Top 10 Music HITS of 2008

Top 11 (Music 2008) - A year when Pritam, Vishal-Shekhar and Rahman ruled

There were no surprises in 2008 as the Top-5 composers of Bollywood - Pritam, Vishal-Shekhar, A.R. Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Himesh Reshammiya were responsible for some of the best music that was churned out. Between them, they came up with as many as 11 notable albums that made the biggest impact in the year gone by. Joginder Tuteja brings to you the Top-11 list (it was difficult to knock off any one out of this list) where Pritam, Vishal-Shekhar and A.R. Rahman ruled the roost with three albums apiece, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy sat at the top with ROCK ON and Himesh Reshammiya made his presence felt with his only soundtrack of the year - KARZZZZ!

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ROCK ON (Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy)

The music of ROCK ON was unique. It wasn't just about 'gelling into the narrative'; it was actually about 'being the narrative' itself! In fact it won't be wrong to state that if Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Javed Akhtar wouldn't have created the soundtrack of ROCK ON, it wouldn't have been the movie it is today. And this is where the strength of the music lies. Going truly by the genre of the movie and elevating the mood created by the situations and the characters, the music 'rocked' and how!

RACE (Pritam)

This one comprised of back to back chartbusters, each of which made a great impression not just over the audio system but also on the screen. 'Race Sanson Ki', 'Pehli Nazar Mein', 'Touch Me', 'Dekho Nashe Mein' - each of them turned out to be big hits. Such was the power of the album that even when the makers decided to drop 'Mujhpe To Jadoo', the replacement number '***y Lady' turned out to be the biggest hit of the album. Pritam tasted blood with RACE and has been at the top ever since then.

SINGH IS KINNG (Pritam)

Pritam continued his HIT journey with SINGH IS KINNG and though there was a predominant Punjabi flavor in majority of tracks, there was still some variety to offer if one picked up every individual piece. If there was a lounge hit title track 'Bas Ek Kinng', there was also one of the most melodious tracks of the year 'Teri Ore'. With not a single dull moment in the entire album, courtesy songs like 'Jee Karda' and 'Bhootni ke', the number which actually turned out to be THE anthem piece was Snoop Dogg's 'Singh Is Kinng'. No wonder, the film took the biggest opening of the year before GHAJINI struck hard!

DOSTANA (Vishal Shekhar)

While Pritam was busy justifying his title of being a 'hit machine', Vishal and Shekhar were quietly churning out successful soundtracks as well. One of their best scores of the year has been DOSTANA which carried a certain purity to it in it's softer tracks 'Kuch Kum', 'Khabar Nahi' and 'Jaane Kyun'. Though songs like 'Desi Girl' and 'Maa Da Laadla' turned out to be bigger hits, it was expected since they could have been composed by Vishal and Shekhar in their sleep. However, it's the other three tracks that hold on most for the lovers of soft music and how one wishes these songs could live on for many more years to come.

GHAJINI (A. R. Rahman)

This was the massiest score of A R Rahman in 2008. Rahman compositions usually take time to grow but GHAJINI was a HIT from the word GO! To add to the fun, the songs turned out to be quite beautiful when heard or seen as standalone videos. However, in the hardcore action narrative of the film, a few of them seemed to be breaking the flow. Still, the soft track 'Kaise Mujhe' truly worked most as a part of the film even though the visual beauty of 'Guzarish' and 'Behka' kept the viewer's interest alive.

JANNAT (Pritam)

Bhatts-Emraan Hashmi-Pritam got together yet again and fireworks were on full display all over again. Unlike AWARAPAN which took some time to grow amongst the audience, JANNAT didn't have to wait so long and soon reached the top spot. Hugely responsible for enabling the film to turn into a Super Hit, songs like 'Zara Sa' and Kamran Ahmed composed, written and sung 'Lambi Judai' worked most. Super success of JANNAT should lead to many more collaboration between the makers, actor and the composer in times to come.

TASHAN (Vishal Shekhar)

Now this one has been plain unfortunate to not reach the kind of heights that it deserved. Ok, so the music did quite well actually but then if only Yash Raj Films would have made an exception and for a change decided to promote a product of their own, TASHAN would have been a different story altogether. Coming after OM SHANTI OM, TASHAN was indeed a queer score by Vishal-Shekhar but this very factor was the soundtrack's strength. Who else in this whole wide world would have otherwise thought of making a Bhojpuri-English-Hindi number like 'Dil Dance Maare' and also made three mainstream actors dance in the midst of a desert?

JAANE TU YA JAANE NAA (A. R. Rahman)

Success of the music of JAANE TU YA JAANE NAA is sweet for two reasons. a) It is nice to see Rahman composing more often for Hindi films. b) It is even nicer to see him work on projects that are poles apart from being historic/patriotic/period dramas. A song like 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' doesn't come every year while 'Pappu Can't Dance Saala' makes one strongly believe that only Rahman could have created a composition like this. Rahman, please continue to rock the show and give us more of the same breed!

BACHNA AE HASEENO (Vishal Shekhar)

'Khuda Jaane' - This very track in the album was worth the price of the audio CD! A song that would stand amongst one of the Top-10 songs ever composed by Vishal and Shekhar till date, 'Khuda Jaane' was the piece around which the entire album revolved. Of course the recreated version of the title song (by R.D. Burman) was a smash hit number too along with the other dance number 'Lucky Boy'. Add to that the sweet-n-saccharine 'Aahista Aahista' and 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' was just the perfect package. Still, if at all the album would be remembered in future, it would be for 'Khuda Jaane'!

JODHAA AKBAR (A. R. Rahman)

Now this one grew and how! When the soundtrack arrived on the stands, it was panned by many. With the kind of huge expectations that one had from a film with names like Rahman, Gowarikar, Hrithik and Ash involved, one wanted the sound of JODHAA AKBAR to be huge - really huge! However, with an exception of 'Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah' that did boast of a majestic appeal, the remaining numbers were on a slower side and classy in nature. After an initial hesitation, the songs were given a Thumbs Up by the audience and once the film released, the music only continued to jump up in the charts!

KARZZZZ (Himesh Reshammiya)

KARZZZZ could well have gone the kind of distance that AAP KAA SURROOR did had the film been successful! However, the Himesh Reshammiya starrer didn't quite create any ripples at the box office and as it disappeared from theaters, so did the music which took a steep fall soon after. 'Tandoori Nights' turned out to be the most successful number in the album but there were at least 3-4 love songs, most notably being 'Dhoom Tere Ishq Ki', 'Lut Jaaon Lut Jaaon' and 'Masha Allah', that deserved to go an extra distance.