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Khemchand Prakash – The Royal Musician of Hindi Films

[This post originally appeared here.]

Khemchand Prakash was one of the giants of Hindi film industry. He shaped and defined Hindi film music when it was still in its nascent stages. In a short career spanning just about a decade, he left behind a legacy that exceeded his output as a music director.

Khemchand had an early start in music. His father, Pandit Govardhan Prasad, was a musician in the royal court of Jaipur and also taught him music. He worked as a court singer and then tried his hand at acting in films before found his true calling in film music. After assisting composer Timir Baran in a few films, Khemchand Prakash debuted as a music director for the film “Meri Aankhen” (1939).

Khemchand Prakash died in 1950 when he was only 43 years old. In this post I discuss in five songs what he accomplished in ten years and how his influence on film music could be felt long after he passed away.

Lo Kha Lo Madam Khana (Street Singer, 1938)

This song was composed by R.C. Boral, not Khemchand Prakash. Khemchand sang this comic song and appeared on screen for it. The reason I included this song – Khemchand Prakash dances in it. In fact, he was a trained kathak dancer (he does a kathak move in the song) and it is said that it was this skill that helped him imbibe a strong sense of rhythm in his music.

Pehle Jo Mohabbat Se Inkaar Kiya Hota (Pardesi, 1941)

Early on in his career Khemchand Prakash showed glimpses of his ability to set trends and his penchant to handle the female voice. “Pehle Jo Mohabbat…” catapulted singer-actress Khursheed from relative obscurity to becoming one of the leading female artists of the time. She had been around in the industry for almost a decade when this Khemchand Prakash song launched her into stardom and helped her bag coveted lead roles opposite K.L. Saigal in films that defined her career – “Bhakta Surdas” (1942) and “Tansen” (1943). In a few more years, he would transform the career of another singer and Hindi film music would never be the same again.

Sapt Suran Teen Graam (Tansen, 1943)

Tansen was possibly the first film to embrace classical music with gusto. Backed by excellent subject matter and K.L. Saigal’s glorious voice, Khemchand Prakash composed songs that became big hits while retaining their authentic Hindustani classical base. As Naushad pointed out in an interview, a remarkable aspect of Khemchand’s music for “Tansen” was the use of Dhrupad, which was the style in which Mian Tansen used to sing, and not Khayal which was more common in Hindi films. The music of “Tansen” set the stage for a phase in Hindi films that borrowed heavily from classical music. At the forefront of this phase was Khemchand’s one-time assistant and admirer, Naushad. In “Baiju Bawra” (1952), Naushad emulated his guru by creating music that was a balance of mainstream and classicism and the film’s success triggered a spurt in films steeped in classical music.

Marne Ki Duaaen Kyon Maangoon (Ziddi, 1948)

Khemchand Prakash is credited with launching the voice that captured the nations imagination for decades to come – Kishore Kumar. He spotted the young Kishore’s singing talent early on gave him his first solo, “Marne Ki Duaaen…” for Ziddi (1948). Although Kishore sang the song in Saigal’s style, his potential was unmistakable. It was a travesty that despite a solid start – a song picturised on a superstar in the making, Dev Anand – Kishore Kumar’s singing career did not really take off after Ziddi. One can’t help but wonder if Kishore may have seen success sooner if Khemchand Prakash had lived longer.

Aayega Aanewala (Mahal, 1949)

If we had to pick one song that had the biggest impact on Hindi film music, many of us would pick “Aayega Aanewala” (music by Khemchand Prakash, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and written by Nakshab Jarchvi). This was the song that made Lata Mangeshkar a household name, a name that would be at the forefront of Hindi film music for the next 60 years or so.

The song was not an accidental success. Khemchand Prakash was among the few composers who heard the tremendous potential in Lata’s voice, when most of Bollywood was unsure if the thin voice of young Lata would appeal to the masses. The song was not just a result of Khemchand’s vision – there was painstaking work involved. In the song’s opening, Lata’s voice was supposed to sound like it was coming from a distance. She was asked to stand away from the microphone and walk towards it as she sang the opening line so that she was at the mike when the second verse started. It took many rehearsals to perfect just the song’s opening.

