Just a little over a day left before we complete the first quarter of this century. In last year’s roundup, I had featured nine different lists, the most I have ever done. Ironically, this year, due to some not-so-happy personal circumstances, I have only been able to complete four lists as of now – Bollywood, Malayalam, Tamil and Indian Indie/Pop, the least I have ever done. However, this post will be a work-in-progress – I promise to continue working on this in the first half of January and finish with at least 7-8 lists. So, for the moment, hope you enjoy this partial roundup!
Shout-out to the amazing @athulct for helping with the artwork this year as well!
Like last year, I have created an All In One playlist for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t want to go through the individual lists and would rather shuffle-play the entire thing:
Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
Happy listening, and wish you all a lot more wonderful music in 2025!
Bollywood
Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
It was a slightly better year for Bollywood compared to recent past. Thanks partly to some makers with great sense of music reuniting with their trusted composers – Imtiaz Ali with A R Rahman (Amar Singh Chamkila), Sriram Raghavan with Pritam (Merry Christmas), Kiran Rao-Aamir Khan with Ram Sampath (Laapataa Ladies), Siddharth Anand and Vishal-Shekhar etc. And partly to Sachin-Jigar going on a run evocative of the early days of their mentor Pritam, in more ways than one. The Besharam Rang-fuelled “electro ghazal” (for want of a better phrasing) trend gained further pace this year – we got some good numbers in the genre. Alongside the usual suspects, it was nice to see the return of some names I would love to see more of in Hindi, like Joi Barua, MM Kreem, Karan Kulkarni etc. and a bunch of new ones like Hunny-Bunny and Mayukh-Mainak.
1 Vida Karo (Amar Singh Chamkila) – A R Rahman|Irshad Kamil|Arijit Singh, Jonita Gandhi
2 Raat Akeli Thi (Merry Christmas) – Pritam|Varun Grover|Arijit Singh, Antara Mitra
3 Dheeme Dheeme (Laapataa Ladies) – Ram Sampath|Swanand Kirkire|Shreya Ghoshal
4 Kasturi (Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani) – Prasad S|Kunaal Verma|Arijit Singh
5 Aaj Ki Raat (Stree 2) – Sachin Jigar|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Divya Kumar, Madhubanti Bagchi
6 Mirza (Maidaan) – A R Rahman|Manoj Muntashir|Richa Sharma, Javed Ali
7 Bekaar Dil (Fighter) – Vishal-Sheykhar|Kumaar|Vishal Mishra, Shilpa Rao
8 Tauba Tauba (Bad Newz) – Karan Aujla|Karan Aujla|Karan Aujla
9 Saathiya (Yudhra) – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy|Javed Akhtar|Pratibha Singh Baghel, Vishal Mishra
10 Thehar Zara (All India Rank) – Mayukh-Mainak|Varun Grover|Vishal Bhardwaj
11 Sajni (Laapataa Ladies) – Ram Sampath|Prashant Pandey|Arijit Singh
12 Tu Kya Jaane (Amar Singh Chamkila) – A R Rahman|Irshad Kamil|Yashika Sikka
13 Mere Mehboob (Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video) – Sachin-Jigar|Priya Saraiya|Shilpa Rao
14 Tu Hain Toh (Mr. & Mrs. Mahi) – Hunny-Bunny|Sagar|Neeti Mohan
15 Nazar Teri Toofaan (Merry Christmas) – Pritam|Varun Grover|Papon
16 Kisi Roz (Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha) – MM Kreem|Manoj Muntashir|Maithili Thakur
17 Higher (Woh Bhi Din The) – Joi Barua|Joi Barua, Irshad Kamil|Jonita Gandhi
18 Kiddan Zaalima (Crew) – Vishal Mishra|Raj Shekhar|Vishal Mishra
19 Moh Na Laage (Dukaan) – Shreyas Puranik|Siddharth-Garima|Arijit Singh
20 Ta Ra Ta Ra Ta (Do Aur Do Pyaar) – Subhajit Mukherjee|Trina Mukherjee|Vishal Dadlani
