Sunidhi sang her hubby’s composition

Zwigato released in 2023.

On screen, it was about a food delivery rider (essayed by Kapil Sharma).

But there was no two ways about the fact that it was a lady who delivered the goods with the microphone in hand.

I am talking about the one and only Sunidhi Chauhan.

And her contribution to the soundtrack of the film was Yeh Raat.

It was composed by her husband, Hitesh Sonik, and was just a couple of minutes and 29 seconds long.

One of the two geetkaars (lyricists) was aptly named Geet.

The other was Devanshu.

Thankfully, it (Fari)didn’t go unnoticed

The title of the third – and final – song on the soundtrack of Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway had a repetition – Shubho Shubho.

If it were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the descending order of their durations, it would be the third – it was just a couple of minutes and 56 seconds long.

The song was rendered by Altamash Faridi.

And fortunately for him, and the rest of the team associated with it, it did not go unnoticed.

It was written by Kausar Munir, and was composed by none other than Amit Trivedi.

This trAcK was a duet

Only one of the three songs on the soundtrack of Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway was a duet.

It was titled Maa Ke Dil Se.

The man who lent it his voice is a household name – Javed Ali.

But unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the female singer.

Her name is Dipakshi Kalita.

If the songs from the film were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was three minutes and 33 seconds long.

Kausar Munir wrote the Amit Trivedi composition.

 

 

 

It was an underrated nuMBer

My collection contains three songs from Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, which released in 2023.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, and in the descending order of their durations, Aami Jaani Re would be the first – it was four minutes and as many seconds long.

The title of the song is a Bengali phrase, which could be translated to, “I know”.

It happened to be a female solo – the lady who lent her voice to it was Madhubanti Bagchi.

While Kausar Munir wrote the song, (Am)it was composed by none other than Mr Trivedi.

Saaj sang this guest composition

The third – and final – song on the soundtrack of Kanjoos Makhichoos was titled Namo Hari.

It was not composed by Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya.

In fact, the involvement of Shabbir Ahmed in the song was not restricted to writing it, but he happened to be the guest composer as well.

If the three songs on the film’s soundtrack were arranged in the ascending order of their durations (or the descending order, if you please), it would be the second – it was four minutes long.

The man who lent it his voice was Saaj Bhatt.

The composers were the Sing(h)ers

There’s no two ways about the fact that Kho Gaye – the second track on the soundtrack of Kanjoos Makhichoos – was an apt title.

And the only reason for that is that of late, it is very easy for songs rendered by legendary Sing(h)ers to be lost in a bunch of run-of-the-mill songs.

Not only was it the second contribution of composers Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya to the film’s soundtrack, but they sang it too.

In fact, Sukhwinder joined them behind the microphone for it.

Priya Saraiya wrote the song, which was five minutes long.

Aziz Joined the muSic directors

Kanjoos Makhichoos released in 2023.

The film’s music team was stingy with the number of songs on its soundtrack – there were just three of them.

The first of those was Damru.

The involvement of Sachin-Jigar in the song was not restricted to composing it, but they happened to be two of the three men who lent their voices to it too.

The third was Nakash Aziz.

The song was written by Vayu.

Mercifully, it was just three minutes long – it was not the kind of track to whose beats anyone would shake a leg anyway.

It was sung by Utsavi

Most of my recent blog posts are about songs sung by renowned singers.

Therefore, the subject of this post is, quite literally, a breath of fresh air, because I had never heard of the singer – Utsavi Jha – before I listened to her only contribution to the soundtrack of Gulmohar.

The song in question was Woh Ghar.

And it was three minutes and 56 seconds long.

In fact, it was the longer of the two songs in the film whose duration is under four minutes.

Shellee wrote the song, which Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss composed.

Kavita rendered this one too

There’s no two ways about the fact that the lady who sang the shortest of the four songs on the soundtrack of Gulmohar lent her voice to the longest one too.

The singer in question was Kavita Seth.

And the track I’m referring to was Sapno Ki Pakhi (which was four minutes and 39 seconds long).

Actually, I was surprised to read an incorrect transliteration of the first word, which is pluralised, and should be written in English as ‘Sapnon’.

Grammatical liberties, however, are acceptable, because Shellee wrote the Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss composition.

This Seth solo was short

In 2023, Holi coincides with International Women’s Day – both fall on March 8.

And the festival, whose name is also pronounced Hori, has anyway been a perennial favourite with the Hindi film music industry.

So why should Kavita Seth be far behind?