Such was the song’s success that radio stations were flooded with calls of people trying to find out who the singer was and for the first time, radio stations started announcing the name of artists before playing songs. The song was a precursor to a new genre of spooky songs which included Lata hits like “Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil” (“Bees Saal Baad”, 1962), “Naina Barse Rimjhim Rimjhim” (“Who Kaun Thi”, 1964), “Mere Mehboob Na Ja” (“Noor Mahal”, 1965) and “Mera Saaya Saath Hoga” (“Mera Saaya” 1966).

Sadly, Khemchand Prakash died the very next year after Mahal’s release, when he was still at his peak. Five songs and a few hundred words are just not enough to express his contribution to Hindi film music. I highly recommend that you further explore his compositions.

Jaidev – Quality Over Quantity

[This post originally appeared here.]

Jaidev was one of the most talented composers of the Hindi film industry. Despite his talent and the critical as well as popular acclaim many of his albums received, he wasn’t rewarded with the commercial success or the name recognition some of his peers enjoyed. After more than three decades in the film industry, he had only about 40 films to his credit.

Jaidev Verma was a child prodigy who could play the harmonica when he was only 5 years old. His career in Hindi films started in the 1930s as a singer-actor in a few films. In the mid-1930s he took a break from films and dedicated himself to learning music. Jaidev received formal training from several gurus including the legendary sarod player Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. The Ustad was responsible for Jaidev’s return to Hindi films. When the Ustad went to Bombay to work for films, Jaidev accompanied him. He assisted Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in the two films he composed music for – “Andhiyan” (1952) and “Humsafar” (1953). Later Jaidev worked as assistant to S.D. Burman before breaking out on his on with “Joru Ka Bhai” (1955).

In this post, I pick 10 songs from Jaidev’s 10 best film scores.

Hum Dono (1961)

In the 1950s, every Navketan film had S.D. Burman’s music and Jaidev assisted S.D. Burman in most of them. These films were “Taxi Driver” (1954), “House No. 44” (1955), “Funtoosh” (1956), “Nau Do Gyarah” (1957), “Kala Pani” (1958) and “Kala Bazar” (1960). Jaidev’s persistence and loyalty was finally rewarded in 1961 at the age of 42! When Navkentan was looking to make the music for “Hum Dono”, S.D. Burman was unavailable due to some illness and Jaidev was chosen. Jaidev, powered by Sahir Ludhianvi’s lyrics, rose to the occasion and how! The fantastic score of “Hum Dono” sounds as fresh today as it did in 1961. Unfortunately, Jaidev had a falling out with Navketan and never worked for them again. My pick from “Hum Dono” is the short, sweet, santoor-kissed “Jahan Mein Aisa Kaun Hai” sung by Asha Bhosle.

Kinare Kinare (1963)

“Kinare Kinare”, starring Dev Anand and Meena Kumari, was one of the bigger films Jaidev got a chance to work in. The film didn’t do well and so it’s music, which had some endearing melodies, went unnoticed. Mukesh’s “Jab Gham-E-Ishq Sataata Hai” is one song I particularly love but my pick is the title song which Manna Dey renders so elegantly.

Reshma Aur Shera (1971)

After “Hum Dono”, Jaidev was relegated largely to B-grade films during the 1960s, with the exception of “Kinare Kinare” (1963) and “Mujhe Jeene Do” (1963). Although, his music rose above the films they featured in, film offers were few and far between. Just when thing were looking very bleak, “Reshma Aur Shera” came along and with it, Jaidev’s first of three National Film Awards for Best Music Direction. Synonymous with the film is the beautifully shot desert song “Tu Chanda Main Chandni”, a richly textured, complex composition with a dash of classical and a smatter of Rajasthani Maand. “Tu Chanda..” is the one of the earliest film songs I can think of that broke away from the standard mukhda – antara song structure. Interestingly, this feature came to become the signature of another genius composer who was also the winner of multiple National Film Awards like Jaidev, A.R. Rahman.