21 Dua-e-Khair (Ruslaan) – Bipin Das|Akashdeep Sengupta|Divya Kumar
22 Kya Hua (Blackout) – Vishal Mishra|Vishal Mishra|Vishal Mishra
23 Kahin Behti Hui (The Buckingham Murders) – Karan Kulkarni|Niren Bhatt|Rashmeet Kaur
24 Gum Ho Kahan (I Want To Talk) – Taba Chake|Taba Chake|Taba Chake
25 Ungliyon Pe (Love, Sitara) – Sangeet-Siddharth|Garima Obrah|Shalmali Kholgade, Anusha Mani, Harshdeep Kaur
26 Jao Ji Jao (Ulajh) – Shashwat Sachdev|Sudhanshu Saria|Garvit Soni
27 Gham Ka Rang (Tera Kya Hoga Lovely) – Amit Trivedi|Irshad Kamil|Deepali Sathe, Shashaa Tirupathi
28 Taras (Munjya) – Sachin-Jigar|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Jasmine Sandlas
29 Soni Soni (Ishq Vishk Rebound) – Rochak Kohli|Gurpreet Saini|Darshan Raval, Jonita Gandhi
30 Tenu Sang Rakhna (Jigra) – Achint|Varun Grover|Arijit Singh, Anumita Nadesan
Malayalam
Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
While last year it was Tamil industry that featured my favourite music, this year it’s been Malayalam’s turn. One of the highlights of the year was Aadujeevitham – an album that should ideally have been A R Rahman’s return to Malayalam after over two decades, but ended up losing that spot to Malayankunju last year due to the huge delays in the project. What also did not help the soundtrack’s cause was the shoddy release on streaming platforms, but the album still had the composer acing the genre he always has – sufi. After the terrific Romaancham last year, Sushin Shyam was roped in for director Jithu Madhavan’s sophomore venture Aavesham in 2025, and the result was equally spectacular! Like in Hindi, we had some reliable composer-director combos delivering again – Prashant Pillai for Lijo Jose Pellisserry, Rex Vijayan for Aashiq Abu etc. I was happy to see two of my favourites from outside Malayalam – Dhibu Ninan Thomas and Vishal Chandrashekhar – make their Malayalam debuts. Hope to see more from them in 2025!
1 Periyone (Aadujeevitham) – A R Rahman|Rafeeq Ahamed|Jithin Raj
2 Nebulakal (Manjummel Boys) – Sushin Shyam|Anwar Ali|Pradeep Kumar
3 Madbhare Naina (Malaikottai Vaaliban) – Prashant Pillai|Preeti Pillai|Suresh Wadkar, Preeti Pillai
4 Jaada (Aavesham) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sreenath Bhasi
5 Aalunnu Neeye (Rifle Club) – Rex Vijayan|Anwar Ali|Pradeep Kumar, Sithara Krishnakumar
6 Mini Maharani (Premalu) – Vishnu Vijay|Suhail Koya|Vagu Mazan, Kapil Kapilan
7 Pokathe (Marivillin Gopurangal) – Vidyasagar|Vinayak Sasikumar|KS Harishankar, Shweta Mohan
8 Love Jawan (Nadikar) – Neha-Yakzan|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sangeeth
9 Poomani Maalika (Bramayugam) – Christo Xavier|Ammu Maria Alex|Christo Xavier
10 Kiliye (ARM) – Dhibu Ninan Thomas|Manu Manjith|KS Harishankar, Anila Rajeev
11 Illuminati (Aavesham) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Dabzee
12 Jeevithagaadhakale (Varshangalkku Shesham) – Amrit Ramnath|Vaisakh Sugunan|KS Chithram, Sreevalsan Menon, Mithun Jayaraj
13 Premalola (Sureshanteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hrudayahariyaya Pranayakadha) – Dawn Vincent|Vaisakh Sugunan|Sushin Shyam
14 Oru Chillupaathram (Vivekanandan Viralanu) – Bijibal|Harinarayanan BK|Sithara Krishnakumar
15 Ormachottil (Secret Home) – Sankar Sharma|Manu Manjith|KS Chithra
16 Erivenal (Turkish Tharkkam) – Ifthi|Vinayak Sasikumar|Dana Razik
17 Punnaara Kaattile (Malaikottai Vaaliban) – Prashant Pillai|P S Rafeeque|Shreekumar Vakkiyil, Abhaya Hiranmayi
18 Neeyum Njaanum (Vishesham) – Anand Madhusoodhanan|Anand Madhusoodhanan|Mithun Jayaraj, Anne Amie
19 Nin Mizhiyil (Oshana) – Mejjo Joseph|Harinarayanan BK|KS Harishankar
