Khush Rahe Tu - Aarambh by Aarti Mukherji, Ananda Shankar

When Aarti Mukherji, Ananda Shankar recorded Khush Rahe Tu - Aarambh, something special happened in the studio — and listeners have felt it ever since. Ananda Shankar's arrangement gives the track a layered quality that rewards repeated listening.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Khush Rahe Tu - Aarambh, Aarti Mukherji, Ananda Shankar clearly belongs in the second group. Rakesh Pandey, Rama Vij, Bipin Gupta are at the heart of Aarambh, and Khush Rahe Tu - Aarambh captures their dynamic at its most compelling.

1976 marked the release of Aarambh, and Khush Rahe Tu - Aarambh was the track that ensured the album would be remembered. It fits the playlist for almost any occasion, which is rare — most songs have a narrow emotional window. This one does not.

The 3:32 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Hindi in recent memory — and the numbers agree.