Faslah (1974)

While Jagjit Singh is credited with re-energizing the ghazal genre in the 1970s, I believe Jaidev played an important role as well. Some of the earliest instances of the modern ghazal with light, contemporary arrangements, simple melodies and fresh, young voices can be found in Jaidev’s compositions in the 1970s. Bhupinder, Hariharan, Chhaya Ganguly, Runa Laila and Penaz Masani were among some of the ghazal singers Jaidev mentored and worked with. “Dil Ne Tadap Tadap Ke” from “Faslah” was one such ghazal. My pick from “Faslah” though is another Bhupinder song, “Zindagi Cigarette Ka Dhuan” with some inspiring, if quirky, lyrics by Kaifi Azmi.

Ek Huns Ka Jora (1975)

For a film that sank without a trace, “Ek Huns Ka Jora” had some excellent music. This is the only film in this list that had songs sung by Kishore Kumar and one of only three films in which Jaidev employed his voice. I wonder why given the high quality of their output, which includes the popular, “Yeh Wohi Geet Hai Jisko Maine” (“Maan Jaiye”, 1972). My pick from “Ek Huns Ka Jora” is the Kishore – Asha duet “Pyar Se Tum Mile Mil Gayi Har Khushi”.

Alaap (1977)

“Alaap” is a seriously under-rated album. Jaidev’s robust score for this Hrishikesh Mukherjee film is built on a solid base of bhajans, classical music, Yesudas’ soothing baritone and some fine poetry. Although the film had some compelling acting and story-telling, and is considered one of the finer performances of Amitabh Bachchan, it didn’t do very well at the box-office. Perhaps, the audience was not willing to see the Angry Young Man portray a serious role that did not require him to beat up bad guys. My pick from “Alaap” is Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s “Koi Gaata Main So Jaata”. It is worthwhile noting that Jaidev also set to tune the senior Bachchan’s masterpiece, “Madhushala” (1976), in Manna Dey’s voice.

Gaman (1977)

1977 was a great year for Jaidev (he was 58 at the time!). He produced some great music that year – three of my picks in this list are from 1977 – and to top it off he won his second National Film Award for his score for Gaman. Gaman was short and extremely sweet score. It is said that Jaidev composed all songs of Gaman in one day flat – such was his genius! It is really hard to pick only one song from Gaman but Chhaya Ganguly’s National Award winning rendition of Makhdoom Mohiuddin’s words, “Aapki Raat Aati Rahi Raat Bhar”, is as good a pick as any.

Gharaonda (1977)

“Gharaonda” is another short and sweet score by Jaidev. While it is better known for Gulzar’s award winning “Do Deewane Shahar Mein” and it’s reprise “Ek Akela Is Shahar Mein”, my pick is the “Tumhen Ho Na Ho” which sounds like another Gulzar song but is in fact, written by Naqsh Lyallpuri. The song has some ground-breaking lyrics and the incredibly fresh voice of the Bangladeshi singer, Runa Laila.

Dooriyan (1979)

After “Gharaonda”, director Bhimsain, further explored human relationships in an urban setting in “Dooriyan”. Given the success of “Gharaonda”, he called in Jaidev again but the lyrics for the film were written by Sudarshan Faakir, an inspired choice as it turned out. One of the highlights of the film’s music was Anuradha Paudwal’s singing. In my opinion, this is the best she has ever sounded. The two Bhupinder – Anuradha duets in the film are absolute gems. My pick – “Zindagi Mere Ghar Aaana”.

Ankahee (1985)

“Ankahee” was Jaidev’s third National Film Award winning score. He passed away two years later, a sad, disillusioned man who did not get his due. “Ankahee” was a rare film whose score was dominated by bhajans. Thanks to some great renditions by Asha Bhosle and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Kabir and Tulsidas have never sounded so good on the big screen. My pick – Bhimsen Joshi’s “Thumak Thumak Pag Damak Kunj” which won him the National Film Award for Best Male Singer.

Honourable mentions: “Joru Ka Bhai” (1955), “Mujhe Jeene Do” (1963), “Wohi Baat” (1977), “Aayi Teri Yaad” (1980) and “Jumbish” (1986).

You can explore more Jaidev hits here.

