Since we were not around the last time Ada’s music released, and I happen to adore some of the songs, AND since it is Rahman, I decided to write a review anyways. So here goes.. You can listen to the songs here.

The highlight of the album is beyond doubt Meherbaan, Rahman going the Vellai Pookkal way to produce another brilliantly tranquil track. Rahman has always sounded his best with soft melodies, and the way he croons this song just underlines the fact in bold. The song is equally alluring in its instrumental version, Sanjeev Thomas doing a spic job first with the acoustic guitar and then with the electric guitar. Ishq Ada too impresses in both its versions. While Rashid Ali’s Arabic-styled rendition accentuates the Middle East flavor in the arrangement, debutant Parul Mishra sort of dilutes that in the female version with her classical base, topping it with a splendid alaap in the second interlude (presumably in Subhapanthuvarali). Hawa Sun Hawa carries the breezy, mildly ambient quality that ARR has employed in movies like Taal and Yuvvraaj. And for that reason sounds sort of repetitive too. Nevertheless it does make for a good listen, courtesy Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik.

Sonu and Alka get together again for Gum Sum, a regular foot-tapper with some interesting points in the arrangement like the mandolin motif and the bass riff that happens towards the end. The other dance-y track, Gulfisha, fails to make an impact, the plain tune being its undoing. And even some quality arrangement and singing by Sunidhi, Sonu and Vivienne Chaix don’t help much. Sunidhi has been a surprising exclusion by Rahman all these years for the quality of her singing, this being only the second song from the combo. And not a very memorable one at that either.

Of the two sad songs, Jayachandran’s debut Hindi song with Alka – Milo Wahan Wahan – turns out a mildly engaging fare, Rahman elaborating on a short piece that had appeared in the background of Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Mutthamittal (a movie that had incidentally featured a gem from the ARR-Jayachandran combo). The other song, Hai Dard, is another of the less impressive songs from the album, despite Udit Narayan’s soulful singing. In places it did remind me of Aye Ajnabi, but this one falls far behind in its appeal. Things end on a high note though, Chitra, Sukhwinder Singh and Naresh Iyer presenting the prayer-like Tu Mera Hai. While the extravagant orchestration carries a tingly feel about it, Chitra totally aces the vocals part, with an excellent chanting by Naresh in the interludes. Sukhwinder strangely sounds off-colour in comparison.

Three songs that are just about average, but on the other hand, SEVEN songs that are excellent! Loved the album when it released, and two years later, the charm has anything but worn off, for some songs at least.

Music Aloud Rating – 8.25/10

Recommended Tracks – The bottom line says it all!

One of the most attractive parts of Keeravani’s music is the way he employs the violin. In Ninnu Chudani too he lives upto his reputation, creating a mesmerizing template dominated by the violin and the accordion. Anuj Gurwara and Chaitra don’t disappoint on the vocals either. If not for the Telugu lyrics, Salim Sulaiman’s Prema Lekha would pass off for a standard Bollywood composition of theirs, a feeling reinforced by the fact that the singers happen to be Salim Merchant and Shreya Ghoshal. The accordion makes a brief appearance here too, giving this song also a mild East European flavor like the first song. Wonder if the plot has some European connection. But the duo totally nails the Yodha Theme, starting on a Celtic sound before finishing with a grand orchestral chorus, all in two minutes. Abhijit Vaghani’s remix of Prema Lekha is passable, accentuating the Romanic feel with an increased usage of accordion over the original.

It is with Koti’s entry that the soundtrack takes a slight dip, though not entirely due to his fault. The opulently orchestrated sinister track Pralaya Kaalaabhila should in all probability make for a very good watch, but on the audio front the situational nature stifles its entertainment value. Geetha Madhuri nevertheless does an excellent job of sounding all imposing and haughty. Tharumukosthundi Samayam is similar in sound and arrangement, and faces a similar fate, though it is wonderful to hear S P Balasubramanyam in all his glory! Things are wrapped up by Mickey J Meyer with a peach of a composition Chandamama Andagadini, a lilting Muslim-flavored tune packaged in an arrangement that is replete with interesting world music elements. And an excellent rendition by Karthik and Sahithi.

A wonderful soundtrack that is only going to get better on-screen with the kind of visuals signalled by the trailer. Which you can watch here, in case you haven’t already.

