Best Songs

So this looks like my three part series which comes to songs. So let me gather myself first.
Before we start a few things about music. I hear very less music and I really mean it. I do search for good movies though I dont get them often but I dont yearn for music. Therefore most of the songs I hear is from the entertainment industry. So this is like reading from someone who himself doesnt know. But this is my opinion about songs.

Songs are better than movies in the sense that they last for few minutes and you can play them again if you didnt understand them. But some songs go further and you just cant understand them anytime you hear them.

1) Meaning
Most people appreciate songs which have some meaning. Unfortunately if the movie is not meaningful how the songs in it will be. There is one incident I should tell you before I move on. I heard the songs of Paheli few years back. The lyrics were so beautiful that I was bowled over. I have not seen the movie till this date. But my friends and everyone told me that the movie was bad. But I could not help wondering if a movie can have such a meaningful and beautiful songs how the movie can be bad. In last few years I have come to realize that if the movie itself is good it will have superior quality of songs. Though I myself have come across many counterexamples. There are countless worthless movies of 70-80-90s which had good lyrics. Hats off to the lyricist who can write good song in an average movie.
Lastly to contradict myself I have to say that the movies should not have songs at all.

"Mathura Nagarpati Kaahe Tum Gokul Jao"
Movie - Raincoat
Lyricist - Rituparno Ghosh(if I remember it correctly)
Music - Debojyoti Mishra
Singer - Shubha Mudgal

This might be the single songs I have heard countless times. Something is different in the whole songs. Even if we forget the meaning the songs it is a gem regarding the words the lyricist has used. There are words which you will never find in a songs and then the lyricist rhymes it with a equally difficult word in the next line.

"Dhere Jalna"
Movie - Paheli
Lyricist - Gulzar
Music - M.M. Kreem
Singer - Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal

This is the song which I loved in Paheli. Mind you there are other beautiful songs in the movie. But I loved this one. Just play this on a lonely Sunday afternoon to feel it.

2)Words
Words are very important in a songs. Its the quality of words which in effect shows the quality of movie for which this work is being done. Though not everything is in black and white this thing is usually true in a world of movies I see( I mean the world of movies in which there are songs).Here are a few such songs

"Mathura Nagarpati Kaahe Tum Gokul Jao"
A repetition from above but I cannot help it. It is such a songs with such beautiful words. The words themselves are so expressive that I loved it the moment I heard it.


"O Sathi re"
Movie - Omkara
Lyricist - Gulzar
Music - Vishal Bharadwaj
Singer - Shreya Ghoshal and Vishal Bharadwaj

This recent songs from Omkara is full of beautiful words and very unconventional. I am not writing the words here because they wont look good in English and I don't blog in Hindi. But do hear them for a change. May be you wont like the song( which I think is terrific) but listen to the words.

3) Music
Then there is always the music or the tune of the song. We have been very grateful in this department. There are many great music directors we have here. I have the songs of two of the best I know

AR Rehman
"Chhoti si Aasha"
Movie - Roja

If there is any songs that will make everyone in the crowd to sit up and take notice this has to be it. The other things which makes this a beautiful composition is how many instruments we hear in a single song.

Ilayaraja
"Ae zindagi gale laga le"
Movie - Sadma

Its befitting that standing with Rehman is another great from the south. As with Rehman this song too has so many instruments played and the the synchronization between all is amazing.

4) Singer
Lastly to end sometimes it is the singer who is able to give soul to the song. It is this type of song that I have not heard much. And frankly I am not much into it. So I dont think in near future I will hear such songs. But I do have one of my favorite song of this type too.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
"Sano ek pal chain na aave"
Some songs are to be experienced. This is that type of song whose meaning is experiencing the song.