Anand Bakshi’s Generation-Spanning Work

[Starting this week, we’ll re-publish here the Bollywood Retrospective series published in DNA blogs. This post was originally published here.]

This post is based on a question posed a few years ago on Twitter by film historian Pavan Jha, a passionate follower and chronicler of films and film music. The question – “Name the 5 pairs of father-son composers for whom Anand Bakshi has written lyrics”. It’s a fantastic question because it gives us a sense of how extensive Anand Bakshi’s career was. Anand Bakshi’s long career is indicative of compromises he had to make along the way (quality may have suffered at the expense of quantity) but more importantly, it speaks to his ability to connect with the common man over several generations and his success in adapting himself to changing times.

Here are my picks of Anand Bakshi’s songs for the seven father-son composer pairs he worked with out of the 3000+ songs he wrote for Hindi films:

S.D. Burman and R.D. Burman

Anand Bakshi had debuted in 1958 and proven his mettle earlier with films like “Jab Jab Phool Khile” (1965) and “Devar” (1966), but he had to wait till 1969 for an opportunity to work with S.D. Burman. It is well known that R.D. Burman played an important role in the music of “Aradhana” (1969) – he was credited as Associate Music Director – and one wonders if the younger Burman had anything to do with picking Anand Bakshi for the first time for S.D. Burman. Anand Bakshi went on to work with S.D. Burman in many other films including “Jugnu” (1973), “Prem Nagar” (1974), and “Chupke Chupke” (1975), but couldn’t quite match Aradhana’s success. My pick from Aradhana – “Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera”:

Anand Bakshi’s body of work with R.D. Burman is far richer than that with his father. It contains bona fide classics like “Kati Patang” (1970), “The Train” (1970), “Amar Prem” (1971), “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” (1971), “Namak Haram” (1973), “Aap Ki Kasam” (1974), “Ajanabee” (1974) and “Mehbooba” (1976. I consider “Amar Prem” to be the pinnacle of their partnership. Although I am in awe of the powerful lyrics of “Chingari Koi Bhadke”, my pick from the film is “Kuchh To Log Kahenge” because of the deftness with which Bakshi Saab took a song of compassion and transformed it into an unflattering commentary on society.

Roshan and Rajesh Roshan

Roshan was one of the big-name music directors to work with Anand Bakshi early on in his career but they worked together on just a handful of films. “Devar” (1966) was the only film in which the two enjoyed a measure of success. My pick from “Devar” is “Baharon Ne Mera Chaman Loot Kar” because it’s one of the few songs in which Anand Bakshi challenges the average Hindi film music listener with limited knowledge of Urdu while keeping his trademark simple core intact.

Rajesh Roshan’s only Filmfare Award came in a film for which Anand Bakshi wrote lyrics, “Julie” (1975). My pick though is from a film which came the next year “Tumhari Kassam” (1978). “Hum Dono Milke Kagaz Pe Dil Pe” belonged to a category of Hindi film songs Anand Bakshi did very well in – the conversational romantic duet. As with other songs in this category penned by him, Anand Bakshi keeps the lovers’ exchange light-hearted, flirtatious, and very real.

Kalyandji – Anandji and Viju Shah (son of Kalyanji)

After almost a decade of a rather unremarkable career, it was Kalyanji – Anandji who gave Anand Bakshi a blockbuster hit record with “Jab Jab Phool Khile” (1965), and almost overnight transformed him into the industry’s leading lyricist. I am not particularly fond of the album but I am clearly in the minority. The film’s music was very popular and with its range of themes and genres, it had something for everyone. My pick from the film is “Ek Tha Gul Aur Ek Thi Bulbul”. Contrived as the situation is, I think Anand Bakshi does a masterful job of telling the film’s story in three verses.

In terms of popularity, “Mohra” (1994) and “Gupt” (1997), would surpass anything else Anand Bakshi wrote for Viju Shah. At the age of 64, Bakshi Saab managed to write something as juvenile (some may say crass) as “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast”. We could see the song’s lyrics as an unnecessary compromise by a senior lyricist or we could marvel at an old man’s ability to read the pulse of a generation far removed. My favourite Viju Shah – Anand Bakshi coming together, however, happens in the lesser heard “Tere Mere Sapne” (1996) with its two outstanding romantic duets “Kuchh Mere Dil Ne Kaha” and “Mere Piya Maine Jise Yeh Dil Diya”. My pick – “Mere Piya Maine Jise Yeh Dil Diya”.

