2016 has been a year associated with party songs and many chartbuster hits recorded more than 10 million hits on You Tube. Though a few soft melodious tunes also got noticed, Bollywood witnessed a huge bombard of fast and high frequency songs. I am not sure if most of those hits would win the test of time. I have chosen 5 of the best musical albums of the year 2016, and kept ‘melody’ as the main criteria to choose the best 5. I also gave preference to overall quality of songs of the movie, instead of highlighting just one or two hits. Hope you will enjoy the list and here it goes. Also read: Top 25 songs of year 2016.
Album 1 – Sanam Teri Kasam
Tera Chehra song
Sanam Teri Kasam is the top album of the year in my choice. I am extremely glad to see Himesh Reshammiya back to tracks and return to his melodious tunes instead of fast and loud songs. In fact, the songs really surprised music fans a lot, and each and every song is extremely melodious. The album is a nice blend of different flavours of romance, agony and separation, and lyrics of top four tracks were written by Sameer. The music composer, Subrat Sinha and Shabbir Ahmed also wrote one song each.
The highly romantic and touching title track featuring the lead actors, Mawra Hocane and Harshvardhan Rane – Sanam Teri Kasam became the top song of the album. Ankit Tiwari and Palak Muchhal did the playback. However my personal favourite is Haal-E-Dil Mera Poocho Na Sanam rendered by Neeti Mohan. The album had the male rendering by Sreerama Chandra Mynampati. Neeti Mohan’s rendering of “Kheech Meri Photo” also got well appreciated.
There is not even a single weak track in the musical album. Himesh finely rendered ‘Ek Number Ek Number’ written by himself and the song featured Vijay Raaz in a new avatar. Himesh rendered his voice for one more melodious track of the album – Bewajah Nahi Milna Tera Mera. Arjit Singh rendered his voice for two melodious songs – Main Teri Yaadon Mein and Tera Chehra. Himesh gave extremely popular music of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo last year. Only two albums have been released this year and less volume work definitely show good signs in his work.
Album 2 – Dear Zindagi
Second place goes to Dear Zindagi – one of the top musical hits of year 2016. The album’s extremely popular songs were composed by Amit Trivedi, and lyrics written by Kausar Munir. Its title track – Love You Zindagi in different versions is the highlight of the album. The song was sung by Jasleen Royal and Amit Trivedi, and featured Alia Bhat and Shah Rukh Khan.“Just Go To Hell Dil” sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Amit Trivedi and “Lets Break Up” sung by Vishal Dadlani are next popular tracks of the album. 2016 has been a year of surprise celebrity breakups and Bollywood too celebrated it in a positive way by a couple of ‘break-up’ songs – one in Dear Zindagi and another one in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.
It’s quite surprising Pakistani youth singing sensation Ali Zafar who played a supporting role in this movie sang a couple of songs in film, and both the songs were later dubbed by Arijit Singh. However the original version of the songs sung in the movie by Ali Zafar were retained. The songs are “Tu Hi Hai” and “Taarefon Se”. The movie also included a new version of Illayaraja’s debut composition for Bollywood – “Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le“. The versions sung by Arijit Singh and Alia Bhatt can never beat the original version sung by Suresh Wadkar. But the songs are appreciated by youngsters.
Album 3 – Fitoor
The promotional Video – “Pashmina”
Fitoor is my third choice for the year 2016. Year 2016 has so far done well for the career of Amit Trivedi. Two of his albums found place in my ‘Top 5 list of 2016’ – Dear Zindagi and Fitoor. The movie starring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Katrina Kaif had some extremely popular romantic tracks. Songs were composed in flow of the movie script, and formed a part of the film story rather than shot separately for music content. Swanand Kirkire wrote the lyrics for the film.
The romantic solo – “Pashmina” was sung by composer and remains the top song of the album. “Yeh Fitoor Mera” sung by Arijit Singh and “Tere Liye” by Sunidhi Chauhan and Jubin Nautiyal are next popular tracks. Sunidhi Chauhan rendered her voice for a few noted songs of the year 2016 composed by Amit Trivedi. ‘Just Go To Hell’ from Dear Zindagi – one of the top tracks of 2016 needs special mention. Sunidhi also rendered her voice for the western tune – Ranga Re in Hindi version for Fitoor. Its English version was sung by Caralisa Monteiro. “Haminastu” and “Hone Do Batiyan” are the weak tracks of the album comparing the rest four. The composer provided the male voice for both these versions (in Hindi). Amit Trivedi also composed the songs of Udta Punjab this year.
Album 4 –Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
The title track – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is one of the top chartbuster albums of the year and its songs went viral over net, hitting crores of views within a short period. Music was composed by Pritam and songs are extremely melodious. The title track – “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” featuring Ranbir Kapoor is the top song of the album. The original version of “Bulleya” was sung by Amit Mishra and Shilpa Rao, and its reprised version rendered by Arijit Singh went viral over net.
Arjit Singh is the main male voice of the album. The Break up song and “Channa Mereya” too became chartbusters.“Cutipie” and “Alizeh” are other tracks of the album. All lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
Album 5 – Sanam Re
The extremely popular title Track
Top melody album of the year, music of Sanam Re composed by Mithoon, Jeet Ganguly, Amaal Mallik, and Epic Bhangra was well-received by melody lovers. Definitely the title track sung by Arijit Singh is the top track of the album. The popular song was written and composed by Mithun. “Hua Hain Aaj Pehli Baar” composed by Amaal Mallik is the next popular track of the album. The song featuring Pulkit Samrat and Urvashi Rautela became equally popular to its title track. Amaal Mallik, Armaan Malik and Palak Muchhal rendered their voices for this romantic track.
The rest songs are weak comparing the two tracks listed above. Other tracks include – “Gazab Ka Hai Yeh Din” sung by Arjit Singh, party song “Humne Pee Rakhi Hai” rendered by Jaz Dhami, Neha Kakkar and Ikka Singh, and soulful “Tum Bin” rendered by Shreya Ghoshal. “Kya Tujhe Ab Ye Dil Bataye”, Chhote Chhote Tamashe” and “Tere Liye” are other tracks. Three tracks were released later.
Before I conclude
Though I listed top 5 albums of my choice, there are a few more Bollywood albums of 2016 which deserve special mention. The album which narrowly missed the list is Sultan, the biggest box office hit of year 2016. Soulful Jag Ghoomaya is definitely one of the finest tracks released this year. All the songs of the movie were recorded as instant hits. Ki & Ka, Airlift, Kapoor & Sons, Raaz: Rebooted and Rustom also contributed a few chartbuster hits to Bollywood this year.
Also read a few topics on new era Bollywood music on miscellaneous topics
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