Aabaad Barbaad - Ludo by Pritam, Arijit Singh

Few songs from 2020 have held their ground as well as Aabaad Barbaad - Ludo, a track that keeps finding new audiences. What makes Aabaad Barbaad - Ludo musically distinctive is the composition by Pritam, which balances simplicity with depth.

Pritam, Arijit Singh inhabits this song completely, making every phrase feel like it was written specifically for this voice. On screen, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Saraf, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Pearle Maaney, Inayat Verma, Asha Negi, Shalini Vats bring the emotional world of the song to life in a way that enhances rather than competes with the music.

2020 marked the release of Ludo, and Aabaad Barbaad - Ludo was the track that ensured the album would be remembered. Whether it plays on a long drive, during a quiet evening at home, or through earphones on a crowded commute, the song meets the listener where they are.

The 5:09 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.