Chitragupt and Anand – Milind

There isn’t a lot to choose from when it comes to Anand Bakshi’s lyrics for Chitragupt – just six songs from two obscure films “Aadhi Raat Ke Baad” (1965) and “Angaaray” (1975). In fact, I came upon those songs only while writing for this post. My pick is Lata Mangeshkar’s ghazal from “Aadhi Raat Ke Baad” – “Mera Dil Baharon Ka Woh Phool Hai“.

Anand – Milind did 10 films with Anand Bakshi but nothing really clicked. The duo could not really get the best out of the aging lyricist. My pick of this combination is an OK melody but to be honest, I picked it for the resplendent Madhuri Dixit. The song – Kumar Sanu and Sadhna Sargam’s “Kitna Pyar Karta Hoon” (“Phool”, 1993).

Anil Biswas and Utpal Biswas (part of Amar – Utpal)

Anand Bakshi worked with Anil Biswas when he had yet to make a mark and the composer’s career had begun to wane. They collaborated for less than ten songs. My pick is a chirpy, big-band song sung by Geeta Dutt – “Aa Dil Ki Baazi Laga” (“Jasoos”, 1957).

The roles were reversed when Bakshi worked with Amar – Utpal, consisting of Amar Haldipur and Anil Biswas’s son, Utpal Biswas. Bakshi was one of the most sought-after lyricists at the time and Amar – Utpal were struggling. Their first collaboration together, “Shahenshah” (1988), went on to become their most memorable work. My pick from the film is its title song – “Andheri Raaton Mein Sunsaan Raahon Par”.

Shiv – Hari and Rahul Sharma (son of Shivkumar Sharma)

Shiv – Hari worked with Anand Bakshi in 5 of their 8 film albums, including the hit soundtracks of “Chandni” (1989) and “Darr” (1993). My pick is from their last film together – “Tu Mere Samne” (“Darr”, 1993).

Rahul Sharma, a santoor player like his father Shivkumar Sharma, worked as a music director for only one film – “Mujhse Dosti Karoge” (2002). It was perhaps inevitable that he collaborated with the legendary lyricist – “Mujhse Dosti Karoge” (2002) was produced by Yash Raj Films, the banner that trusted Shiv – Hari with as many as 6 films, 3 of which featured Anand Bakshi. Unfortunately, Rahul Sharma couldn’t meet the high standards set by Shiv – Hari. My pick from the film – the lovely duet by Udit Narayan and Lata Mangeshkar – “Andekhi Anjaani Si”.

Nadeem – Shravan and Sanjeev – Darshan (sons of Shravan Rathod)

Nadeem – Sharavan did just two films with Anand Bakshi. Bakshi Saab’s advancing age and the disruption in Nadeem – Shravan’s career due to Nadeem’s legal troubles (he was named accused in T-Series’ Gulshan Kumar’s murder) meant that they didn’t work together after “Pardes” (1997). But what an album “Pardes” was! The film had many good songs and deservedly won Nadeem – Shravan a Screen the award for Best Music Director. My pick is the mellow love ballad sung by Kumar Sanu, “Do Dil Mil Rahe Hain”.

Anand Bakshi’s work for Sanjeev – Darshan came in the last two years of his life when he was a spent force, although still prolific and with the ability to produce a sporadic good song. I’d rather not pick a Sanjeev – Darshan song.

Instead, I will end the post with a song Anand Bakshi wrote for his most significant collaborators, Laxmikant – Pyarelal. About half of all the film songs Anand Bakshi ever wrote were for LP. Theirs was a hit-making team as they churned out one chartbuster after the other – “Do Raaste” (1969), “Aan Milo Sajna” (1970), “Mehboob Ki Mehndi” (1971), “Bobby” (1973), “Anurodh” (1977) and “Karz” (1980) – to name just a few. My pick is “Aadmi Musafir Hai” (“Apnapan”, 1977) which won Anand Bakshi the Filmfare award for Best Lyricist and is an apt song to revisit the beautiful memories the people’s poet left behind.

