As we are wrapping up 2019, it is time to look back at what films and music had to offer us this year. This is also the end of the decade, and we have already done a series of articles on the Best of the Decade. Today we shift focus of Best of the year and begin with Hindi Film Music to look at the Best Hindi Songs of the Year.
Honestly, it was one of the weakest years in terms of Film Music this year and other than Gully Boy and to an extent Kabir Singh, the year goes by without leaving behind any wholesome memorable album when though many films saw collaboration from multiple composers or lyricists coming together for the songs. Remixes ruled, and hummable original compositions came few and far in between. In the crowd of remixes, the recreation of Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga – Title track turned out beautiful as Rochak Kohli intelligently reused the lovely original track of Pancham’da and added his touches. The rejig of Tauba tauba from Judgementall hai kya was also interesting and fresh. But almost all the other remixed songs were just noise. A couple of films tried to work with traditional folk songs – recreation of Hukus Bukus from Hamid stood out in that category. And of course there was Gully Boy that brought together 54 artists (including Divine, Naezy and many others) from across the underground hip-hop space, recreating some of their songs, creating new ones, and gifted one of the most path-breaking hindi film albums of the decade (Check the complete list of Best Soundtracks of the Decade here). Cheers to such spirit of music! Cheers to some of the veterans as well, as Gulzar or Javed Akhtar continued to shine through their words across films, or as the legendary Asha Bhonsle rendered her vocals to the beautiful Aasmaa from Saand ki Aankh. We wish for them to continue making music for many more years to come.
While picking up the Best songs for the year, the consideration was only for original compositions. Since digital films are becoming more and more part of the mainstream, they were also considered along with theatrical films. The other rule applied was not to consider more than 2 songs from a given film, and it is disappointing that the year could not produce even 20 memorable songs. This is not a popularity based listing, and songs were considered and ranked only on the basis of their overall merit (holistically looking at the music, lyrics, singing and the overall feel of the song). Needless to say, these were the ones that played the most on my playlist this year, what was on yours? Please share, and also let us know what you thought about this selection of Top 15 Hindi Film Songs of 2019.
Top 15 Hindi Songs of 2019 – Ranked
15. Rajaji – Manikarnika : The Queen of Jhansi | Shankar Ehsaan Loy | Prasoon Joshi | Pratibha Singh Baghel & Ravi Mishra
14. Zindagi – The Sky is Pink | Pritam | Gulzar | Arijit Singh
13. Kis raste hai jaana – Judgementall Hai Kya | Arjuna Harjai | Kumaar | Surabhi Dashputra & Arjuna Harjai
12. Ho jaa awara – Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas | Tanishk Bagchi | Siddharth & Garima | Ash King & Monali Thakur
11. Ik mod tu mili – Music Teacher | Rochak Kohli | Adheesh Verma | Papon
10. Woh din bhi kya din the – Chhichhore | Pritam | Amitabh Bhattacharya | Tushar Joshi , Arijit Singh
09. Kaise huya – Kabir Singh | Vishal Mishra | Manoj Muntashir | Vishal Mishra
08. Ghar more pardesia – Kalank | Pritam | Amitabh Bhattacharya | Shreya Ghoshal & Vaishali Mhade
07. Sapna hain sach hain – Panipat | Ajay – Atul | Javed Akhtar | Shreya Ghoshal & Abhay Jodhpurkar
06. Apna time aayega – Gully Boy | Dub Sharma & DIVINE | DIVINE & Ankur Tewari | Ranveer Singh
05. Ruan ruan – Sonchiriya | Vishal Bhardwaj | Varun Grover | Arijit Singh
04. Dil hi to hain – The Sky is Pink | Pritam | Gulzar | Arijit Singh & Antara Mitra
03. Yeh aaina hai ya tu hai – Kabir Singh | Amaal Mallik | Irshad Kamil | Shreya Ghoshal
02. Teri mitti me – Kesari | Arko | Manoj Muntashir | B Praak
01. The train song – Gully Boy | Midival Punditz & Karsh Kale Ft. Raghu Dixit | Javed Akhtar, Karsh Kale & Gaurav Raina, Tapan Raj | Raghu Dixit & Karsh Kale
So that was the Third Vantage Point Selection of the Best Hindi Film Songs of the Year. What were your favorite songs for the year? Do rewind back listening to some of the best melodies of the year, and share…
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