The shorter of her two contributions to the soundtrack of Gulmohar was Hori Mein.

In fact, it was the shortest of the four songs on the soundtrack of the film – it was three minutes and as many seconds long.

The song was written by Shellee, and composed by Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss.

It was rendered by Talat

Gulmohar released in 2023.

The soundtrack of the film contains four songs, and my collection contains all of them.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Dilkash would be the first of those.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it was the second – it was four minutes and 39 seconds long.

The song was rendered by Talat Aziz, who is a very popular ghazal singer, but is far from prolific when it comes to playback singing assignments.

It was written by Shellee, and was Siddhartha Khosla’s solo composition.

Mishra composed (K)aur rendered it

Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga was a film that released on Netflix in 2023.

One of the tracks in it was to=was title was Janiye.

The involvement of Vishal Mishra in the song was not restricted to writing and composing it.

But he also happened to be one of the two people who lent their voices to it.

If he has his way, he would have sung the female portion too.

But he wasn’t, so that portion was sung by a lady, whose name is Rashmeet Kaur.  

The song was three minutes and 43 seconds long.

It waS sung by Kanika

If the five songs from Bholaa in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Paan Dukaniya would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was three minutes and 41 seconds long.

Unlike the previous four tracks from the film, this item number happened to be a duet.

The two people who lent their voices to it were the not too oft-heard Kanika Kapoor and Swaroop Khan.

The song was written by Irshad Kamil.

And it was composed by Ravi Basrur.

Javed’s vocals were a change

So accustomed have we become to listening to terrible music from the Hindi film industry of late, that we tend to look for a change that is refreshing.

And one song which was precisely that was Nazar Lag Jayegi.

It was the fourth song from Bholaa in my collection.

The man who lent his voice to it was none other than Javed Ali.

And he was the reason I called it a refreshing change.

The track, which was written by Irshad Kamil, was composed by Ravi Basrur.

It was three minutes and 56 seconds long.

Mishra’s solo featured a classic

Featuring lines from an iconic song is one thing, and becoming one is another.

I don’t know if Dil Hai Bholaa – the title track of Bholaa – would be able to achieve the latter, but the former was true.

It featured two lines of Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai, from Guide (1965).

If the tracks on the film’s soundtrack were arranged alphabetically, and in the ascending order of their durations, the Amit Mishra solo would be the second – it was four minutes and 46 seconds long.

Irshad Kamil wrote the song, which Ravi Basrur composed.

The legendary Hariharan rendered it

Although songs by singers we have grown up listening to are a rarity now, there is the occasional track that takes Hindi film music enthusiasts down melody lane.

And that was precisely what Aaraaro Aararo – the Hariharan solo – was.

If the five songs on the soundtrack of Bholaa were arranged in the alphabetical order, it would be the second.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations (or the descending order), it would be the third – it was four minutes and 18 seconds long.

Irshad Kamil wrote the Ravi Basrur composition.

B Praak was fully committed

Bholaa released in 2023.

My collection contained five songs from the film.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the descending order of their durations, Aadha Main Aadhi Vo would be the first – it was half-a-dozen minutes and 18 seconds long.

Although the title of the song had two words that mean half, there is no two ways about the fact that the team behind it was fully committed to it.

It was sung by B Praak.

The song, which was written by Irshad Kamil, was composed by Ravi Basrur.

It wAS a BhOjpuri song

So accustomed have Hindi film music buffs’ ears become to listening to Punjabi songs that songs with other regional flavours have tended to take a backseat.

But Herail Ba came as a breath of fresh air.

It was a Bhojpuri song, and happened to be the second track from Bheed in my collection.

Not only did Anurag Saikia compose the song, but he was also one of the two people who lent it his voice.

The other was Omprakash Yadav.

It was written by Dr Sagar, and was five minutes and a dozen seconds long.

It wAS sung by Romy

Bheed released in 2023.

And it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that its soundtrack stood out from the slew of films that released that year, because it had just a couple of songs.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, Chanda Mama was the first – it was three minutes and a dozen seconds long.

Anurag Saikia didn’t just compose it, but also happened to be one of the two men who sang it.

The other was Romy.

The song was written by Shakeel Azmi.

Mr Soin was an all-rounder

If the four songs on the soundtrack of Am I Next were arranged in the alphabetical order, Savera would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was three minutes and 23 seconds long.

The solo involvement of Sukhamrit in the So(i)ng was not restricted to writing it, but he happened to lend his voice to it as well.

