Jhalli Patakha - Saala Khadoos by Sunidhi Chauhan

Released as part of Saala Khadoos, Jhalli Patakha - Saala Khadoos announced itself as a standout the moment it reached listeners. Santhosh Narayanan built the instrumental foundation carefully here — every element earns its place in the mix.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Jhalli Patakha - Saala Khadoos, Sunidhi Chauhan clearly belongs in the second group. Featuring R. Madhavan, Ritika Singh, Mumtaz Sorcar, the song carries the weight of the film's emotional arc and delivers it with conviction.

By the end of 2016, Jhalli Patakha - Saala Khadoos had moved well beyond its original audience and into everyday playlists. The emotional register of Jhalli Patakha - Saala Khadoos is wide enough to fit celebration and solitude equally well.

The concision of Jhalli Patakha - Saala Khadoos — just 3:03 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Hindi in recent memory — and the numbers agree.