20 Minnum Thaarangal (Kadha Innu Vare) – Ashwin Aryan|Ajeesh Dasan|Kapil Kapilan, Nithya Mammen
21 Dhurooha Mandhahaasame (Sookshmadarshini) – Christo Xavier|Mu.Ri|Ahi Ajayan
22 Manam Manam (Marivillin Gopurangal) – Vidyasagar|Vinayak Sasikumar|Hariharan
23 Nenjile (Oru Kattil Oru Muri) – Ankit Menon|Raghunath Paleri|Ravi G
24 Doorangal (Palum Pazhavum) – Sachin Balu|Suhail Koya|Sachin Balu, Bhadra Rajin
25 Aazhithiramaala (Pushpaka Vimanam) – Rahul Raj|Harinarayanan BK|Hesham Abdul Wahab, Sruthy Sivadas
26 Thorumee (Jananam: 1947 Pranayam Thudarunnu) Govind Vasantha|Anil Lal|Aavani Malhar
27 Maravikale (Bougainvillea) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Madhuvanti Narayanan
28 Payye Payye (Level Cross) – Vishal Chandrasekhar|Vinayak Sasikumar|Devu Mathew
29 Pirakilaro (Pavi Caretaker) – Midhun Mukundan|Shibu Chakravarthy|Kapil Kapilan
30 Vidhumukhiye (Mandakini) – Bibin Ashok|Vaisakh Sugunan|Sooraj Santhosh, Anarkali Marikar
Tamil
Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
In Tamil, the year primarily belonged to Sean Roldan, GV Prakash and Govind Vasantha, who delivered both in quality and quantity throughout the year. Ilaiyaraaja followed through on his work in Viduthalai 1, with an even better set of songs, while Santhosh Narayanan delivered a knockout in Vaazhai. ARR had a gem of a song in Oh Raaya with Ganavya, but on a soundtrack level there wasn’t much that stood out, despite the man composing for three movies during the year. His daughter Khatija had a promising composing debut in Minmini, however. Similarly for Anirudh it was only Neelorpam that I took away this year, a song that ironically did not even feature in the movie (the makers thereby ensuring that people took absolutely no positives from that movie). And to the industry in general, I would like to reiterate my two wishes from last year – to let playback singers sing all the songs, and for Anirudh to take up smaller scale projects.
1 Manasula (Viduthalai 2) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja|Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Ananya Bhat
2 Oh Raaya (Raayan) – A R Rahman|Dhanush|Ganavya, A R Rahman
3 Neelorpam (Indian 2) – Anirudh|Thamarai|Abby V, Shruthika Samudhrala
4 Mannavan (Election) – Govind Vasantha|Yugabharathi|Haricharan, Shweta Mohan
5 Thaensudare (Lover) – Sean Roldan|Mohan Rajan|Shaktisree Gopalan
6 Hey Minnale (Amaran) – G V Prakash|Karthik Netha|Haricharan, Shweta Mohan
7 Delta Kalyanam (Meiyazhagan) – Govind Vasantha|Karthik Netha|Govind Vasantha, VM Mahalingam, Senthil Ganesh
8 Otha Satti Soru (Vaazhai) – Santhosh Narayanan|Vivek|Kapil Kapilan, Aditya Ravindran
9 Un Azhagai Rasithu (Pon Ondru Kanden) – Yuvan Shankar Raja|Nixy|Haricharan
10 Sokka Naanum Nikiren (Boat) – Ghibran|Gold Devaraj|Sudha Raghunathan
11 Iruttu Kaattula (Viduthalai 2) – Ilaiyaraaja|Ilaiyaraaja|Suganthi
12 Paakura Thaakura (Emakku Thozhil Romance) – Nivas K Prasanna|Mohan Rajan|Kapil Kapilan
13 Chella Rangi (Ayalaan) – A R Rahman|Krithika Nelson|Sanjith Hegde, Shashaa Tirupati
14 Nenjodu Nee (Dear) – G V Prakash|GKB|Ravi G/Saindhavi
15 Poraen Naa Poraen (Meiyazhagan) – Govind Vasantha|Uma Devi|Vijaynarain, Kamal Hassan
16 Chillanjirukkiye (Lubber Pandhu) – Sean Roldan|Mohan Rajan|Pradeep Kumar, Sivaangi Krishnakumar
17 Railin Oligal (Blue Star) – Govind Vasantha|Uma Devi|Pradeep Kumar, Shaktisree Gopalan
18 Achu Penne (Ranam Aram Thavarel) – Arrol Corelli|Vivek|Shreya Ghoshal
19 Kalangaathey (JollyO Gymkhana) – Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy|Shakthi Chidhambaram, M Jegan Kaviraj|Sreekanth Hariharan