Music Aloud Rating – 8/10

Recommended Tracks – Chandamama Andagadini, Ninnu Chudani, Prema Lekha

Giving a modern packaging to a haunting tune so reminiscent of his dad in Ada Da En Meethu, Yuvan Shankar Raja starts off the soundtrack in style. With its scintillating interludes and spot-on vocals by Bela Shende and Hariharan the song is a delight. The composer seems to falter in places in his vocal bout, Yaar Solli Kaadhal. But interestingly those flaws don’t really stick out, and the composer makes up in any case with a beautiful arrangement. The man totally gets it right with the strings section every time!  Where he doesn’t quite get it right though, is in the next song called Kaattu Chedikku, Yuvan getting his brother Karthik Raja to do the vocals. While the tune is not very impressive, the less-than-perfect vocals of Karthik don’t help much either, and the song ends up one of the weaker tracks of the soundtrack.

The fusion angle of Vaanam Namadhe makes it a very engaging listen, Yuvan using an interesting array of instruments, mainly on the percussion side, to give a bouncy template for the prayer-like tune. And Shankar Mahadevan, being an old hand at the genre, delivers the track to perfection.  The composer stumbles once again with the theme music, failing to produce a really catchy tune, and weighing it down further with a heard-before arrangement.

Three good songs out of five. Decent closure to a relatively low-key year for Yuvan Shankar Raja.

Music Aloud Rating – 7.5/10

Recommended Tracks – Ada Da En Meethu, Vaanam Namadhe, Yaar Solli Kaadhal

Another year-end special from us. A compilation of all Google Doodles of 2010 that were dedicated to musicians. Some of them were global, and some were specific to countries so there is a good chance you would have missed at least a few of them. And if you feel like reading more about the musician just click on the name. So here goes..

Django Reinhardt (23rd January)

Frederic Chopin (1st March)

Antonio Vivaldi (4th March)

Umm Kulthum (3rd February)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7th May)

Isaac Albeniz (29th May) – Can’t help sharing at this point, our writeup on what we consider his greatest ever composition, Asturias. You can read it and watch various mindblowing versions of the song here.

Robert Schumann (8th June)

Naomi Shemer (13th July)

John Lennon (9th October) – Arguably one of the best doodles of the year (To me, the only one ahead is the Pacman doodle!)

Dizzy Gillespie (21st October)

Carlos Gardel (11th December)

Edith Piaf (19th December)

Abhi Kuch Dino Se is perfect for Mohit Chauhan, a very buoyant melody which Pritam lays out well with a commendable arrangement and tops up with a fabulous chorus. And the best part of the song is its freshness, the composer minimizing references to his usual melody templates. Sonu Nigam returns to sing for Pritam after a long time with Tere Bin, and renders the soulful melody in his trademark style. And though the breezy arrangement does remind of the composer’s prior works, it makes for a very good track for the quality of the tune and the singing. Naresh Iyer does an equally fab job in the acoustic guitar-dominated Reprise Version. The remix quite obviously lacks the original’s charm, but appeals fairly with its lounge-ish quality.

With its retro blues template Yeh Dil Hai Nakhrewala has an allure about it, albeit in a heard-before manner. Interesting coincidence that Pritam’s song from Action Replayy title Nakhre was also set on a similar format. And Shefali Alvares does a perfect job of conveying the yester yearly feel in her singing too. No surprises there, seeing that Shefali’s repertoire is adorned by names like Louiz Banks, Karl Peters and the likes. The Film Version of the song however disappoints – both arrangement-wise and singing-wise. Pritam tries to pep up the arrangement to negative results. And I couldn’t fathom what’s with Antara Mitra’s singing. She sounded so like Shreya Ghoshal in her previous works, and here she is either having a bad cold, or is trying to sing like Himesh! Jadugari has a base tune which sounds sort of 90s in places, but the composer does a wonderful job on the arrangement giving it a mild Latino flavor, and Kunal Ganjawala takes care of the rest with his ardent singing. The final track, Beshuba, would have made for a perfect track if not for that arrangement pattern which Pritam has used so many times now. Nevertheless the composer does have his way of sprucing it up each time, so it still remains a good listen. And here Antara sounds lots better, delivering the song wonderfully alongside Kunal.

Though the soundtrack lacks a song that matches the class of the song the movie borrowed its title from, Pritam produces an engaging fare for Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji.