But it was pretty clear that both those roles were not enough.

So, he also teamed up with Sachin to compose the song.

It was a Bhatia solo

If the four tracks on the soundtrack of Am I Next were arranged in the alphabetical order, Meri Khata was the third.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was four minutes and 24 seconds long.

In fact, it was the only song in the film that exceeded the four-minute mark.

The song was written by Adif Altaf, who also happened to be one of the two men who composed it.

The other was Rohit Bhatia.

Rohil Bhatia lent his voice to the song.

Unsurprisingly, no web (Bis)was spun

Makdi Ke Jaale is a Hindi phrase which could be translated to, “Cobwebs”.

And those are precisely what the Hindi film music scene desperately needs to dust off, if it wants to ensure a better future for itself.

That phrase was also the title of a song from I Am Next.

And, like Dil Ronda Hai, it was also written by Rahat Kazmi (who was also the director of the film), composed by Tuhin K Biswas, and sung by Shovan Biswas.

The second-longest track in the film, it was three minutes and 40 seconds long.

Shovan (Bis)wasn’t off the mark

Am I Next released in 2023.

The soundtrack of the film contained four tracks.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Dil Ronda Hai would be the first.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it would be three minutes and 25 seconds long.

The title of the song is Punjabi for, “The heart cries” (which it does upon listening to a majority of Hindi film songs now).

It was written by Rahat Kazmi, composed by Tuhin K Biswas, and sung by Shovan Biswas.

Sharma’s solo fuelled nobody’s imagination

Even if one doesn’t drive, everyone, at some point or the other, has probably been to a Petrol Pump.

And the two italicised words in the aforementioned sentence constituted the title of the fourth song on the soundtrack of Shiv Shastri Balboa.

It happened to be the third solo on the soundtrack of the film, and the second male solo – it was sung by Mihir Sharma.

The song was written by Rajeshwari Dasgupta Ghose.

It was composed by Alokananda Dasgupta and Utkarsh Dhotekar.

A short track, it was just a minute and 35 seconds long.

Mandy sang it with Charan

As a listener, it is your right to listen to a song or not.

But it wouldn’t have been a surprise if people didn’t listen to the third song on the soundtrack of Shiv Shastri Balboa.

The fact that its title was a literal translation of the phrase ‘it is your right’ – Hak Tera Hai – was purely coincidental.

It was sung by Mandy Gill and Charan.

The song, which was written by Rajeshwari Dasgupta Ghose, was composed by Alokananda Dasgupta and Utkarsh Dhotekar.

The song happened to be three minutes and as many seconds long.

It was rendered by Nayantara

When a person is large-hearted, he or she is described as ‘dariya dil’, which literally means a person with a heart that’s as vast as an ocean.

Interchanging the two italicised words, we get Dil Dariya, which was the second of the four songs from Shiv Shastri Balboa in my collection.

The song was a female solo – the one who lent her voice to it was Nayantara Bhatkal.

It was written by Rajeshwari Dasgupta Ghose.

And the duo who composed it comprised Alokananda Dasgupta and Utkarsh Dhotekar.

It was four minutes and 39 seconds long.

It wasn’t AN iconic track

There’s no two ways about the fact that Shiv Shastri Balboa (2023) was an interesting title.

The film was about a man who idolised Rocky (Sylvester Stallone’s film series, whose first installment released in 1976).

Incidentally, a song from the film shared its title with one of Sridevi’s most memorable films.

It was titled Chandni.

Unsurprisingly, the song – which Aditya N rendered – wasn’t as iconic as the two aforementioned films (and will never be).

Rajeshwari Dasgupta Ghose wrote the song, which Alokananda Dasgupta and Utkarsh Dhotekar composed.

It was three minutes and nine seconds long.

Neeraj sang this poor recreation

The soundtrack of the 2011 film Ready featured a catchy number titled Character Dheela.

And spread across my blogs, the fourth track on the soundtrack of Shehzada, which released in 2023, was its recreated version, titled Character Dheela 2.0.

Pritam composed the original, and was credited with this version as well.

The man who teamed up with him for the latter was Abhijit Vaghani.

Amitabh Bhattacharya and Ashish Pandit wrote the song, which was sung by Neeraj Shridhar, and wasn’t a patch on the original.

It was a couple of minutes and 37 seconds long. 

This song wASn’t even pAASsable

One of the songs on the soundtrack of Selfiee was a version of its title track with the suffix, Aggressive Theme.

So was it any surprise that the seventh – and last – song from the film in my collection was called Vaar?

