The thing I love about Bollywood music is that its so diverse, so vast and so immensely addictive that once you are in, you can't get out of its magical world. People may call it plagiarism, but Bollywood takes inspirations from every single musical forms around the world, so that it has everything, the sheer beauty of Spain, the sonorous beats of Africa and of course the soulful and systematic Indian approaches to music. Hindustani dominates, but Carnatic is not rare. We see experimentation, hear new sounds and watch new techniques evolve with each passing day in the industry. New talents come up and new systems poke out and the tastes of the audience, after all it is all about the audience, changes, gradually, slowly.
2012 was a giant leap for that change since we saw tremendous experimentation dancing their way off through the technical as well as creative side.
Here is my analysis of 2012 viewing from the music angle.
2012 opened its account with 'Players' which had music by Pritam with couple of engaging melodies like 'Dil Yeh' and 'Kyun Doorian' but overall faring average. January had a bumper in the offering in the form of 'Agneepath' where Ajay-Atul exceeded expectations through the magical score which produced gems like 'Abhi Mujh Mein' and 'O Saiyaan'. Not to mention 'Gun Gun' and 'Shah Ka Rutba'.
Amit Trivedi's 'Ekk Mein Aur Ekk Tu' came in January with a fairly good score comprising of the melodious 'Ahatein' and peppy 'Aunty ji'. A R Rahman's 'Vinnaithandi Varuvaya' music remake as 'Ekk Deewana Tha' was good but failed to click. While 'Jodi Breakers' had some good melodies under the composition of Salim-Sulaiman, 'Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya' had Atif Aslam tag on it with melodies like 'O re Piya' and 'Tu Mohobbat' although this Sachin-Jigar composition's gem was 'Jeene De' sung to excellence by Mohit Chauhan.
March saw Ali Zafar composing for Bollywood in 'London Paris New York' which had a quirky 'Voh Dekhney mein' while Sharib-Toshi's 'Will You Marry me' produced the excellent 'Soniye'. The real winner came with 'Kahaani', where Vishal-Shekahar were in top form through 'Piya tu', 'Tore Bina' and 'Kahaani'.!
Pritam came back with a bang with 'Agent Vinod' which was immensely appreciated and gave hits like 'I'll do the talking', 'Dil Mera Muft' and the gorgeous 'Raabta'. 'Blood Money' had decent compositions from Jeet Ganguly like 'Chaahat'.
April started with duds 'Housefull 2' and 'Bittoo Boss', while the former was irritating, later was hearable and had couple of good tracks in the form of 'Mann Jaage'. Then came the surprise surprise 'Vicky Donor' bringing along with it the wonderful 'Pani Da' composed and sung by the lead actor Ayushmann which proved to be a super hit and undoubtedly one of the best songs of 2012.! 'Hate Story' had stale music and 'Tezz' was bad from Sajid-Wajid.
Pritam scored again with 'Jannat 2' in May with the dreamy 'Sang hoon Tere' and soulful 'Rab Ka Shukrana' along with other good songs. 'Dangerous Ishq' had 'Naina Re' and 'Tu Hi Rab' to its grace and 'Ishaqzaade' was wonderful stuff from Amit Trivedi. 'Pareshaan' and 'Chokra Jawani' topped the charts.!
'Rowdy Rathore' released in June had massy, brainless tracks even though 'ChinTata', 'Dhang Dhang' and 'Chammak Challo' proved to be hits. 'Shanghai' was truly excellent attempt from Vishal-Shekhar with 'Dua' and 'Khudaaya'.!
'Ferrari Ki Sawari' was very good, un-Pritamish, but under promoted, even with 'Mann Re' and 'Good Night'. 'Teri Meri Kahaani' had decent music by Sajid-Wajid and 'Mukhtasar' topped the charts.!
The real shock came with 'Gangs of Wasseypur' where Sneha Khanwalkar produced a whopping 14 tracks, each different and creatively distinct from the other getting overwhelmingly positive response from the critics. 'O Womaniya', 'Hunter' and 'Keh Ke Loonga' were among the most popular.
July had an average 'Bol Bachchan' with massy 'Chalao Nainon Se' but shot up in spirits with the release of 'Cocktail', where once again, Pritam proved his worth through 'Tumhi ho bandhu', 'Daru Desi', and 'Yaarian' being the top tracks.
'Kya Super Cool Hai Hum' tried to be cool with remixes, but worked in vain and the under promoted 'Aalaap' by Agnee had a graceful track listing with excellent songs like 'Shuruvat Pyar Ki' and 'Dil Yeh Awaz De'.