Music Aloud Rating – 8/10

Recommended Tracks – Abhi Kuch Dino, Tere Bin, Beshuba

After the set 1 and set 2 of our all time fave Xmas songs, which we hope you enjoyed, here is the final set, to make your Christmas eve an even more cheerful one!

Christmas All Over Again (Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers) – Starting on a standard Christmas song template and later acquiring their signature shades, Christmas All Over Again is one of my favorite Tom Petty songs.

I Saw Three Ships (Sting) - A simple folksy adaptation of another traditional carol, Sting’s earthy vocals form a sharp contrast to the sweetness of the song, and that strangely is what makes this adaptation an interesting one.

Do They Know Its Christmas (Band Aid) – The single song supergroup put together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise charity for the 1984 Ethiopia famine relief, Band Aid’s Do They Know.. featured some of the biggest names from the UK – U2, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Sting, Phil Collins, Wham! et al. And the magnitude of the featured artists helped the cause a great extent, the song going on to retain the biggest selling UK single title for close to a decade and a half. That is not to take any credit off the ambient charm of the song.

Christmas Canon (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) - When Pachelbel’s Canon forms the base of a song, there is little chance that the song cannot please. Hence it is that Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Canon, based entirely on the Canon, makes for a wonderful Christmas song, complete with its excellent choir.

And finally, what is Christmas without some fun! Here is a spoofy take on Christmas for the road.

Twelve Days Of Christmas (Boymongoose) - The Indianised version of the classic English carol, with its accented rendition of the hilarious lyrics, and a video to match, cracks me up every time I see it!

As a bonus on that spoofy line, here is a link to an ultra-howlarious set of parody carols from the Cobblestone Carollers on David Letterman’s Late Show. Have a merry Christmas everyone!

- Vivek Nenmini

It is a litmus test of musical adulation that you always recollect the first time you heard a particular piece of music. The first time I heard Jimi Hendrix was when I pestered my father into buying me a Polydor tape. After having been initially taken in by the dark sounding vocals of Jim Morrison and the even darker machinations of Ray Manzarek on ‘L.A. Woman’ (one of the first rock tapes I had listened to) boredom set in a while later, due to constant play of the same tape (how long could the riders last out the storm?). The Hendrix tape, titled ‘The Ultimate Experience’ purchased at a princely amount of Rs 95 circa 2000 was post-acquisition safely docked into my first and only Walkman (a black and red BPL) and with tingling fingers I pushed play. After the initial buzz of the spool opening up, there erupted a semi-frantic strumming of an acoustic guitar (the credits on the back of the tape pointed that it was a 12 stringer c/o Dave Mason, more famous for being a co-founder of Traffic) with a drummer warming up the intro, then an even frenzied but ever so relaxed attack of electric fret magic and finally a smoky voice breaking into, “There must be some kind of way out of here…” The song was All Along the Watchtower. Interestingly it was written by another legend-Bob Dylan.

The song having been penned by the ‘lyrical/poetic power extraordinaire’ has seen its various interpretations by rock critics to Literature professors. The most popular analysis of the song is that of the allusion to the ‘Book of Isaiah’ who is also incidentally known as the ‘barefoot servant’. One of the reasons cited for this is the background of the time when Dylan wrote this song. All Along the Watchtower and the rest of the tracks which appeared first on the 1967 album John Wesley Harding was written post his famous motorcycle accident in the previous year, a year for quiet introspection, recuperation and a growing interest in the Bible.

Another theory, though the allegory is quite a stretch of imagination but definitely more visual if the lyrics are listened to carefully, is that of the mythology of the American West where, in the final lines we hear  of ‘Two riders were approaching/ And the wind began to howl.’ Dylan known for his political shenanigans could also have made implicit references to American foreign policy especially with respect to Vietnam. My own interpretation is that of a world fast deteriorating of values and ‘the joker and the thief’ being the only super-hero characters who can fight the sins and stupidity of man and prevent a social apocalypse. However one reads the analysis, the song itself is quite sparse and taut, three verses long and a narrative which changes chronological timing in such a way that the end of the last verse is actually when the whole story strangely begins. Commenting on the story-telling involved Dylan stated in an interview with the folk music magazine Sing Out! in October 1968, “I haven’t fulfilled the balladeer’s job. A balladeer can sit down and sing three songs for an hour and a half… it can all unfold to you. These melodies on John Wesley Harding lack this traditional sense of time. As with the third verse of “The Wicked Messenger”, which opens it up, and then the time schedule takes a jump and soon the song becomes wider… The same thing is true of the song “All Along the Watchtower”, which opens up in a slightly different way, in a stranger way, for we have the cycle of events working in a rather reverse order.”