By the way, this song, which was just a couple of minutes and 51 seconds long, only managed to assault the listeners’ ears.

Vikram Montrose didn’t just compose the song, but was also one of the two people who wrote it.

The other was Abhinav Shekhar, who also sang it with Ali Aslam Shah.

 

Square sang this short song

It wouldn’t be appropriate to call Abhishek Bensla a household name, but rap enthusiasts know him by his stage name, MC Square, and also are aware of the fact that he won MTV Hustle 2.0.

Although he recently sang Sher (the sixth song from Selfiee from in my collection), there is no talk about him in Hindi film music ciricles.

It happened to be the shortest track on the soundtrack of the film – it was just a couple of minutes and 37 seconds long.

Abhinav Shekhar wrote the song, which was composed by Vikram Montrose.

Lijo ANd Chetas saNG it

If the seven songs from Selfiee in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, its title track would the fifth.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of the durations, it would be the fourth – it was three minutes and 34 seconds long.

Lijo George’s and DJ Chetas’ involvement in the song was not restricted to composing it, but they were two of the five people who sang it too.

Akasa Singh, Nikhita Gandhi, and Nakash Aziz were the others.

Shabbir Ahmed and Azeem Dayani were the two men who wrote it.

 

It was another aural assAUlt

People of my vintage wouldn’t have forgotten Main Khiladi Tu Anari, the title track of the 1994 film.

Like many songs that dated back to the 1990s, the Anu Malik composition was back in an awful avatar – as a song on the soundtrack of Selfiee.

Mercifully, Malik was credited with the composition, with the one and only Tanishk Bagchi.

(Ud)It was sung by Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Narayan.

Maya Govind, who passed away last year, wrote the original, and was credited with the lyrics of the recreated version, which was three minutes and seven seconds long.

The PropheC waZ the all-rounder

If the seven tracks from Selfiee in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the descending order of their durations, Kudiyee Ni Teri would be the third – it was three minutes and 39 seconds long.

It was a recreated version of Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer The PropheC’s 2018 track Vibe.

He was one of the two people who wrote and composed it.

The other, obviously, was Tanishk Bagchi.

The PropheC was also one of the two people who lent it their voices.

The other was Zahrah S Khan.

Honey wasn’t just the Sing(h)er

If the seven songs from Selfiee in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Kudi Chamkeeli would be the second.

It happened to be the longest of the lot – it was four minutes and seven seconds long.

It was, in fact, one of the two tracks on the film’s soundtrack that began with the Punjabi word for ‘girl’.

Obviously, the expectations of the fans were high, because the song was not just sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh, but he wrote and composed it as well.

Unfortunately, it failed to live up to those.

It didn’t drive anyBodY crazy

My collection contains seven songs from Selfiee (2023).

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Deewane would be the first.

By no means would it be incorrect to state that it was an ironic title, because the song didn’t drive the listeners crazy.

Aditya Yadav wrote it with Kunaal Vermaa, and sang it with Stebin Ben.

The song was composed by Tanishk Bagchi.

By the way, if the songs from the film were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was three minutes and 57 seconds long.

Ms Bagchi was the singer

The blog posts on the six songs from Lost kicked off with the longest song in the film, and concluded with the shortest (which is the subject of this post).

The song in question was Zara Hatke, and it was three minutes and 28 seconds long.

In fact, it happened to be the only song on the soundtrack of the film whose duration was under four minutes.

It was the second female solo in the film – it was sung by Madhubanti Bagchi.

The track, which was written by Swanand Kirkire, was composed by Shantanu Moitra.

It was rendered by Papon

No film soundtrack other than that of Lost, in my recent memory, has had songs by such an awesome line-up of singers.

If the six songs from that film were arranged in the alphabetical order, Roshni would be the fifth.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would the second – it was four minutes and 39 seconds long.

In fact, it happened to be the shortest male solo on the soundtrack of the film – it was rendered by Papon.

Swanand Kirkire wrote the (Moi)track, which was composed by Shantanu.

Swanand (Kirki)rendered the male version

The subject of this post is the male version of Nouka Doobi.

It was the second-longest song on the soundtrack of the film – it was five minutes and seven seconds long.

In fact, it was the shorter of the two songs in it that were five minutes long.

And boy, am I glad I decided to include it in my collection.

That is because the involvement of Swanand in the song was not restricted to writing it, but he (Kirki)rendered it as well.

The man who composed the (Moi)track was the one and only Shantanu.

