Well originally I was going to create a Top 10 list, but surprisingly this year was a pretty dull year in Bollywood music, except for a few clear winners, the others are not even worth a mention – hence a top 5 list. When coming up with the list, my criteria was to look at albums that had genuinely fresh sounding songs and were not following some kind of beaten down ‘hit factory’ path.
5. Ra-One
While the movie didn’t do that well with the audience, the album had few interesting moments. Chamak Chalo roped in Akon and predictably was a big hit on dance floors. VS created a innovative fusion of Hindustani Classical and Rock in ‘Bhare Naina’. Raftarein had Vishal extrapolate RD’s trademark grunts into a full action packed number. Dildaara had Shafqat crooning a blues tune sufi style, with fitting piano vamps. All in all a very nice one from VS.
4. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Farhan’s trusted SEL thankfully delivered nice tracks for this cool movie. SEL’s trademark chorus hooks gave “Dil Dhadakne Do” a nice upbeat feel. Senorita was a very truthfully done flamenco track with adequate singing support from the actors. The best song for me was Khaabon Ke Parinday featuring awesome vocals of Alyssa Mendonsa, nice beats and that magical one liner by Mohit Chauhan. Shankar Mahadeven took the mic for a sober Der Lagi Hai Lekin.
3. 7 Khoon Maaf
Wow this unique movie directed by a music director cannot possibly leave out on music, can it? Each song of this album was from a different genre! This album featured the return of the original hindi-pop diva Usha Uthup in all her glory to render a beautiful traditional tune Darling. Amazing arrangement. KK did a Freddie Mercury in O Mama followed by a sober acoustic version. Vishal took the mic himself to render the beautiful Bekaraan – nice chord progression and very touching guitar interludes. Vishal’s trusted singer Suresh Wadekar rendered another nice tune with amazingly smooth arrangements – Tere Liye.
2. Delhi Belly
This album hit people like a Tsunami. Ram Sampat rendered the incredibly infectious rock song “DK Bose” – this was an instant hit. Really you couldn’t just play this song and not pause everything you are doing for the next 5 mins and then hit the replay button 
. The big trick in the album was to present time tested predictable chord progressions in a brand new hard-hitting style. Jaa Chudail was another energetic hindi hard rock song with some amazing “sitar chords” 
. Saigal got a rebirth in the very truthfully done Saigal Blues . Sona Mohapatra’s Bedardi Raja and the punjabi track Switty Tera Pyar Chahida were not too far behind in popularity.
1. Rock Star
AR Rahman went all in to deliver an outstanding true musical. The album featured 12 songs in various styles. It was a let down for people expecting rock songs (including yours truly), but there is no doubt that an incredibly talented MD teamed up with an outstanding singer Mohit Chauhan to create magic. Phir se ud chala was a song with each phrase starting from the same theme but taking a different path – a very unique and difficult song Mohit nailed with ease. Nadaan Parinday featured Rahman’s haunting vocals in the antara and Mohit doing different things again in the various Antaras – nice lyrics and style – only ARR could think of something like this. Sadda Haq was a really powerful song with a message and Mohit doing hard vocals for a change. Jo Bhi Main is my favorite from the album - a soft rock song featuring pleasant guitar chords, nice Hammnonds and great lyrics. Another outstanding album and another winning year for A R Rahman.