The tremendously over hyped 'Jism 2' released in August first week with a new music director Arko Pravo Mukherjee and he used Ali Azmat to mazimum extent through 'Maula' and 'Yeh Jism'. 'Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2' came and took our breath away again by the tremendous number and variety of songs. Even though not being par with GOW 1, part two also had an excellent track listing comprising of gems like 'Moora' and 'Aabroo'. Sallu Bhai's biggest blockbuster 'Ek Tha Tiger' came with huge expectations from composer Sohail Sen but only 'Saiyaara' proved its worth and Sajid-Wajid's bland 'Mashallah' worked only due to Katrina. 'Shirin Farhad Ki toh nikal padi', 'Joker' and 'From Sydney with Love' had decent music from Jeet Ganguly, Gaurav Dagaonkar and Sohail Sen respectively but only 'Joker' scored' with 'I want to love you'.
Raaz 3 gave September a melodious start with some good deal of beautifully tuned songs like 'Deewana Kar raha' and 'Zindigi Se'. Well, the wonder of the month was 'Barfi', Pritam in mad maddy style retro music mode with almost all songs topping the charts thus becoming one of the best albums of the year! 'Ala Barfi', 'Phir le aye dil', 'Kyon', 'Ashiyan' to name a few.! 'Heroine' had very good music but didn't click while 'OMG Oh My God' gave chart busters like 'Go Go Govinda' and 'Mere Nishaan'.
October saw release of the light hearted and beautiful 'English Vinglish' producing out of the world tracks like 'Dhak Dhuk' 'Gustakh Dil' and 'English Vinglish'. A treat from Amit Trivedi. Amit's own 'Aiyaa' released next which met with mixed response but 'Dreamum Wakupum' and 'Aga Bai' topped the charts. 'Chittagong' marked the account opening of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy with situational yet absorbing songs like 'Bolo Na'.
Vishal-Shekhar's 'Student of the Year' had fair music but strong promotions propelled 'Ishq Wala Love', 'Disco Deewane' and 'Radha' to top positions in no time. 'Ajab Ghazab Love' was stale while 'Rush' gave 'O Re Khuda'. 'Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana' was appreciated by critics and '1920 Evil Returns' had conventionally cliched yet melodious tracks namely 'Apnaa Mujhe Tu Lagaa' and 'Uska Hi Banana'.
November had other three biggies, SRK-A R Rahman's 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan', Ajay-Himesh's 'Son of Sardar' and Aamir-Ram Sampath's 'Talaash'. Jab Tak Hai jaan had soulful music and even with mixed critical response, almost all songs topped the charts, 'Heer' being the pick of the lot. 'Son of Sardar' was massy but had a gorgeous melody in the form of 'Bichchdan' and an amazingly catchy 'Rani Tu mein Raja'. 'Po Po' was brainless but worked due to Salman factor. 'Talaash' had a perfect score with each track being beautiful and influencing but were under promoted. 'Jee Le Zara', 'Jiya Lage na' and 'Lakh Duniya kahen' were real products of immense creativity.
December saw Himesh-Akshay's 'Khiladi 786' giving some outrageous massy tracks which nevertheless topped the charts even with mixed response. 'Balma', 'Lonely', 'Long Drive' and 'Hookah Bar' were the most noted. End of the year was with a good 'Dabanng 2' where Sajid-Wajid played safe by creating a musical sequel to 'Dabanng' hence nothing went wrong and nothing more. 'Dagabaaz Re' and 'Fevicol' were the pick of the lot.
Such a memorable year with so many good songs, so that it has become a huge task to filter out the best among the lot.
Top Composers
Talking about the composers, the best among the lot were Pritam, Amit Trivedi and Vishal Shekhar. Sneha Khanwalkar comes to the list too with GOW but that is strikingly unconventional so I don't know if she'll fit into the usual league.
Pritam Chakraborty : Had one of his career's best performance in 2012. Palyers was a dud but Jannat 2, Agent Vinod, Cocktail, Ferrari Ki Sawari, Barfi! and Rush were all super good and filled with chart busters! Pritam has undoubtedly produced the biggest no: of hits this year. He was massy in Cocktail and classy in Barfi! and consistent throughout in quantity and quality hence without any doubt, the composer of the year!
I wish he wins his first Filmfare award this year, he deserves it!