 

This was Ms Ghoshal’s version

If the soundtrack of a song has multiple versions, I usually prefer one to the other (or others, as the case may be).

But when it came to Nouka Doobi from Lost, I did not allow myself the chance to choose – I went ahead and picked the female version and the male version of the track.

The former was sung by the one and only Shreya Ghoshal.

It was the shorter of the two – it was four minutes and 59 seconds long.

The song which was written by Swanand Kirkire, was composed by Shantanu Moitra.

It was the title tracKK

Although I have now deleted all the videos I uploaded to my YouTube channel, one of the series I miss now is Tributes To The Departed.

And, in particular, the segment dedicated to KK.

One of his posthumous releases was Mon Re, which was the title track of Lost.

If the songs on its soundtrack were arranged in the alphabetical order, it would be the second.

And if they were arranged in the descending order, it would be the third – it was four minutes and 56 seconds long.

Swanand Kirkire composed the Shantanu Moitra composition.

It was sung by Raja

Lost – whose protagonist is a journalist – released in 2023.

And since I am one, I did not skip the film’s promos that would appear before other YouTube videos I was watching, but I did not expect the film to have any songs.

But it did – six of them, actually.

If they arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the descending order of their durations, Mere Maula was the first – it was five minutes and 27 seconds.

Raja Hasan lent his voice to it.

Swanand Kirkire wrote the (Moi)track, which was composed by Shantanu.

Vidhya lent it her voice

Having travelled a fair bit over the years, I can vouch for the fact that ultimately, a traveller has to come home.

That, incidentally, was the translation of a song titled Musafir Ko Ghar Hi Aana Hai.

It happened to be the other song from Faraaz in my collection.

The involvement of Sameer Rahat in the song was not restricted to composing it, but he wrote it as well.

He also arranged and co-produced it (with Siddharth Pandit).

The only he didn’t do was lend his voice to the song – the singer was Vidhya Gopal.

Khalid lent it his voice

Faraaz released in 2023.

If the two songs from the film in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Khairiyat Se would be the first.

Sameer Rahat was one of the two people who wrote the song (the other being Alok Ranjan Srivastava).

He also composed, arranged, and produced the track, which doesn’t describe the current state of the Hindi film music scene.

I reckon if Rahat had his way, he would have lent his voice to the song too.

But he didn’t – the person who was credited with singing it was Khalid Ahamed.

 

Bhoomi (Aa)sang it with Arjun

Woman Desi was the third song on the soundtrack of Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat that was under four minutes long.

In fact, it happened to be the shortest song on the soundtrack of the film – it was three minutes and 34 seconds long.

By the way, it wasn’t one, but a couple of desi women who were among the three people who lent their voices to it.

One was Bhoomi Trivedi, and the other was Aasa.

Arjun Kanungo shared Sing(h)ing credits with them for it.

(Am)It was written by Shellee, and composed by Trivedi.

Mr Faridi SAng this number

Tabah Tabah was a song from Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat.

It was four minutes and seven seconds long.

In other words, it happened to be the joint fifth-longest song on the soundtrack of the film (with Ghanghor Connection).

Altamash Faridi was the best-known of the three people who lent their voices to it.

The others were Shehnaz Akhter and Anand Bhaskar.

The song, which was written by Shellee, was composed by Amit Trivedi.

So run-of-the-mill was the track that the repetition of the word ‘Tabah’ in its title, aptly, was unable to save it.

It wAS an euphemistic track

In the previous post, I mentioned that the soundtrack of Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat contained three songs that were shorter than four minutes.

The longest of those was Netflix and Chill, which was three minutes and 51 seconds long.

The title of the song was an euphemism for sexual activity.

While it was Sharvi Yadav’s only contribution to the soundtrack of the film, it was one of the two contributions of Arjun Kanungo (who could be called the voice of the soundtrack) to it.

Shellee wrote the song, which was composed by Amit Trivedi.

Chaitanya and Tawde sang it

The soundtrack of Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat contained three songs that were under four minutes long.

Mohabbat Se Kranti – which, in alphabetical order, was the sixth of those – was three minutes and 47 seconds long.

In fact, if the eight tracks on the film’s soundtrack were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second.

It was the only contribution of Neha Tawde and Raghav Chaitanya – the two people who sang it – to the soundtrack of the film.

The song, which was written by Shellee, was composed by Amit Trivedi.

Tipu sang it with Richa

Ordinarily, others tend to look down on a ‘high-maintenance’ person.

