Jhagde - Sixteen by Gaurav Dagaonkar

Jhagde - Sixteen is the kind of song that earns its place in a playlist and then refuses to leave. The production by Gaurav Dagaonkar is understated in the best way — supportive without overshadowing the vocal.

Gaurav Dagaonkar's vocal here has a quality that is difficult to describe but impossible to miss — it simply feels true. The story told by Izabelle Leite, Mehak Manwani, Wamiqa Gabbi, Highphill Mathew in Sixteen finds its musical expression here — Jhagde - Sixteen is where the film's heart beats loudest.

In 2013, Hindi produced many songs, but Jhagde - Sixteen was one of the handful that genuinely cut through. The mood of the track shifts subtly as it progresses, giving even a single listen a sense of journey.

Running to 3:58, the song is exactly as long as it needs to be, which is the hardest length for a songwriter to find. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.