All Along the Watchtower however does not stand out as a classic today due to Dylan himself. That job of reinterpreting and clearly redefining the sound-scape of this song, branding it into our collective consciousness has to be entirely credited to Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix came across the song when he heard it first being played at a party thrown by Dave Mason. The same night he recorded it and it was released on the phenomenal Electric Ladyland album in 1968. The Dylan-esque folk is replaced with a raw, screeching, urgent, rock and roll edge. Structurally the song changes tempo with Hendrix gradually shifting gears after each verse ends, in search for a higher note. The finale breaks through with him reaching for the final note which he repeats over and over, not only indicating the ‘howling wind’ but also of dark and ominous times ahead, leaving the listener a bit disoriented and yet it ends, like the lyrics without a resolution. Dylan himself was blown by Hendrix’s rendition and added the end guitar solo whenever he played it afterwards. In the booklet accompanying his Biograph album, Dylan said, “I liked Jimi Hendrix’s record of this and ever since he died I’ve been doing it that way… Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way.”

Being a Dylan song it has seen its various interpretations from- The Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead to The Killers and Phish. Dave Mason who famously introduced the song to Hendrix did his own cover version. U2 covered it with an additional verse at a couple of live shows. It is also featured in a scene of their rockumentary Rattle and Hum. It’s a Dave Matthews Band favourite since their inception, often playing it as a closing song to their concert or an encore, in usual DMB style starting off slowly, picking up intensity after the second verse, extended solos and a fantastic finish. Neil Young does an interesting version with Booker T. and the M.G.’s at the Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden. Eddie Vedder & the Million Dollar Bashers did a fab cover for the OST of the Dylan biopic by Todd Haynes, I’m Not There. It also has a Greek version by Dionysis Savvopoulos titled “Paliatsos kai listis” which translates into ‘the joker and the thief’!

Excerpts of lyrics appear in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s seminal comic book series Watchmen where chapter 10 is titled “Two Riders Were Approaching”. Hendrix’s version is played during the same scene in the film adaptation. The same version also appears in various movies most notably- Forrest Gump. The Simpsons featured it in two episodes involving Homer’s mother. The song also became a thematic motif and plot element in the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica. The Australian band Wolfmother paid tribute to Dylan and his lore with their hit single ‘Joker and the Thief’. With such pop culture influence and interest from the music fraternity it is little wonder that All Along the Watchtower according to the site http://hisbobness.info/ beats Like a Rolling Stone to the number one most played song at concerts by Dylan.

Dylan’s indictment in the song stood strong in the 1960’s when he wrote it. In recent years at his live performances he ends the song with the following words- ‘None of them along the line/ Know what any of it is worth’, a reference maybe to the current state of political and socio-economic turmoil. Same words, different times or maybe the same times as well. And that’s probably why the song endures.
You can listen to Dylan’s original here. This is the best we could manage with Sony pulling most Dylan material off the net. Nevertheless, below are some other tribute videos. And you can find the lyrics of the song here.

So.. as we said in the round-up some time back, here are our top 25 Bollywood songs of 2010! Click on the song title to view the song. Songs in Song Title (Movie) – Composer(s)|Singer(s) format.

1.    Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji (Ishqiya) – Vishal Bhardwaj|Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

2.    Ranjha Ranjha (Raavan) – A R Rahman|Anuradha Sriram, Rekha Bharadwaj, Javed Ali

3.    Suno Aisha (Aisha) – Amit Trivedi|Ash King, Aditi Singh Sharma, Nakash Aziz, Amit Trivedi

4.    Tujhe bhula diya (Anjaana Anjaani) – Vishal Shekhar|Shruti Pathak, Mohit Chauhan, Shekhar Ravjiani

5.    Madhno (Lamhaa) – Mithoon|Chinmayi, Kshitij Tarey

6.    Uff Teri Ada (Karthik Calling Karthik) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Alyssa Mendonsa, Shankar Mahadevan

7.    Pee Loon (Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai) – Pritam|Mohit Chauhan

8.    Kahaani Aankhon Ke (Udaan) – Amit Trivedi|Joi Barua, Neuman Pinto

9.    Pal Mein (Paathshaala) – Salim Sulaiman|Shreya Ghoshal/Shankar Mahadevan

10. Dhoop Ke Makaan (Break Ke Baad) – Vishal Shekhar|Caralisa Monteiro, Shekhar Ravjiani, Sunidhi Chauhan, Mikey McCleary

