Hai Junoon - New York by KK, Pritam, Sandeep Shrivastava

The New York album has several strong tracks, but Hai Junoon - New York is the one most listeners come back to first. Pritam built the instrumental foundation carefully here — every element earns its place in the mix.

The performance by KK, Pritam, Sandeep Shrivastava is the centrepiece here — controlled where it needs to be, open where it counts. The story told by John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh in New York finds its musical expression here — Hai Junoon - New York is where the film's heart beats loudest.

Released in 2009, it arrived at a time when Hindi music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. Hai Junoon - New York is the song for the end of a long day when you want music that understands something without being asked to explain it.

The concision of Hai Junoon - New York — just 5:31 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.