We are reviewing the Best of Indian Cinema in 2019, and look at the Best Bengali Film Songs of 2019. We have already reviewed this for Hindi Films and The Best Hindi Film Songs of 2019 are listed Here.

After a couple of pretty weak years for Bengali cinema, it took a turn for the good this year, and we had quite a few good films across genres and filmmakers. Good stories also had scope for good music, and there were films like Shah Jahan Regency or Rajlokkhi o Srikanto where almost all songs turned out good. Albums of Tarikh, or Bijoya stood on their own merit as well. In fact, there were hidden good songs even in average or below average films like Mitin Mashi, Parineeta or Finally Bhalobasha. Then there were films like Nagarkirtan, Kia and Cosmos or Basu Poribaar that did not have a lot of songs play, but their background score was very impressive. Quite a few memorable songs of the year emerged basing themselves on folk music or going back to the roots of classical music. Bengali cinema also continued to use Rabindra Sangeet most appropriately across its stories, and the most memorable recreation of Tagore songs in films this year came from:

• Jakhon porbe na more paayer chinho – Shah Jahan Regency – Rupankar Bagchi
• Amar praner pore chole gelo ke – Jyeshtho Putro – Jayati Chakraborty
• Bhara badar maaha bhadar – Ghawre Baire Aaj – Manomay Bhattacharya
• Era sukher laagi – Sweater – Iman Chakraborty
• Khachar pakhi – Mukherjee dar Bou – Nikita Gandhi

Having said that, we picked the Best songs of the year from the bouquet of songs that were primarily composed originally for the film or recreated from an older song. The other rule applied was not to consider more than 2 songs from a given film. 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). Listed then are the Top 25 Bengali Film Songs of 2019. Do listen to them:

 

Top 25 Bengali Songs of 2019 – Ranked

25. Keshto – Teko | Music: Savvy | Lyrics: Ritam Sen | Vocals: Debdeep Mukhopadhyay

 

24. Sei tumi – Parineeta | Music: Arko | Lyrics: Arko  | Vocals: Arko

 

23. Preme pora baaron – Sweater | Music: Ranajoy Bhattacharjee | Lyrics: Ranajoy Bhattacharjee | Vocals: Lagnajita Chakraborty

 

22. Chhaye badra – Ghawre Baire Aaj | Music & Lyrics: Traditional classical | Vocals: Ustad Rashid Khan & Arpita Chatterjee

 

21. Ekai bhalo – Shantilal o Projapoti Rahasya | Music: Arko | Lyrics: Ritam Sen | Vocals: Durnibar Saha

 

20. Bhromor – Basu Paribaar | Music & Lyrics: Traditional folk | Arranged by: Pt. Bickram Ghosh | Vocals: Manomoy Bhattacharya

 

19. O jiban tomar sathe – Mukherjee Dar Bou | Music: Indraadip Das Gupta | Lyrics:  Dipangshu Acharya | Vocals: Iman Chakraborty

 

18. Kato kato mon – Finally Bhalobasha | Music: Neel Dutt | Lyrics: Anjan Dutt | Vocals: Madhubanti Bagchi

 

17. Aaye beheste ke jaabi aaye – Ahaa Re | Music: Souvik Gupta (Savvy) | Lyrics: Kazi Nazrul Islam | Vocals: Somlata Acharyya Chowdhury

 

16. Barsat saawan – Mitin Mashi | Music: Pt. Bickram Ghosh | Lyrics: Rajiv Pandey | Vocals: Ustad Rashid Khan

 

15. Chhile bondhu – Finally Bhalobasha | Music: Neel Dutt | Lyrics: Anjan Dutt | Vocals: Neel Dutt

 

14. Subhash ji – Gumnaami | Music & Lyrics: Resident Indians of East Asia | Re-created by: Indraadip Das Gupta | Vocals: Sonu Nigam

 

13. Tomay mone porchhilo – Robibaar | Music: Debojyoti Mishra | Lyrics: Debojyoti Mishra | Vocals: Rupankar Bagchi

 

12. Ki kore haye – Kia and Cosmos | Music: Neel Adhikari | Lyrics: Sudipto Roy, Neel Adhikari | Vocals: Neel Adhikari

 

11. Shobai chup – Kanttho | Music: Prasen | Lyrics: Dipangshu Acharya | Vocals: Sahana Bajpaie

 

10. Bondhu maanei – Tarikh | Music: Rocket Mondal | Lyrics: Kaushik Ganguly | Vocals: Rupankar Bagchi

 

09. Tomake – Parineeta | Music: Arko | Lyrics: Arko | Vocals: Shreya Ghoshal

 

08. E kul bhange – Bijoya | Music: Indraadip Das Gupta, Dohar | Lyrics: Kazi Nazrul Islam | Vocals: Arko Mukherjee

 

07. Ki ba tomar ange rakhi – Rajlokkhi o Srikanto | Music: Tanmoy Sarkar | Lyrics: Tanmoy Sarkar | Vocals: Bablu Das

 

06. Bolo na Radhika taake – Shah Jahan Regency | Music: Prasen | Lyrics: Ritam Sen | Vocals: Monali Thakur

 

05. Tomar pasher desh – Bijoya | Music: Indraadip Das Gupta | Lyrics: Kaushik Ganguly | Vocals: Arijit Singh

 

04. Baat chalat – Mitin Mashi | Music: Pt. Bickram Ghosh | Lyrics: Sugato Guha | Vocals: Madhubanti Bagchi

 

03. Sagar kuler naiyya – Tarikh | Music & Lyrics: Traditional folk | Vocals: Sagardweep Deb

 

02. Amar etuk shudhu chaoa – Rajlokkhi o Srikanto | Music: Anirban Das | Lyrics: Anirban Das | Vocals: Timir Biswas

 

01. Kichhu chayi ni aami – Shah Jahan Regency | Music: Prasen | Lyrics: Dipangshu Acharya | Vocals: Madhubanti Bagchi / Anirban Bhattacharya 

 

So that was the Third Vantage Point Selection of the Best Bengali Film Songs of the Year. Needless to say, these were the ones that played the most on my playlist this year, what was on yours? What were your favorite songs for the year? Do rewind back listening to some of the best melodies of the year, and share…

You can also find the extended coverage of the entire Best of the Decade and Year Series here.

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