11.  Dilli (No One Killed Jessica) – Amit Trivedi|Aditi Singh Sharma, Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer

12.  Call Me Dil (Jhootha Hi Sahi) – A R Rahman|Rashid Ali

13.  Sajda (My Name Is Khan) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Richa Sharma, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shankar Mahadevan

14.  Mora Piya (Raajneeti) – Aadesh Shrivastava|Aadesh Shrivastava, Shashi, Rosalie Nicholson

15.  Lehrein (Aisha) – Amit Trivedi|Anusha Mani, Neuman Pinto, Nikhil D’Souza

16.  Mayya Yashodha (Jhootha Hi Sahi) – A R Rahman|Chinmayi, Javed Ali

17.  Hey Ya (Karthik Calling Karthik) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Clinton Cerejo, Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa

18.  Bahara (I Hate Luv Storys) – Vishal Shekhar|Sona Mohapatra, Shreya Ghoshal

19.  Bombay Bombay (Striker) – Amit Trivedi|Siddharth, Amit Trivedi

20.  Main Kaun Hoon (Lamhaa) – Mithoon|Palash Sen

21.  Munni Badnaam (Dabangg) – Lalit Pandit|Mamta Sharma, Aishwariya

22.  Socha Na Tha (Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu) – Vasuda Sharma|Vasuda Sharma

23.  Kaare Kaare Badra (Mirch) – Monty Sharma|Shankar Mahadevan

24.  Sheila Ki Jawani (Tees Maar Khan) – Vishal Shekhar|Sunidhi Chauhan, Vishal Dadlani

25.  Ainvayi Ainvayi (Band Baaja Baaraat) – Salim Sulaiman|Salim Merchant, Sunidhi Chauhan

It was with great difficulty that I brought the list down to 25. Below are five which I would have very much wanted to be in the top 25.

1.  O Re Bande (Lahore) – Piyush Mishra|Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shilpa Rao

2.  Dheere Dheere (Walkaway) – Vishal Shekhar|Shekhar Ravjiani

3.  Roshni (Admissions Open) – Amit Trivedi|Shruti Pathak

4.  Yeh Des Hai Mera (Khele Hum Jee Jaan Sey) – Sohail Sen|Sohail Sen

5.  Bas Itni Guzaarish (Guzaarish) – Sanjay Leela Bhansali|KK

And finally,  here are top 25 Indian songs of 2010 outside of Bollywood. The list is primarily made up of Tamil and Malayalam songs, as those are the two languages I listen to otherwise. Even in those I have prepared the list based on the songs I heard over the year, so if I have missed some major album kindly accept my apologies. I have not included in the ranking three major albums – Ranjit Barot‘s Bada Boom, Naveen Kumar‘s Cafe Fluid and 127 Hours by A R Rahman and other composers. These are three must.not.miss albums, ranking or not!

1.    Naan Varuvene (Raavanan: Tamil) – A R Rahman|A R Rahman, Jali Fily Cissokho

2.    Aaromale (Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya: Tamil) – A R Rahman|Alphonse Joseph

3.    Nenjil Nenjil (Engeyum Kaadhal: Tamil) – Harris Jayaraj|Harish Raghavendra, Chinmayi

4.    Kanninima (Anwar: Malayalam) – Gopi Sundar|Shreya Ghoshal, Naresh Iyer

5.    Vennilaavinumivide (Cocktail: Malayalam) – Alphonse Joseph|Alphonse Joseph

6.    Enna Kurayo (Mandhira Punnagai: Tamil) – Vidyasagar|Sudha Raghunathan

7.    Pudhiya Manidha (Endhiran: Tamil) – A R Rahman|S P Balasubramanyam

8.    Mazhayil Kulitha Malarvanam (Ilaignan: Tamil) – Vidyasagar|Karthik, Anwesha

9.    Maaralante (Komaram Puli: Telugu) – A R Rahman|Rahman, KMMC Choir

10. Aah Ko Chaahiye (Makaramanju: Malayalam) – Ramesh Narayan|Hariharan, Sujatha

11.  Hosanna (Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya: Tamil) – A R Rahman|Vijay Prakash, Suzanne, Blaaze