20 Thiraikadal (Guardian) – Sam CS|Uma Devi|Saindhavi
21 Megham Pol Aagi (Nirangal Moondru) – Jakes Bejoy|Thamarai|Kapil Kapilan
22 Por Theeruma (Birthmark) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Navin B|Shibi Srinivasan
23 Uyirin Velichame (Vadakkupatti Ramasamy) – Sean Roldan|Sarathi|Sathya Prakash
24 Minikki Minikki (Thangalaan) – G V Prakash|Uma Devi|Sinduri Vishal
25 Sidu Sidu (Romeo) – Barath Dhanasekhar|Karthik Netha|Kapil Kapilan
26 Aruge Vaa (Raghu Thatha) – Sean Roldan|Bhagyam Shankar|Sean Roldan
27 Iru Perum Nadhigal (Minmini) – Khatija Rahman|Halitha Shameem|Shaktisree Gopalan
28 Saaral Aagindra (Marakkuma Nenjam) – Sachin Warrier|Thamarai|Shweta Mohan
29 Siragaatchi Poove (Idi Minnal Kadhal) – Sam CS|Kabilan|Priyanka NK, Kapil Kapilan
30 Appavin Thaalaattu (Alangu) – Ajesh|Mohan Rajan|Ajesh
Indian Indie/Pop
Playlists: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
The biggest news on the indie front was of course Hanumankind and Kalmi’s Big Dawgs making it big internationally, debuting on Billboard Hot 100 et al. That aside, the star in the indipop scene was Sai Abhyankar, a boy who seems to be well poised to deliver on his musical pedigree (for the uninitiated, he is the son of singers Harini and Tipu), having produced two chartbusting hits in 2024 itself, and will soon be debuting as a movie composer as well. Like last year, I will be trying and working on a Coke Studio specific list covering all the current versions, but this year more brands looked to be going the Coke Studio route, most prominently Warner Music India with Maati. My usual caveat on this list still applies by the way – these are my favourites from whatever I meant to catch up on during the year, so apologise for any glaring omission.
1 Katchi Sera (Think Indie) – Sai Abhyankar
2 Big Dawgs – Hanumankind, Kalmi
3 Suprabhatham (Voyage 2) – Dhruv Ghanekar, Nandini Srikar
4 Bawla feat. Khan Brothers (Maati S1) – Mikey McCleary, Rani KoHEnur, Parth Parekh
5 Shik Shik Shik (feat. Dhee) – Santhosh Narayanan, Gana Muthu, Aditya Ravindran
6 Senti Akhiyan – Sona Mohapatra, Ram Sampath
7 Tumi – Nihira Joshi Deshpande, Santanu Ghatak, Ashwin Srinivasan
8 Kanavugal Kanden (100,000 Dreams) – Amrit Ramnath
9 Chhaila (Bhoomi 2024) – Shreya Ghoshal x Sunidhi Chauhan, Salim Sulaiman, Shraddha Pandit
10 Vaanmugil – Nishad G, Shashaa Tirupati, Sreekanth Hariharan, Anjana JP, Rishi K
11 Innevanavva – Bindhumalini, Prashanth Techno
12 Nange Allava (Sunjuice) – Sanjith Hegde
13 Puviul Naan (Divya Pasurams) – Ilaiyaraja, Sharreth, Vibhavari Apte Joshi
14 Baat Itni Si – Sheykhar, Pratibha Singh Baghel, Madhubanti Bagchi, Priya Saraiya
15 Kal Wo Hamaara Hai (First Act) – Amaal Mallik, Amole Gupte, Vaibhav Pani
16 Aasai Kooda (Think Indie) – Sai Abhyankar, Sai Smriti
17 Alayazhikal (Kappa Originals) – Neha Nair, Yakzan Gary Pereira
18 Shariyat-e-Dil (Songs of Trance 2) – Amit Trivedi, Papon, Rupali Moghe, A M Turaz
19 Love Like That – Jonita Gandhi feat. Ali Sethi
20 Jiya Laage Na – Rochak Kohli, Mohit Chauhan, Shilpa Rao
21 Din Jo Dhal Gaya – Vishal Bhardwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj
22 Evolution (Celestials) – Lydian Nadhaswaram, Rajhesh Vaidhya, S Akash, Naveen Napier
23 nadaaniyan – Akshat
24 Poti (Yezhundhen Nimirndhen Nadanthen) – Maalavika Sundar
25 Jaagan Jaago – Hriday Gattani
26 Elephant Crossing~(A Late Afternoon Special) – Edwin Raphael, Dhruv Visvanath
27 Le Ja Re – Tapas Kalai, Soultrax
28 Jatra (Voyage 2) – Dhruv Ghanekar, Vaishali Samant, Gina Mirenda
29 Mere Saamne – Santanu Ghatak, Ronkini Gupta, Irtiza-Asad
30 Kaafi Ho – Kakkey