Therefore, if she is the subject of a song, it is easy to ignore it.

However, Maintenance – a song on the soundtrack of Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat – did have one redeeming quality.

And that was the fact that Richa Sharma was one of the two people who lent it their voices.

The other was Manish J Tipu.

Shellee wrote the Amit Trivedi composition.

It happened to be the longest song on the soundtrack of the film – it was five minutes and 35 seconds long.

Abhijeet’s solo established no connection

Ghanghor Connection was the second male solo on the soundtrack of Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat – it was Abhijeet Shrivastava’s only contribution to the soundtrack of the film.

The fact that the song could be translated to, “Deep connection” was ironic – it failed to establish a connection with the listeners.

It was the joint fifth-longest song on the soundtrack of the film – it was four minutes and seven seconds long.

The song, which was written by Shellee, was composed by Amit Trivedi.

By the way, it completed the hat-trick of solos on the film’s soundtrack.

This was an Abhay solo

The soundtrack of Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat contained a couple of male solos.

Duniya, which was sung by Abhay Jodhpurkar, happened to be the longer of those – it was four minutes and eight seconds long.

In fact, if the eight tracks from the film in my collection were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the sixth.

The song was written by Shellee.

It was composed by Amit Trivedi, and was a namesake of, but not related to, the track from Dev.D (2009), whose songs were also composed by Trivedi.

It was sung by Nikhita

Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat released on February 3, 2023 (appropriately, 11 days before St Valentine’s Day).

If the eight songs from the film in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Banjaare would be the first.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the fourth – it was four minutes and a second long.

It happened to be the only female solo on the soundtrack of the film – it was sung by Nikhita Gandhi.

The song, which was written by Shellee, was composed by Amit Trivedi.

Papon’s rendition was a treat

If the four songs from Mission Majnu in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Tum Ho would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was three minutes and 40 seconds long.

A M Turaz wrote the song.

It was composed by Arko Pravo Mukherjee (also credited mononymously as Arko).

While Papon isn’t as oft-heard as some of his contemporaries, his renditions are always an aural treat.

And it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that this track was no different.

Jubin did a decent job

If the two tracks from Mission Majnu in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Rabba Janda would be the third.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was four minutes and six seconds long.

The title of the Jubin Nautiyal solo was a Punjabi phrase, that could be translated to, “God knows”.

And indeed, the Almighty does know that if Tanishk Bagchi puts his mind to composing an original song, he can do a pretty good job.

Shabbir Ahmed wrote that track.

Nigam rendered this motivational tRacK

If the four songs from Mission Majnu in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Maati Ko Maa Kehte Hain – the goosebump-inducing track – would be the second.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the third– it was three minutes and 55 seconds long.

There is no two ways about the fact that Sonu Nigam was the apt person to render the song.

He was joined behind the microphone for it by Rochak Kohli, who composed it as well.

The song was written by Manoj Muntashir.

It was rendered by Raj

Mission Majnu released on January 20, 2023 [which was four days after its leading man’s (Sidharth Malhotra) 38^th birthday].

My collection contained four songs from the film.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, and in the descending order of their durations, Channa Vi Assi Marjawange would be the first – it was four minutes and 53 seconds long.

The title of the song was a Punjabi phrase, which meant, “My moon (read: my beloved), I will die”.

(Roh)It was written by Sharma, and composed by Raghav Sachar.

Raj was the (Bar)man who sang it.

Gupte was apt for this

“Vaat lagli” is a colloquial phrase in Bambaiya Hindi (the unique lingo spoken in Mumbai).

It could be translated to, “We are ruined”.

And it also was the title of a song on the soundtrack of Kuttey.

If the eight songs on the film’s soundtrack were arranged in the alphabetical order, it would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the first – it was just two minutes and 43 seconds long.

The Avadhoot Gupte solo was written by Gulzar, and composed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj sang his own KompositioN

Not only is Vishal Bhardwaj one of the finest music directors in the business, but he is also a pretty decent singer.

And he sang one of the songs on the soundtrack of Kuttey.

It was titled Tere Saath (and was, obviously, his own composition).

The duo who accompanied him behind the microphone for it was Kiran + Nivi.

It was the shortest of the four songs in the film whose duration exceeded four minutes – it was, in fact, four minutes and half-a-dozen seconds long.

No prizes for guessing that it was written by Gulzar.

This VaS not as good

Phir Dhan Te Nan was the second version of Dhan Te Nan from Kaminey (2009) on the soundtrack of Kuttey.