12.  Kaadhal Anukkal (Endhiran: Tamil) – A R Rahman|Vijay Prakash, Shreya Ghoshal

13.  Kizhakku Pookkum (Anwar: Malayalam) – Gopi Sundar|Shreya Ghoshal, Navin Iyer, Sabari Brothers, Raqueeb Alam

14.  Yaaradhu (Kaavalan: Tamil) – Vidyasagar|Karthik, Suchitra

15.   Mehrmaa Ve (Akriti: Indipop) – Shankar Mahadevan|Akriti Kakar

16.   Tanthaneno (Pullimaan: Malayalam) – Sharreth|Manisha Sheen/Vineeth Srinivasan

17.   Megam Vandhu (Mandhira Punnagai: Tamil) – Vidyasagar|Anwesha, Madhu Balakrishnan

18.   Namakame (Komaram Puli: Telugu) – A R Rahman|Chitra, Madhusree, Harini

19.   Thee Illai (Engeyum Kaadhal: Tamil) – Harris Jayaraj|Naresh Iyer, Mukesh, Gopal Rao, Mahathi, Ranina Reddy

20.   Lavan Kashmalan (Malarvaadi Arts Club: Malayalam) – Shaan Rahman|Vineeth Srinivasan, Shaan Rahman, Rakesh Kishore, Sharath

21.   Thozha Vaanam (Ilaignan: Tamil) – Vidyasagar|Hariharan

22.   Perilla Raajyathe (Body Guard: Malayalam) – Ouseppachan|Karthik, Elizabeth Raju

23.   Mallippoo (Pullimaan: Malayalam) – Sharreth|M G Sreekumar, Sithara

24.   Njaan Kanavil Kandoru (Aagathan: Malayalam) – Ouseppachan|Ranjith/Swetha

25.   Who’s The Hero (Manmadan Ambu: Tamil) – Devi Sri Prasad|Andrea Jeremiah

And thus ends our summary for 2010 Indian music. Hope that 2011 proves to be as musically bountiful as 2010. Happy 2011 everyone!

As another year comes to a close, we bring you our second annual round-up for Hindi film music. Like 2009, 2010 was also a wonderful year for Bollywood music, a lot of memorable music coming the audience’s way, divided almost equitably among the seasoned composers, the relatively new ones and the absolute newbies. Like we did last year, the analysis shall be presented composer-wise for the prominent ones, in decreasing number of quality songs produced.

Amit Trivedi

2010 Hindi film music quite clearly belonged to this man. Starting with the one song for Striker and then producing a spate of awesome music with amazing consistency – Udaan, Aisha, Admissions Open and finallly No One Killed Jessica, Amit was in top form in 2010. Not to forget bagging the National award for Dev.D. Here’s hoping that he produces a lot more beautiful music in 2011 too – there’s Onir’s I am and Vikas Bahl’s Chillar Party for sure as he told us in his interview, and hopefully the Anurag Kashyap-Danny Boyle project – and goes a step further towards cementing his place among the best composers India has ever seen.

Vishal Shekhar

After going on a long sabbatical post their sole 2009 offering Aladin, the duo was suddenly all over the music charts in the latter half of 2010, spinning off hits after hits – while I Hate Luv Storys and Break Ke Baad followed a similar youthful romantic rock-based template, Anjaana Anjaani, their best soundtrack of the year, presented a wide range of genres in a mind-blowing manner. And the one song for the crossover movie Walkaway was a very good listen. Though they hit their minor dip on the album front with Tees Maar Khan, they managed to produce one of the biggest chartbusters of the year in Sheila Ki Jawani. 2011 looks to be a busy year for them with at least five on the cards, including part 2 of Dostana which had featured some entertaining tracks.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy

The composers had a patchy streak in 2010, failing to produce the perfect soundtrack despite doing six. Each score did have its high points, but in entirety the albums kept getting bogged down by the repetitive element in the arrangement. Even with Farhan Akhtar, they didn’t manage to come out at their best Nevertheless the trio did produce some good songs in each soundtrack including the gems like Sajda, Uff Teri Ada and Hey Ya. And the reason they feature as no. 3 on my list is coz of the number of good songs they produced in their six soundtracks – My Name Is Khan, Karthik Calling Karthik, Hum Tum Aur Ghost, Housefull, Tere Bin Laden and We Are Family. Like V-S, SEL too have a busy 2011 with over six soundtracks, including the Don sequel, a Zoya Akhtar project and a Farhan Akhtar production. Hope SEL bounce back in 2011.

