third good song was Nach baliye. 

Dus Bahane karke – Dus – If I have to choose one bumper hit neo-modern-techno number that really stirred me, this would be it. Vishal-Shekhar crafted an interesting tune and embellished with some ear-friendly sounds. Of course, its video played a major hand in taking it up the charts. 

Lamha lamha hai teri ada – Aapka Abhijeet Sawant – The only non-film album that is featured in this list. I saw Abhijeet’s show in Kathmandu and was quite impressed with his singing and performance. The album has pretty good numbers: Mohabbatein lutaoonga is his calling card. But there are other very good ones like Lafzon mein kah na sakoon, Kya tujhe pata hai and Janam janam. My pick is deliberately a lesser known song in order to bring it to fore – Lamha lamha. Do check it out. It has a very complex tune with music displaying Arabian influence. 

Maine tumse pyaar bahut kiya -Barsaat – Nadeem Shravan dished out insipid music this year in Mere Jeewan Saathi (whatever happened to the film’s release?), Barsaat and Dosti. Barsaat is a case study in itself: a decade back with the same film title and same hero, the duo had composed not only hit music but also one that has sustained itself. In the new film, one has to really search hard to find a number worth mentioning. I have picked up this energetic sad number sung by Alka Yagnik. The album had a mini-hit in Shaadi jo kiya hai also. 

Just Chill – Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya and Aashiq banaya aapne – Title Song – Rounding off the list with two Himesh Rishammiya numbers that rocked the charts. The first is pretty traditional dance number. The latter is a good composition spoilt very badly with Himesh’s awkward voice. But then I guess, any thing that is strange/weird/ajeeb-sa works better these days. Conventional stuff is out. My reason for putting it here is that two songs that really clung on to me despite my not really liking them this year are Do me a favorlet’s play holly…er Holi(Waqt-Race Against Time) and this one. Of the two, Do me a favor in Anu Mallik’s raucous voice is disgustingly horrible. So, I picked the one that at least has some sense and sensibility. 

Just a small note on playback scene: It is a healthy sign to see that newer voices are coming in the foray. But is it really helping these singers? I doubt it. With voices merging into beats and sounds, I really don’t think anyone now bothers to find out who has sung which song. Till the time I started to do this list, I was not aware that Just Chill is not sung by Sunidhi Chauhan (It is by a newcomer Amrita Kak). How many can immediately recall the male playback singers of Kajra re? This is definitely a far cry from the times when Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi and Asha Bhonsle’s voices alone guaranteed a hit album! There used to be a common joke then that if Lata Mangeshkar so much as sneezes, the entire music industry would get a cold! 

Another irksome trend is the ‘cross-border cultural exchange’ (spearheaded largely by Bhatt clan), either officially or unofficially (by flinching their songs). Now as far as I understand, ‘exchange’ always means ‘bilateral’ ie two-way. But how come I haven’t seen any Indian music director being invited by the other side to render music score for their films? Why are we stepping over each other to invite them while the other side reciprocates with a ban on our films? 

Third and final point: Plagiarism is an epidemic that needs an immediate cure. Most films this year were either copies or lifts. Most songs as well. This trend has been there for sometime. An interesting site to visit to find out how many your favorite songs are lifts is this. Here, the site owner has meticulously listed music-director wise all their lifts. If you have a Real Player you can listen to clips and judge for yourself. The biggest shocks were Dhadkan and QSQT numbers for me. Preetam, supposedly the current in-demand music composer, is the latest addition to get a full page to himself.

Biggest plagiarism joke: ‘Aadat’ by Jal (Pakistan) was lifted lock, stock and barrel by Preetam for Chocolate (Zehreelee raatein). A few months later, Bhatt officially got the original for Kalyug (Juda hoke bhi tu mujhmein kahiin baaki hai). Many people thought this was a copy of the Chocolate number. Touche! 

Other songs which held attention for a short span:

Woh lamhe, Agar tum mil jaao and Jaane jaan (Zehar)
Saanseinmadham hai (Kasak)
Jiya dhadak dhadak jaaye (Kalyug)
Do do do (Ramji Londonwale)
O Yaara rab russ jaane de (Socha Na Tha)
Dekhiye kis kadar and Tum bin na hum jee sakenge (Mere Jeewan Saathi)
Kasto mazza hai (Parineeta)
Ishq di galli vich no entry/ Dil to dil hai dil paagal hai (No Entry)
Jal raha hai badan seene mein hai aggan (Fun)