The one Hindi film composer that made the maximum noise in 2017 is, without a doubt, Pritam. He started the year with ‘Raabta’ (the publicity material carried his name initially, the music was later credited to JAM8, his A&R company because of some issues between him and the makers) and followed it up with great music in ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, his best album till date. Oddly, all these films failed at the box office. One just hopes the music stands the test of time and is remembered by the listeners for a long time. 2017 was also a year where some big names did not come up with a single album. Ever since he made his debut in 1998, Himesh Reshammiya has been very active as a composer but this was the first time in seventeen years when he did not have a single release. After delivering two really good soundtracks in ‘Rock On!! 2’ and ‘Mirzya’ last year, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, too, remained absent from the film music scene this year.
Here is the list of the best Hindi film albums of 2017.
1. Jab Harry Met Sejal
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil
Label: Sony Music
For the longest time, one thought the film had five songs and a promotional track (“Phurrr”) but on August 3, 2017, a couple of hours before the film was to hit the screens, the entire album consisting of as many as thirteen tracks came out. It turned to be a very pleasant experience as the soundtrack, as a whole, sounded fantastic. However, the fact remains that half of the songs in the album were not promoted and with the film failing at the box-office, there is a chance that some of them might never get their due from the listeners. Pritam has evolved greatly as a composer in the last couple of years showing his range as a composer with different kinds of films. After hearing this mammoth thirteen track album, one can confidently say that ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ is his best work as a composer till date.
2. Raabta
Music: JAM8, Pritam and T-Series
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil and Amitabh Bhattacharya
Label: T-Series
Pritam was credited as the sole composer on the posters and other promotional material when the promotional campaign for the film kick-started. Because of a promotional track added at the last minute, Pritam decided to withdraw his name from the film and asked the makers to credit the album to JAM8, his A&R company. It is a pity as it is an album he would have been proud to associate himself with. Though producer Dinesh Vijan made a dismal debut as a director, he proved once again that he has a very good taste in music. ‘Raabta’ was that wholesome commercial Bollywood album where every song (including the promotional track “Main Tera Boyfriend”) was a delight to one’s ears.
3. Jagga Jasoos
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya and Neelesh Misra
Label: T-Series
Pritam had worked with Anurag Basu on his TV shows but their first association in films happened with ‘Gangster’. ‘Life In A Metro’, ‘Barfi!’ and now ‘Jagga Jasoos’, each of their collaboration has resulted in a lovely soundtrack. When a film is designed as a musical, the music of the film is eagerly awaited. Pritam and his team delivered a terrific album for ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and one hopes one day, they release the background score, which had several musical tracks, as well.
4. Rangoon
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics: Gulzar
Label: T-Series
With ‘Rangoon’ Vishal Bhardwaj failed to deliver a film that worked with the audience. But, the auteur seldom disappoints as a composer. ‘Rangoon’ is another glaring testimony to Bhardwaj’s talent as a music composer and we wonder, yet again, why he is not asked by outside directors to compose music for their films. The film had the kind of music that needed some time to grow. The success of the film would have helped in that direction but it bombed and the music did not reach out to as many people as it should have.
5. Meri Pyaari Bindu
Music: Sachin-Jigar
Lyrics: Kausar Munir and Priya Saraiya
Label: YRF Music
Sachin-Jigar had six releases (not counting their brilliant background score for ‘Raabta’) in 2017 and their best work came across in ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’. Around four years back, Sachin-Jigar made an entry into the YRF camp with ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’, which is, arguably, one of the best music albums to have come out of the production house in the last couple of years. They deliver yet another soundtrack for them which will be remembered for a very long time.
6. Tiger Zinda Hai
Music: Vishal and Shekhar
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil
Label: YRF Music
‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ was a much better soundtrack as compared to ‘Ek Tha Tiger’. Barring one song (“Zinda Hai”) that does not impress, the album gives you enough reasons to cheer about. Ali Abbas Zafar continues to demonstrate the fact that he has a good ear for music. After two successful partnerships with Sohail Sen (‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ and ‘Gunday’), the director seems to have gelled well with Vishal and Shekhar. Furthermore, the composer duo delivered a good soundtrack for the second time in a row for him after ‘Sultan’.
7. Tubelight
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya and Kausar Munir
Label: Sony Music
I was not a fan of the kind of music Pritam created for ‘New York’ (2009) and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan'(2015). But, the soundtrack of ‘Phantom’ (2015) which had just about three original tracks (and four alternate versions) packed a solid punch. ‘Tubelight’ is the probably the most fruitful collaboration Pritam and filmmaker Kabir Khan. Despite the film not having a romantic track and putting songs in the narrative must have been difficult. Pritam rose to the occasion and delivered a very enjoyable soundtrack.
8. OK Jaanu
Music: A.R Rahman, Tanishk Bagchi, Baadshah and Traditional
Lyrics: Gulzar, Mehboob and Traditional
Label: Sony Music
‘OK Jaanu’ was the official Hindi remake of Mani Ratnam’s ‘O Kadhal Kanmani’, a film which had some stellar tunes by A.R. Rahman. ‘OK Kanmani’ was also a special film as it the first time when Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and A.R Rahman have joined hands for a project. Unlike the Tamil original, this one failed to make a mark at the box-office. Most of the songs in the album were a recycled from the original soundtrack with a couple of new additions (“Enna Sona”, “The Humma Song”).
9. Mom
Music: A.R Rahman
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil
Label: T-Series
The film did not really have a scope for music but A.R Rahman, who also did the background score, composed a bunch of good songs that reflected the various situations (“O Sona Tere Liye”, “Chal Kahin Door”, “Kooke Kawn”) and the overall theme (“Raakh Baakhi”, “Muafi Mushkil”, “Be Nazaara”) of the film. Time and again, Rahman had taken up the challenge for films where it is extremely hard to put songs in. The songs gelled beautifully (even though sparsely used) with the theme of the film.
10. Simran
Music: Sachin-Jigar
Lyrics: Priya Saraiya and Vayu
Label: T-Series
The music of ‘Simran’ had a similar vibe to that of ‘Queen’ but Sachin-Jigar added a very distinctive flavour to the music of this film about a Gujarati con-woman in America and made sure that it sounded remarkably different from Amit Trivedi’s score for ‘Queen’. This five-track album had songs of different moods and genres that reflected the journey of Praful, Kangana Ranaut’s character journey throughout the film.
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