A R Rahman

Like last year, the maestro scored for just two Hindi films in 2010 – Raavan for his mentor Mani Ratnam, and Jhootha Hi Sahi. The man was more active outside of Bollywood, producing a couple of scores in Tamil, one in Telugu, 127 Hours in Hollywood and a horde of signature tunes – Etios theme, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat anthem and CWG anthem being a few of them. But even with those two albums he produced his share of good music, though Raavan wouldn’t be counted among the best that Mani-ARR combo has produced. 2011 the man has three or four lined up in Hindi, the one in the news being Rockstar. But thing most fans would be looking forward to in 2011 would be for a Rahman encore at the Golden Globes and Oscars with 127 Hours!

Pritam

The composer continued his tradition of being the man with the most soundtracks this year too, composing for not less than fourteen soundtracks, eight of them his solo works! And courtesy such a huge number of soundtracks he as usual produced his usual mix of a few good songs and quite a few useless songs! While his best works of 2010 came in Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Action Replayy, Aashayein and Crook, the worst ones were Hello Darling and No Problem. And what is Pritam without plagiarism.. the man made his mark quite indelibly on that front too in 2010!

Sandesh Shandilya

The perpetually under-rated composer made best use of the three soundtracks he got to work on – Dus Tola, Tum Milo To Sahi and Yamla Pagla Deewana, the first two being solo works against his convention – producing good music in all three. However owing to the movies themselves at least for the first two, almost all the songs went unheard. When will this man’s bad luck end I wonder!

Salim Sulaiman

Though not as productive a year as 2009, the Merchant brothers did produce some engaging tracks in the four movies they worked on, the best being Pal Mein from Aashayein. On the soundtrack front their best work came for Band Baaja Baaraat.

Sohail Sen (& Simaab Sen)

His debut for Ashutosh Gowariker didn’t turn out a very memorable one with just a couple of good songs in an otherwise tedious soundtrack. Hence there was a lot of skepticism when Gowariker chose Sohail Sen again for Khele Hum Jee Jaan Sey, especially given the scale of the project, and the fact that his similar projects in the past had been scored by ARR. But Sohail did a wonderful job along with Simaab Sen, creating a wonderful period soundtrack.

Monty Sharma

Post his decent debut in Saawariya which was marred only by its long playlist, Monty Sharma has been on a flop streak churning forgettable soundtracks one after the other. But this year he seemed determined to turn the table around, and partly succeeded too, Right Yaa Wrong and Mirch, his only two scores this year, both having some really enjoyable songs. Hopefully he will truly get into the positives in 2011.

Mithoon

With the one album he composed in 2010, the brilliantly crafted Lamhaa, Mithoon proved again why he is among the most promising composers in Hindi film music today. As he said in his interview with us, he has four soundtracks lined up for next year including Onir’s I Am. Bring them on I say!

Vishal Bhardwaj

Ishqiya and one song in Striker. That was all that Vishal Bhardwaj composed in 2010. And that was enough to prove the man’s class, Dil to Bachcha Hai Ji to me being one of the best songs of the year and one of Rahat Fateh Ali’s best renditions in recent times. I look forward to his Saat Khoon Maaf in 2011.

The debutants

This year saw quite a few composers make their debut in Bollywood. The most promising debutant to me was Vasuda Sharma, the Aasma girl, giving some really good songs for Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu. It was her misfortune that the movie went down like it did. The other big debut came from Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his Guzaarish, though technically it wasn’t really a debut as he revealed as having had a part in the scores of his past movies too. And the fact did reflect in the orchestral soundtrack being reminiscent of older SLB movie songs. And this one too had its tedium going against an otherwise decent soundtrack. Hanif Sheikh, Manish J Tipu and Dev Sikhdar were the other commendable debutants. R Anandh didn’t perform as expected with his solo Bollywood debut, Lafangey Parindey turning out to be a just-about-average soundtrack for the high standards he has maintained with his ads, in South, and with Agosh. Singer Srinivas opened his Bollywood composing account with the song Dangal for Kushti, which was a decent song, but given the fate of the movie didn’t get any exposure whatsoever.