[Updated on 21/7/2021: The original article featured five father-son pairs who worked with Anand Bakshi. This post adds two more pairs – Anil Biswas and Amar – Utpal, and Shiv – Hari and Rahul Sharma.]

2016 Bollywood Music Review and Top 20 Songs

2016-collage

As in the past, critics were not happy with the state of Hindi film music in 2016. The charge – yet again – was that it Hindi films were using an “assembly line” approach to create songs using multiple composers and re-packaging hit songs from the past. One thing is certain – music is no longer crucial to the film’s storytelling. This is not an entirely new phenomenon. A spurt of action films in 1970s/1980s had also rendered film music insignificant for a period. Increasingly, music is being seen as a means to promote the film. To the surprise of film audiences, songs that top the charts, end up being abridged in the film or part of the film’s background score. Some don’t even make it to the film.

That said, 2016 did have some bright spots. Towering above the rest was Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy’s “Mirzya”. Given a free rein by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, S-E-L packed the album with uninhibited experimentation. “Mirzya” pushed the boundaries of film music and then some. The other highlight of the year was Amit Trivedi’s comeback after the brilliant, but commercially disastrous, “Bombay Velvet” (2015). He had three superb albums ins 2016 – “Udta Punjab”, “Fitoor” and “Dear Zindagi”. Pritam also did quite well in 2016 with “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” and “Dangal” after a relatively lukewarm 2015. At the end of this post, we list the year’s 20 top-rated songs. Here is a longer list of 2016’s best Hindi film and non-film songs.

Some brilliant artists bode us farewell in 2016 – lyricist Nida Fazli, composers Ajit Varman and Omi (of Sonik – Omi), singer Mubarak Begum and Carnatic musician and vocalist M. Balamuralikrishna.

Some notable debuts in 2016 were:

Composers – Santhosh Narayanan, Rohan – Vinayak, Jasleen Royal
Lyricists – Aditya Sharma, Mohit Pathak, Prateek Kuhad
Singers – Sain Zahoor, Babu Haabi, Amar Arshi, Fazilpuria

Bollywood made 150 films with 872 songs between them in 2016.

The most prolific composers of the year were:

Vishal – Shekhar – 5 films, 34 songs
Amit Trivedi – 3 films, 24 songs
Clinton Cerejo – 3 films, 20 songs

Vishal – Shekhar compensated for their dry spell in 2015 (they didn’t score any film that year) by being the most prolific composers in 2016. Unfortunately, the quality of their output didn’t match the quantity. Amit Trivedi won 2016 with his consistency, creating 3 albums that won the hearts of music lovers. After staying in the sidelines for years, Clinton Cerejo finally had the spotlight shining on him with 3 films as solo music director (although “Jugni” did have one song by A.R. Rahman, I think it’s fair to slot it as a solo Clinton album). It’s interesting to note that Mithoon and Ankit Tiwari, who followed closely with 18 songs each, had more films to their credit in 2016 than the top 3 most prolific composers. It turns out that they happen to be part of multi-composer albums quite a lot.

The most prolific lyricists of 2016 were:

Kumaar – 27 films, 74 songs
Manoj Muntashir – 16 films, 55 songs
Amitabh Bhattacharya – 5 films, 21 songs
Javed Akhtar – 5 films, 21 songs

Kumaar has been on the most prolific list for some years now. It’s amazing how little we know about a lyricist who’s been as prolific as him. Manoj Mutashir’s presence on the list was a surprise as well, with big name lyricists like Amitabh Bhattacharya and Javed Akhtar relegated to the third spot.

The most prolific male singers of 2016 were:

Arijit Singh – 48 songs
Vishal Dadlani – 23 songs
Armaan Malik – 18 songs

Unsurprisingly, and in my opinion, deservedly, Arijit Singh dominated the male singers list with more than double the number of songs sung by the next most prolific singer.

