Jhute Ilzaam - Umrao Jaan by Alka Yagnik

Jhute Ilzaam - Umrao Jaan is one of those rare Hindi tracks that manages to feel both fresh and familiar the moment it begins. The arrangement here is the work of Anu Malik, and it shows genuine craft in how it builds and releases.

Alka Yagnik's vocal here has a quality that is difficult to describe but impossible to miss — it simply feels true. Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Suniel Shetty are at the heart of Umrao Jaan, and Jhute Ilzaam - Umrao Jaan captures their dynamic at its most compelling.

By the end of 2006, Jhute Ilzaam - Umrao Jaan had moved well beyond its original audience and into everyday playlists. The mood of the track shifts subtly as it progresses, giving even a single listen a sense of journey.

Running to 6:39, the song is exactly as long as it needs to be, which is the hardest length for a songwriter to find. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Hindi in recent memory — and the numbers agree.