If the eight tracks from the latter in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, it would be the sixth.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the third – it was four minutes and 20 seconds long.

The two men who shared Sing(h)ing credits for the song were Sukhwinder and Vishal Dadlani.

Gulzar wrote the Vishal Bhardwaj composition, which was not as good as the original.

 

Rekha rendered the title track

From a lyrical point of view, Kuttey – the title track of the film – was different from the other seven songs on its soundtrack.

And that was because it was not penned by Gulzar.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote the song, which was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

If the eight tracks on the soundtrack of the film were arranged in the alphabetical order, the Rekha Bhardwaj solo would be the fifth.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was just two minutes and 54 seconds long.

Sunidhi sang this alliterative track

Considering how awful Hindi film songs have become of late, it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that it is an absolute joy to listen to a song sung by someone who was prolific in the past, but has not sung much in the last few years.

And Sunidhi Chauhan was one of those.

She sang an alliterative song on the soundtrack of Kuttey.

It was titled Khoon Ki Khushboo (which could be translated to, “The fragrance of blood”).

Gulzar wrote the song, which Vishal Bhardwaj composition.

The song was three minutes and half-a-dozen seconds long.

Hanumankind sang it with Jyoti

Dhan Te Nan was a song from Kaminey, which released in 2009.

The soundtrack of Kuttey had a couple of versions of Dhan Te Nan, the chartbuster from the film.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Ek Aur Dhan Te Nan would be the first (and the third of the eight songs on the soundtrack of the latter).

It happened to be the longest song on the soundtrack of the film – it was four minutes and 46 seconds long.

Gulzar wrote the Vishal Bhardwaj composition, which was sung by Jyoti Nooran and Hanumankind.

Singh’s solo was about freedom

At the time of writing this post, the date was January 15, 2023.

Therefore, India was 11 days away from observing its 73^rd Republic Day (January 26, 2023).

But Azaadi – the second of the eight tracks on the soundtrack of Kuttey – was a song that could be translated to, “Independence”.

It was the second contribution of Sukhwinder to the soundtrack of the film (which released a couple of days before I wrote this post).

And it was the Sing(h)er’s solo.

Gulzar wrote the song, which was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

It was four-and-a-half minutes long. 

Dadlani didn’t wow the listeners

Kuttey, which released in 2023, marked the directorial debut of Aasmaan Bhardwaj.

The film was produced by his parents, Vishal Bhardwaj (who also composed the songs of the film) and singer Rekha Bhardwaj.

The first song from the film in my collection was titled Awaara Dogs (which was, in a way, one of the title tracks of the film, because Kuttey means dogs).

The man who lent his voice to it was the composer’s namesake, Vishal Dadlani.

The song, which was written by Gulzar, was three minutes and 36 seconds long.

It was not impressive.

 

Mr Rajbhatt composed tHis tracK

If the four songs on the soundtrack of Chhatriwali were arranged in the alphabetical order, Toot Hi Gaya would be the last.

And if they were arranged in the descending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was four minutes and half-a-dozen seconds long.

The involvement of Durgesh R Rajbhatt in the song wasn’t restricted to composing it, but he was one of the two people who lent it their voices too.

The lady who joined him behind the microphone for it was Himani Kapoor.

The song was written by Saaveri Verma.

Another Sachdeva was the S(unidh)inger

Akhil was not the only Sachdeva to feature on the soundtrack of Chhatriwali.

His namesake, Gandhharv Sachdeva, rendered a song from it as well.

It was titled Special Edition Kudi.

Obviously the first two words in its title were in English, and the third is Punjabi for ‘girl’.

It would not be incorrect to state that the lady who joined him behind the microphone for it was the one and only Sunidhi Chauhan, who was truly a special edition kudi.

Satya Khare wrote the Sumeet Bellary composition, which was three minutes and 13 seconds long.

Setia joined the all-rounder Akhil

The longest of the four songs on the soundtrack of Chhatriwali was Main Teri Hi Rahoon – it was four minutes and 27 seconds long.

The song could be translated to, “I will remain just yours”.

Akhil Sachdeva was the all-rounder – not only was he the man who wrote and composed the song, but he happened to be one of the two people who lent his voice to it as well.

As suggested by its title, it was a song from a female point of view.

So, he was joined behind the microphone by Shirley Setia.

Sunidhi lent it her voice

Chhatriwali released in 2023.

The soundtrack contained four tracks, and my collection contained all of them.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, as well as in the ascending order of their durations, the title track of the film would be the first – it was just a couple of minutes and 43 seconds long.