The most prolific female singers of 2016 were:

Sunidhi Chauhan – 22 songs
Palak Muchhal – 19 songs
Neha Kakkar – 18 songs

For some reason, two of my most favourite singers were conspicuously low key in 2016 – Shreya Ghoshal and Neeti Mohan. I hope they come back with a bang in 2017.

Based on the ratings of their 2016 songs, here are the best-rated artists of the year:

Composers: Amit Trivedi, Vishal – Shekhar, Clinton Cerejo
Lyricists: Amitabh Bhattacharya, Swanand Kirkire, Shellee
Male Singers: Arijit Singh, Vishal Dadlani, Amit Trivedi

And the top 20 songs of 2016:

The Top 100 Hindi Film Songs Of 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, it is time to revisit the best songs of the year. This is the first draft of the year’s top 100 songs based on rankings on MySwar. We will finalize the rankings in a few weeks. This list excludes singles released recently for which the album will likely not be released in 2015. It also excludes multiple versions of songs (only the top rated version is considered). Please login on MySwar and rate your favorite songs to make your opinion count. For the complete list of film albums released in 2015, head here.

The top 100 Hindi film songs of 2015:

You can find the Top 100 Bollywood songs of the last few years here – 2012, 2013, 2014. For a journey back in time, here’s our list of popular songs by year or by decade.

[Updated Jan 4: Rankings updated to reflect additional user ratings.]

MySwar Mobile Web Version Now Available

Over the last few weeks, we rolled out mobile web updates to the MySwar website. When you access myswar.co from a mobile device, you’ll see an easy-to-navigate, mobile-friendly version. Almost every feature available available on the desktop website is available in the mobile web version. While the UI is different, the flow is very similar to the flow of the desktop website. The mobile website is intuitive but do take time out the check out the feature-rich, context-sensitive Settings option. Depending on what page you are in, the Settings pop-up provides you options to do various things including starting a playlist, filtering lists, logging in, changing the display language and switching to the destop UI. We hope you enjoy this update.

2014 Bollywood Music Review

2014 was not a great year for Hindi film music. The Indian Express carried a bleak piece discussing the death of Hindi film music in 2014. We have observed the rise of multi-composer albums and albums riding on one or two item songs for a few years now. This trend continued in 2014. The other thing that happened in 2014 was that there were fewer solid, single-composer albums to offset the mediocre ones. For example, while 2014 had only Queen, Haider and Highway as the hit-the-ball-out-of-the-park albums, 2013 had Lootera, Kai Po Che, Raanjhana, Aashiqui 2, Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani, Bhaag Milka Bhaag and D-Day.

Moving on, to digging deeper into the year. 2014 saw the release of 142 films with 982 songs between them.

The year saw the passing away of Chandrashekhar Gadgil, Juthika Roy, Raghunath Seth and Sitara Devi. It also saw influx of new talent. Some of the notable debuts of 2014 were:

Composers: Saurabh Kalsi, Shashi Suman, Mathias Duplessy, Adnan Dhool, Rabbi Ahmed, Badshaah
Lyricists: Rashmi Singh, Ravinder Randhawa, Abhishek Kumar, Shashank Kunwar, Neha Saraf
Male Singers: Mir Mukhtiyar Ali, Hriday Gattani, Rupesh Kumar Ram, Haricharan, Ritu Raj
Female Singers: Nooran Sisters, Kanika Kapoor, Suchismita Das, Shraddha Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Yashika Sikka, Garima Aneja, Malabika Brahma, Mansheel Gujral

The most prolific composers in 2014 were:

A.R. Rahman – 7 films, 68 songs
Himesh Reshammiya – 4 films, 46 songs
Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy – 4 films, 24 songs
Vishal – Shekhar – 3 films, 24 songs

Since Rahman’s list includes 2 Hollywood films (“Million Dollar Arm” and “The Hundred-Foot Journey”) and 3 Tamil films dubbed in Hindi (“Kochadaiiyaan”, “Lingaa” and “I”), we have included 4 composers in this list instead of the usual 3.

