“The Year of the Remake” has brought up some great memories for songs we used to know and, in some cases, made new memorable versions of them. There’s also been plenty of good new songs to add to our playlists from new and upcoming music directors as well as many of our favourites. Here are 20 of the best from 2018, in order of their release.
‘Swagpur Ka Chaudhary’ – Kaalakaandi — Akshay Verma
Electric sound with electric imagery. A song to keep you dancing even if you’re sitting down with badass lyrics to boot.
‘Theher Ja’ – October — Armaan Malik
Soft, smooth, sad but not painfully so. Says come back but finds peace in memories and loss.
‘Nit Khair Manga’ – Raid — Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
A remake of his father’s song, Rahat doesn’t do well as a facsimile here but the modernisation by Tanishk Bagchi and the words which touch the heart make it all worth it.
‘Raazi’ – Raazi — Arijit Singh
“Laga de dao par dil, agar dil raazi hai”, the combination of Gulzar and Arijit Singh deliver a powerful backing to a determined Alia on screen.
‘Ik Sar Waale Raavana Kaala’ –Karikaalan — Roshan Jamrock, Arunraja Kamaraj
Pure power in action highlighted by a superior electric guitar with the bass turned up. Anger mixed in with the surety of victory.
‘Heartquake (Aftershocks)’ – Karwaan — Papon featuring SlowCheeta
A light remix of a fun song to end both a decent film and album. Papon is lively and the reduction of instrumentation allows him to really take over the song.
‘Baba Bolta Hain Bas Ho Gaya’ – Sanju — Papon, Ranbir Kapoor, Supriya Pathak
A song to sum up a film completely. Ranbir and Sanjay Dutt come together at the end of the film to have both a fun and serious look at journalism.
‘Fu Bai Fu’ – Fanney Khan — Monali Thakur
The best of all films wrapped up in a tight package with a beautiful dance. Fun all the way whether watched or listened to.
‘Milegi Milegi’ – Stree — Mika Singh, Sachin-Jigar
Classic Mika doing what everyone knows he does best. Modernised folk-dance tune in behind to make this a party but not at the club.
‘Dhayaanchand’ – Manmarziyaan — Vijay Yamla, Nikhita Gandhi, Amit Trivedi, Suhas Sawant
Modern Punjabi for listeners to bhangra to and for viewers to catch Vicky Kaushal doing some fine antics. Fast-paced and lightly chiding, it doesn’t let up.
‘Morni’ – Halkaa — Master Saleem, Protiqe (Rap)
Hip hop track without the club beats: a master stroke by Shakar, Ehsaan and Loy. A folk song, a street song, a song for workouts or just to get you moving.
‘Aahista’ – Laila Majnu – Arijit Singh, Jonitha Gandhi
Heartbreaking, yet a true image of what love is about… an Arijit special. It lingers in the mind and heart for your special someone.
‘Pal’ – Jalebi — Javed – Mohsin, Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh
“Hasu mein jab gaaye tu”, a love song for the ages to feature in a lot of best romance song playlists in years to come.
‘Tera Mera Rishta’ (Male) – Jalebi — Tanishk Bagchi, KK
KK makes a triumphant return to playback singing after a few years away with a refreshing sound that makes this light-hearted love song just so easy to feel.
‘Mantoiyat’ – Manto — Raftaar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
While not part of the album itself, this special addition certainly hits the mark in every way. Easy to understand lyrics, powerful rap beats, interjections with dialog from the movie’s main character, this song sends its message loud and clear.
‘Ab Kya Bataun’ – Manto — Shubha Joshi, Daniel B.George
1947 required a special party to celebrate the birth of a new nation. But the pain of those who sacrificed to make it possible must not also be forgotten, thus this song does its job well.
‘Aap Se Milkar’ – Andhadhun — Abhijeet Srivastava, Aakanksha Sharma
Smooth, smooth, smooth. You listen and the song just slides into your mind. A light calypso beat keeps it there but also gets your limbs moving on their own.
‘Andhadhun Title Track’ – Andhadhun — Raftaar
Big drums back some more of Raftaar’s fine rap rhymes. There is power, there is deceit, there is a message to society, but most of all it gives out a spectacular video.
‘Chogada’ – Loveyatri – A Journey Of Love — Darshan Raval, Asees Kaur
The journey of love revolving around the key moment where after having been separated boy and girl come together again. Is a multi-purpose song, acting as happy love song as well as garba night!
‘Salaam Rocky Bhai’ – Kgf Chapter 1 – Vijay Prakash, Mohan Krishna, Santhosh Venky
Just power all the way. By the first chorus you will know who you should be fearing: the character that deserves your respect.
The above songs have each played their part in making Bollywood in 2018 another special year full of everything that is expected of it. Whether they are powerful title songs, sweet and smooth love songs, angry raps or people just having a bit of fun at the end of films, each plays their part and yet stands out on its own as a worthwhile listen when you have the chance.