The song was rendered by none other than Sunidhi Chauhan, who happened to be the voice of the soundtrack.

It was written by Tejas Prabha and Vijay Deoskar.

The song was composed by Rohan-Rohan (i.e., Rohan Gokhale and Rohan Pradhan).

Palak and Jubin sang it

Palak Muchhal and Mithoon tied the knot on November 6, 2022.

Salaam Venky released just over a month later.

The last song from the film in my collection was Yun Tere Hue Hum.

It was apt, because the song could be translated to, “I became yours just like that”.

The former happened to be one of the two people who sang it.

The other was Jubin Nautiyal.

The involvement of Mithoon in the song wasn’t restricted to writing and composing it.

He arranged the song, and was also credited with the creation of the track.

Only Arijit’s version was included

If the five songs from Salaam Venky in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Jo Tum Saath Ho would be the fourth.

Although there were three versions of the song in the film, my collection contains just one – the one that Arijit Singh rendered.

It was the longest song in the film – it was five minutes and 49 seconds long.

Mithoon wrote and composed it.

Shreya Ghoshal joined Singh behind the microphone for the duet.

Ghoshal, Shambhavi Thakur and Sminit Mhatre sang the lullaby, which was just a minute and 56 seconds long.

Mohit joined the all-rounder Mithoon

If the five songs from Salaam Venky in my collection were arranged in the alphabetical order, Dhan Te Nan Zindagi would be the third.

Dhan Te Nan itself has no meaning. But colloquially, the song could be translated to, “Life is awesome”.

And that is exactly how it should be.

The involvement of the one and only Mithoon in the song wasn’t restricted to composing it, but he wrote it too.

And clearly, those weren’t enough, so he was one of the two men who lent it his voice too.

The other was Mohit Chauhan.

It was rendered by Shaan

In the 1971 film Anand, Rajesh Khanna said, “Babumoshai, zindagi lambi nahin, badi honi chahiye”.

Indeed, one should not aspire to live long (because nobody knows how long he or she will live), but one should definitely make the most of the length of time he or she has.

That philosophy, incidentally, inspired a song from Salaam Venky.

And what are the odds that it was also titled Badi Zindagi?

The song was rendered by Shaan.

It was penned by Kausar Munir, and was composed by Mithoon.

It was three minutes and 13 seconds long.

Ms Sharma sang this nuMBer

Salaam Venky released in 2022.

My collection contained five songs from the film.

If they were arranged in the alphabetical order, Anda Bata Paratha would be the first.

And if they were arranged in the ascending order of their durations, it would be the second – it was three minutes and 18 seconds long.

I initially thought it was a misspelling of Batata, but it wasn’t.

Sandeep Shrivastava wrote the song, which was composed by Mithoon.

The latter was one of the three people who sang it.

Aditi Singh Sharma and Benny Dayal were the others.

Shahid sang this one too

If the six songs on the soundtrack of Qala were arranged in the alphabetical order, Udh Jaayega would be the sixth.

By the way, that was the oddest spelling of the word Ud.

The song happened to be the second Shahid Mallya solo in the film.

It was the only song in the film that wasn’t composed by Amit Trivedi – the music director was Sagar Desai.

Although it wasn’t a classical song, it had the elements of one, with the sitar and sarangis in the background.

This song’s lyrics were also credited to Sant Kabir.

 

 

 

Sireesha and Mallya (Kirki)rendered it

The fifth of the six tracks on the soundtrack of Qala was Shauq.

The word means hobby, passion or interest.

And one truly has to be passionate about art or music to appreciate all the songs on the soundtrack of the film.

(Am)It was written by Varun Grover, and composed by Trivedi.

Swanand was one of the three people who (Kirki)rendered it.

Interestingly, Sireesha Bhagavatula and Shahid Mallya – who happened to be the female voice and the male voice of the soundtrack, respectively – were the others.

The song was three minutes and 39 seconds long.

 

Mallya and Kirkire sang (Am)it

Qala could be translated to art, and music is definitely one.

And appropriately, the soundtrack of the film had a song that could be categorised as both.

It was titled Rubaaiyaan.

The song was written by Swanand Kirkire, and was composed by Amit Trivedi.

And they also happened to be two of three people who lent their voices to it.

No prizes for guessing that the third was Shahid Mallya.

That certainly was not a surprise, because he was one of the voices of the soundtrack.

The song was four minutes and 13 seconds long.