The most prolific lyricists in 2014 were:

Kumaar – 22 films, 60 songs
Irshad Kamil – 9 films, 55 songs
Amitabh Bhattacharya – 8 films, 39 songs

Kumaar tops the lyricist list again. As we had mentioned last year, the disconnect between how much he gets talked about and the volume of his work output is stark. Other than Irshad Kamil and Amitabh Bhattacharya switching spots, this list is the same as last year’s. The stability of this list gives us an indication of how much value Bollywood places on these three lyricists.

The most prolific male singers of 2014 were:

Arijit Singh – 62 songs
Mika Singh – 37 songs
Himesh Reshammiya – 22 songs

If 2013, with Aashiqui 2, was Arijit Singh’s breakout year, 2014 was the year he established his dominance. With 62 songs, he ruled the charts and the airwaves. Despite murmurs of “over-exposure”, Arijit has managed to appeal to both the masses and the critics. Mika Singh’s presence on this list shows Bollywood’s continued and, for us, inexplicable, fascination for his voice and/or the genre he represents. Singer Himesh Reshammiya can thank music director Himesh Reshammiya for all the songs he got to sing in 2014.

The most prolific female singers of 2014 were:

Neeti Mohan – 42 songs
Shreya Ghoshal – 32 songs
Shalmali Kholgade – 21 songs

The careers of Neeti Mohan and Shalmali Kholgade continue to be on the rise and deservedly so. Shreya Ghoshal is still placed comfortably although she seems to have lost a bit of her sheen. It is very clear that Sunidhi Chauhan is getting fewer offers, although, as you’ll see below, the songs she does sing are well-liked.

Finally, based on a combination of ratings and number of well-rated songs in 2014, the most popular artists of 2014 were:

Most popular composers: A.R. Rahman, Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy, Vishal – Shekhar, Pritam
Most popular lyricists: Amitabh Bhattacharya, Gulzar, Irshad Kamil
Most popular male singers: Arijit Singh, Vishal Dadlani, Papon
Most popular female singers: Shreya Ghoshal, Neeti Mohan, Sunidhi Chauhan

The Top 100 Hindi Film Songs Of 2014

It is that time of the year again. The snobs may look down on it, but “best of” lists are a simple and effective way to record and revisit great music over time. We like to think that the lists on MySwar are a little different from the rest because they are based on ratings from many people and therefore a little less subjective than lists drawn up by individuals. Also because we have a niche user base of music lovers, we believe the quality of ratings on MySwar is solid. Finally, since we have fairly long list of 100 songs, we don’t have to forcibly apply constraints to limit songs from certain films or artists. If a song is really good, it finds a place in the list. While we limit the number of songs in this post to 100, if you’re hungry for more, you can also find the complete list of best-rated songs in 2014 on MySwar. The truly gluttonous can go back to lists from previous years. For now, here are the top 100 Bollywood songs of 2014:

The MySwar playlist of songs is available here and a YouTube playlist here. Enjoy!

[Jan 2, 2015: Minor updates to Top 100 list based on fresh ratings.]

[Jan 13, 205: Finalized list. Running/evolving list can be found on MySwar.]

Best Of Bollywood 2014 – Call For Your Rating

As 2014 draws to an end, we are getting into the list season. The Best Of Bollywood lists we drew up for 2012 and 2013 are immensely popular and understandably so. Many of us don’t have as much time as we would like to immerse ourselves in music and a crowd-sourced “best of” list is a big time-saver.

You can view the current ratings for 2014 on MySwar. Our own rating is embedded in this list to ensure that lesser-known but good songs are also in contention. As in the past, we will create a draft Top 100 list in the last week of December and freeze it by the 2^nd week of Jan 2015. Of course, the ratings on MySwar constantly change as people keep updating their ratings and the evolving list of popular songs by year is always available on MySwar.

Please rate so other music lovers can benefit and the songs and artists you love get their due.

PS: You need to register to be able to rate.

The Top 100 Bollywood Songs Of 2013

So here it is finally – the 100 best rated film songs on MySwar in 2013:

You can also check out the complete list of the well-rated (3 and above) Bollywood songs of 2013. And here is the playlist of 2013’s best Bollywood songs.

And this is still not enough, you can always go back the 2012 list.

Here’s to wishing you a very happy and musical 2014.

Mavrix

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