Great topic. I have a crazy obsession for music. I spend way too much money on it.
Personally as far as Hindi film music is concerned I felt that the 90s and the late 80s were the worst time for film music. I don't remember anything that is memorable - especially not like the songs from the 60s and 70s. I am a huge huge RD Burman fan and I can listen to his songs all the time.
The songs from Kati Patang, Teesri Manzil, Guide are some of my favourites. The 90s were dominated by Jatin Lalit and I personally don't care for their music at all. I find it to be very repetitive and boring. The only redeemable aspect to the 90s music was AR Rahman for me. Choti si Asha is such a brilliant song. Apart from that Dil Se, Bombay, Taal all had really good music and songs I can listen today and enjoy just as much.
As for the current decade, what I like about it is the experimentation and new sounds that have come in. I like a lot of stuff that Shankar Ehsan and Loy have done. Dil Chahta Hai was a major departure from the kind of music we were used to in films. Then there is Vishal Bharadwaj who I loved since Maachis but I really started following his music after Maqbool - I can listen to Ru ba ru or Jhin Min Jhini endlessly. Then there is Amit Trivedi - who is new - but from the little I have seen his music is amazing. I like how he mixes Indian folk elements with rock and jazz sounds and the result is great.
With Pritam it is a very hit and miss situation. Sometimes you get some really good songs like Tum Se Hi and then I see something like Dil Bole Hadippa or Life Partner and I would never give those songs a second listen.
So since I was praising new music - this song is called Ek Lau and it was sung by Shilpa Rao, composed by Amit Trivedi for the film Aamir.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PScsnMPH_4o[/YOUTUBE]
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