Amit Trivedi : As usual, Amit concentrated in the quality and versatility of his songs rather being too commercial. 'Ekk Mein Aur Ekk Tu', 'Ishaqzaade', 'Aiyyaa', 'English Vinglish', and 'Love Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana' were his works in 2012. I found only 'English Vinglish' and 'Ishaqzaade' completely absorbing. But then each album is definitely different from the other and I doubt anyone else in the industry now apart from Amit Trivedi(and A R Rahman by default) could produce a track like 'Dreamum wakeupum'. Creativity at its best.!
Vishal-Shekhar : With no doubt, the music composer duo are the most technically advanced composers in the industry now. Four albums this year, three of them hugely classy(Kahaani, Shanghai, Arjun The Warrior) and one an out-and-out commercial attempt(Student of the Year). Kahaani and Shanghai will be cherished forever by the music lovers even though the tracks were not so popular. It happens in Bollywood so no point complaining.
Sneha Khanwalkar : Gangs of Wasseypur. A total of 28 tracks.! Total dedication and immense creativity. Words won't be enough to praise Sneha. Spontaneous and spot on she is while being thoroughly research oriented in her music. A hell lot of home work, creative brainstorming and new ideas all evident from her work. She traveled to Trinidad and Tobago for the movie, stayed there for a month and studied their folk culture just for the music of the film! That much was not necessary but she did it out of utmost passion.! Hats off.!
Ajay-Atul : An excellent 'Agneepath' to their credit.
Ram Sampath : A very good Talaash which went rightly with the mood of the film even when under promoted.
Jeet Ganguly : Worked his way through remakes of his own Bengali songs mostly in Raaz 3, Blood Money and Shirin Farhad ki toh Nikal Padi. A good year for him nevertheless.
A R Rahman : Ek Deewana Tha failed to click but Jab Tak Hai Jaan was a wonderful collection of melody.
Himesh Reshammiya : HR went through twist and turns this year. He announced his comeback to full time music direction and without surprise, projects were immediately on his way. Dangerous Ishq was too Indian and fitted the mood of the film. While all other scores, namely, Bol Bachchan, Oh My God, Son of Sardar, and Khiladi 786 were outright commercial. Interestingly HR gave music to highest number of highest grossing films of the year.! Good for him!
Salim-Sulaiman : Not a good year, but I loved their Jodi Breakers and Heroine.!
Sajid-Wajid : The duo were out of ideas this year undoubtedly. A long list of duds. Tezz, Housefull 2, Teri Meri Kahani, Ajab Ghazab Love, Ishq In Paris, Kamaal Dhamaal Malamal, Rowdy Rathore and guest compositions in Ek Tha Tiger and Son of Sardar worked in vain. Rowdy Rathore worked due to tremendous promotions and the year end Dabangg 2 was the only safe album. Thumps down.! Bad luck.!
Sachin-Jigar had a good Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya and guest composition in Kya Super Kool Hai Hum.
Top Singers
Male
Sonu Nigam : Its Sonu, I don't have to explain. Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin, and Apna mujhe tu Laga.
Mohit Chauhan : Singer of the year 2011, going strong this year too.!
Jeene De, Ala Barfi, Rab Ka Shukrana, Siyaara, Saans.
Arjit Singh : Promoted heavily by Pritam(Arjit is Asst. Music director of Pritam) Arjit scored this year with his sombre and soulful singing.
Phir Le Aye Dil, Sawali Si Raat, Raabta, Dua
Vishal Dadlani : Various songs, his as well as others. Jee Le Zara being my favorite.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan : Not a very good year even with a lot of songs only two made the list.
Soniye, Bichdan
KK : Loved his 'Sang Hoon Tere' and Kahaani title track.!
Papon : Kyon, mind blowingly beautiful.!
Piyush Mishra : Ik Bagal and Aabro. Also his stress reliever Husna from Coke Studio.
Ayushman Khurana for Pani Da.
Female
Rekha Bharadwaj : Phir Le aye dil. One song. One beautiful classic song. It is enough!
Shilpa Rao : Gustakh Dil, Aahatein, Gubbare, English Vinglish, Ishq Shava
Harshdeep Kaur : Heer, Luv Shuv Te Chicken Khurana, Jugni
Shreya Ghoshal : Kahaani, Raabta, Saans, Dagabaaz Re, Piya Ore Piya, Aashiyan
Nandini Srikar : Dua, Dil Mera Muft
Shalmali Kholgade : Pareshaan, Daru Desi, Aga Bai
Sunidhi Chauhan : Yaarian, Kyon
Sona Mohapatra : Jiya Laage Na
Check the next post for Top songs of 2012
Good Bye 2012.
Life Sucks. Music Doesnt!
