2012 was a strange year for Bollywood and it’s music. While the alternative took another huge step towards the mainstream, in terms of output it was very low key. With most of the festival indies being released in 2013 (let’s hope this is their year), it seems there were just a handful of films and albums everyone loved and talked about. Of course, this is discounting the 100 crore blockbusters that leave zero impact, then again that could just be my case.

ANTHEM OF THE YEAR : “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”- Shanghai / Vishal-Shekhar / Keerti Sagathia, Vishal Dadlani / Dibakar Bannerjee

ALBUM OF THE YEAR : Gangs Of Wasseypur (I) - Sneha Khanwalkar / Piyush Mishra, Varun Grover

BEST TRACKS OF THE YEAR

5. “Jiya Lage Na” - Talaash / Sona Mohapatra, Ravindra Upadhyay / Ram Sampath / Javed Akhtar

Soha Mohapatra’s voice elevates this song into something else. Endlessly repeatable.

4. “Pani Da Rang” - Vicky Donor / Ayushman Khurana / Ayushmann Khurrana, Rochak Kohli 

This song proves that not all Punjabi pop is created equal. Ayushman Khurana is quite the surprise.

3. “Pareshaan” - Ishaqzaade / Shalmali Kholgade / Amit Trivedi / Kausar Munir

Shalamali Kholgade has to be the find of the year. What a range! Amit Trivedi has put together a delightful, wonderful track.

2. “Heer” - Jab Tak Hai Jaan / Harshdeep Kaur / A.R. Rahman / Gulzar ; “Phir Le Aaya Dil” - Barfi! / Shafqat Amanat Ali / Pritam / Sayeed Quadri

On one hand you have a track from a hugely disappointing album, but this one track justifies everything. On the other hand you have a song from the biggest surprise of the year; it was hard to pick one from this album. Both are amazing. Special mention to the lyrics.

1.  “Kaala Rey” - Gangs Of Wasseypur II / Sneha Khanwalkar / Varun Grover

Sneha Khanwalkar’s vocals, ground-breaking composing and Varun Grover’s lyrics come together to create a perfect storm. The kind we’ve never heard before and probably will never hear again, unless Miss Khanwalkar decides to outdo herself. This one is a landmark.

BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR

4. Gangs Of Wasseypur

Anurag Kashyap combines his trademark realism with an unexpected joie de vivre in his Wasseypur duology. Relentlessly witty, bloody and foul mouthed; Kashyap pays homage to Bollywood in the queerest manner: with a film which not many will call Bollywood but one which is dripping with Masala. Starting off wobbly, the film builds up a crescendo, then builds again, and again. Life gets in the way of revenge, then revenge gets in the life. “Wasseypur” is the kind of epic Indians rarely get. A imperfect achievement, but an achievement nonetheless.

3. Talaash

Reema Kagti creates here the best kind of thriller, one where the twist is that it was a personal drama all along. It’s that rare meditative film; dealing with grief, loss and the loneliness that can only be felt in a big city. Reema Kagti captures the seedy side of Bombay in a way few mainstream films do, with a beautiful noirish haze. “Talaash” is peppered with strong actors, including another landmark from Aamir Khan and a superb supportive performance from Rani Mukherjee. But the greatest trick the film pulls is sneaking upon the viewer a most unusual love story between two broken souls, where the only climax is closure.

2. Barfi!

Anurag Basu has sculpted the rarest of things: a gentle minded, sweet natured, big hearted story that a cynic can appreciate. He may have taken paying homage to a new extreme, but it takes real talent to blend it all into a consistent film. Furthermore, Basu deserves all credit for extracting brilliant performances from not just Ranbir Kapoor but Priyanka Chopra as well, in what is definitely the role of a lifetime. Take into account the sensitivity and lack of melodrama in its handling of the subject, and you realise that “Barfi!” is much greater than the sum of its parts.

1. Shanghai 

I’m still not sure whether “Shanghai” is a satire or a drama, what I am sure of is that it is the subtlest angry film I’ve seen. Boy, does Bannerjee have a lot to say. But he manages to fits it all in the nooks and crannies of what is basically a simple story, perhaps even a cliched one. Just like its mission statement of a song, “Shanghai” is the Indian political landscape poured into a 2-hour film, done with the grace only a master filmmaker can achieve. Apart from a couple of minor aesthetic choices, Shanghai is basically perfect. Every performance, every visual fits perfectly into the director’s vision. Dibakar Bannerjee has constructed the boldest statement of a film we’ve seen in a while.