The rest

The rest of the pack was a mixed bag. While some veterans like Himesh Reshammiya (Kajra Re, Milenge Milenge) and Anu Malik had a not-so-great year (ok, bad in Anu Malik’s case!), others like Rajesh Roshan (Kites) and MM Kreem (Lahore) proved with the little work they did that they still have got it in them. Shantanu Moitra’s Well Done Abba and the one item song in Raajneeti got wearisome with repeated listens coz of the similarity to his past tunes, a problem he seriously needs to get over soon. It would be sad if he were to get wasted after such a spectacular debut. Sneha Khanwalkar proved her reliability with soundtracks that are a bit hatke, producing a total entertainer for Love Sex Aur Dhokha. I look forward to her reported Anurag Kashyap project. Sachin-Jigar have been an under-rated composer duo, getting undone each time only by the quality of the movies they have been doing. Their unlucky run continued this year too with another impressive work of theirs getting lost in the crowd coz the movie happened to be Krantiveer. Sachin Gupta produced a Pritam-esque soundtrack for Prince, but not in an equally captivating manner. Gourov Dasgupta co-composed two dreadful soundtracks before ending on a relatively high note with a marginally engaging soundtrack in Knockout. Sajid-Wajid produced their staple share of mediocre soundtracks in 2010, the only couple of standout tunes coming in their mainstay Salman Khan’s Dabangg. Shailendra Barve did two songs for Striker, impressing big time with Cham Cham. Meet Bros. Anjan had two albums, the relatively better one being Rajshri’s Isi Life Mein. Ram Sampath was fully into folk this year, producing two for Walkaway and one for Peepli Live, all pleasantly engaging owing to the folk element. Sagar Desai, after two wonderful soundtracks last year, had a relatively quiet 2010 with just three tunes in Walkaway. Which I loved by the way, especially the Tamil-French Bonds Fell Apart. And Wayne Sharpe proved his way with composing majestic theme songs, doing it in style for Raajneeti and Lahore.

And finally, there were a few one-song wonders this year. The first name would obviously have to be Lalit Pandit of Jatin-Lalit for his Munni Badnaam which has become the chartbuster of the year! Though there was the plagiarism allegation casting a shadow over his success, hats off for the wonderfully engaging arrangement. Then there was another old-timer, Aadesh Shrivastava, producing an uncharacteristically haunting classical-oriented track in Raajneeti, Mora Piya. Pakistani composer Nouman Javaid continued the practice of presenting his talent a-song-a-year, with the single folksy tune Charha De Rang in Yamla Pagla Deewana. Lyricist Swanand Kirkire and Blaaze did a song apiece for Striker, both engaging works. And finally, Piyush Mishra, who blew us away with that brilliant composing debut in Gulaal, produced the single addictive qawwali O Re Bande in Lahore which so beautifully employed Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Shilpa Rao’s voices. A pity that the soundtrack didn’t get the exposure it deserved.

That finishes our 2010 Bollywood music roundup. Seeing that this writeup is really long already, we shall have our list of top 25 songs for 2010 as a separate article. Which is on its way as we speak.

Though the hip hop opening track Apple Bottoms – video of which has been released already – has a very dancy groove to it, the song will grab more attention for its super bold video. There is also a Tamil version of the song, quite obviously to leverage the popularity she enjoys down South, and sounds as good as the original, being no different arrangement-wise. Zhenya Rizhov’s remix doesn’t make much of a good song but may make good inroads as a DJ playlist material. The racy rock-based title song is a wonderful listen, primarily for the exuberant singing by Neha! The rock flavor continues, albeit in a mellowed down form, with Neela Aasma, a very feel good track once again splendidly sung by Neha, complimenting Gaurav Dayal’s fabulous arrangement to a tee.

Be it is my aversion towards overly techno music or the relativity element lent by Neela Aasma, I didn’t find Beep Beep very appealing. This is another track more danced to in a club than listened to at home. The pop-rock Khwahish however works quite well, once again featuring an alluring combo of Gaurav’s engaging arrangement and Neha’s expressive rendition. The Punjabi house track Haaniya has a catchy arrangement, the composer cleverly employing instruments like the sarangi in the right places. But Neha’s voice doesn’t quite suit the genre, and hence the song doesn’t sound as good as it could have. But where her singing sounds perfectly in place is in the last track, a trash-metal song with a tinge of rap composed by Saibal Basu, called Trash. The energy-packed song provides a wonderful closure to the soundtrack.

Barring a couple of foibles a total entertainer from Neha Bhasin and Gaurav Dayal. A commendable solo debut for the singer.