BOLLYWOOD 2016- A musical rewind

 

By

Sharada Iyer

As the curtains come down on 2016, here is a quick musical round-up of the year’s most popular film songs and a look at the music directors and singers whose songs did well.

Music directors Pritam (ADHM, Dangal, Dishoom), Vishal-Shekhar (Befikre, Sultan) and Amaal Malik (Airlift, Kapoor&Sons, M S Dhoni-The untold story) hit the bull’s-eye with their melodious and foot-tapping compositions. Lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya’s superb lyrics were appreciated in ADHM and Dangal.

Singer Arijit Singh continued with his successful run as the top male playback singer as he got to sing the maximum number of successful solos and duets. Singers Armaan Malik, Benny Dayal, Daler Mehndi, Vishal Dadlani and Amit Mishra also delivered solo hits giving him tough competition. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sukhvinder Singh, Mika Singh also managed to give a hit song each.

Among the female playback singers, Palak Muchhal stood out for her song in M S Dhoni-The untold story. Apart from her there were  Tulsi Kumar, Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan who had a couple of good duets to their credit. Many others were part of dance numbers where they sang with other singers.

I am posting below the YouTube links to some of the popular songs of the year. Hope you have an enjoyable time listening to them:

The Diwali release ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ (ADHM) undoubtedly emerged as the best album of the year with all the songs hitting the jackpot. Music director Pritam delivers a magical musical score once again with Arijit Singh’s ‘Channa Meriya…’ from the film becoming the best male solo of the year!

*Film-AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL-(Music director- Pritam)

Channa Meriya– Arijit Singh

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil-Title song- Arijit Singh

Bulleya– Amit Mishra, Shilpa Rao

Break-up song– Arijit Singh, Badshah, Jonita Gandhi & Nakash Aziz

* Film-BEFIKRE– (Music directors -Vishaal-Shekhar)

The other film where all the songs became popular was YRF’s ‘Befikre’. Music directors Vishal-Shekhar came up with some of the peppiest musical scores to suit the youthful spirit of the film. Again all the songs became chart-busters. Some of the songs had french words which were incorporated beautifully and Jaideep Sahni’s lyrics really set the mood  for these numbers.The film may have had a debatable storyline but there were no two opinions about its music!

Ude dil befikre –Benny Dayal

Nashe si chad gayi– Arijit Singh

Je’Taime- Vishal, Sunidhi Chauhan

You and Me– Nikhil D’Souza, Rachael Verghese

Both Pritam and Vishaal-Shekhar also got to compose for the two biggest box-office super-hits of the year- Dangal and Sultan respectively. Both films were based on wrestling and had the industry’s superstars Aamir Khan and Salman Khan respectively as the heroes. Both films had excellent music and both had an inspirational title track which was played many times in the film in the background.

*Film-DANGAL– (Music director-Pritam)

Haanikarak Bapu- Sarwar Khan & Sartaz Khan Barna

Dhaakad– Raftar

Dangal Dangal– Daler Mehndi

*Film-SULTAN ( Music directors-Vishal- Shekhar)

Jag ghoomeya– Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Lage 440 volt– Mika Singh

Sultan title song– Sukhwinder Singh, Shadab Faridi

Baby ko bass pasand hai– Vishal Dadlani, Shalmali Kholgade, Ishita, Badshah

*Film-M S DHONI –THE UNTOLD STORY (Music- Amaal Malik)

Anu Malik’s nephew Amaal Malik is one of the most talented upcoming music directors. His music score for this film was well appreciated and seemed very apt for the superb biopic on our Indian Cricket Captain- Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Kaun Tujhe-Palak Muchhal

Besabriyaan– Armaan Malik

*Film-AIRLIFT– (Music director-Amaal Malik)

Yet another successful musical album from Amaal Malik where the patriotic ‘Tu Bhula jise….’ was well appreciated. The film was based on the real-life incident where the largest evacuation of Indian refugees took place in Kuwait.

Soch Na Sake – Amaal Malik, Arijit Singh, Tulsi Kumar

Tu Bhoola Jise– KK

*Film-RUSTOM (Music director- Surinder Sodhi)

This film based on the real-life story of the Nanavati scandal had scope for some lovely songs.

Tere sang yaara– Atif Aslam 

Dekha hazaaron dafaa- Arijit Singh, Palak Muchhal Music- Jeet Gangulii

*Film-KAPOOR & SONS –(Music director-Amaal Malik)

Karan Johar always ensures that his films have excellent music tracks which is definitely a plus point to attract the audience when releasing the teasers and trailers. Here young Amaal comes up with some peppy party tracks especially ‘Kar gayi chul…’ which became a craze with youngsters.

Kar gayi chul-Badshah; Fazilpuria; Sukriti Kakar; Neha Kakkar 

Let’s Nacho– Badshah, Benny Dayal

Bolna– Arijit Singh, Asees Kaur

Buddhu sa man– Amaal Malik, Armaan Malik

*Film-DISHOOM-(Music director-Pritam)

This action film had two zany and popular dance numbers, one of which was picturized on the beautiful and sexy Jacqueline. The title track also turned out to be catchy.

Sau Tarah ke–  Jonita Gandhi & Amit Mishra

Toh Dishoom– Raftaar, Shahid Maallya

* Film-WAZIR– (Music directors-Shantanu Moitra, Rochak Kohli)

This thriller released in the beginning of the year had two good songs. Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal team up for a duet which reminds us a lot of their duet from the film Parineeta composed by the same music director Shantanu Moitra. The second song chosen here is sung by both Amitabh and Farhan themselves and the actors have done a swell job:

Tere Bin– Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal

Atrangi Yaari– Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar

*Film-DEAR ZINDAGI-(Music director-Amit Trivedi)

Though the music of this film is not outstanding,the songs fit the narrative and the song ‘Love you Zindagi …’ became like an anthem advising people to be positive in life…

Love you Zindagi– Jasleen R

*Film-KI & KA– (Music director-Mithoon)

Apart from a nice solo by Mithoon himself, the other song was used more in the promos and comes only at the fag end of the film when the credit titles appear.

Ji Huzoori– Mithoon

High Heels– Yo Yo Honey Singh, MEET BROS FEAT. Jaz Dhami and Aditi Singh Sharma 

*SANAM RE (Music director- Mithoon)

Though the film did not do well, the music was appreciated and a couple of songs became very popular.

Sanam re title track– Arijit Singh

*BAAR BAAR DEKHO- (Music director-Badshah)

The film was quite terrible but this Punjabi hip-hop party track from the film became a rage. The song however was not part of the film and came only when the credits are rolled out in the end. 

Kaala Chashma-Amar Arshi, Badshah, Neha Kakkar & Indeep Bakshi

*BAAGHI- (Music director-Amaal Malik)

This duet from the film became a chart-buster and a couple of other songs also attained popularity

Sab Tera- Armaan Malik, Shraddha Kapoor

Big-budget films like Mirzya and Mohen-Jo-Daro had disappointing musical scores. Others like Neerja, Udta Punjab, Fitoor, Azhar, Shivaay, etc., had average music. 

Film music has changed in keeping with the changing trend in scripts and one can see that variety is certainly not the keyword. Love songs are decreasing, duets are dwindling, background songs are increasing and the venue of song picturizations is mostly restricted to discos and pubs.

In today’s scenario, emphasis seems to be on foot-tapping dance numbers which apart from increasing the recall value of the film, also serve the purpose of helping the stars to perform at the innumerable awards functions held throughout the year.

And yet, it is quite remarkable that within this restricted framework also, year after year our music directors, lyricists and singers mange to entertain us with some excellent songs…