Kismat - Bin Bulaye Baraati by Anand Raaj Anand, Ritu Pathak

Few songs from 2011 have held their ground as well as Kismat - Bin Bulaye Baraati, a track that keeps finding new audiences. The arrangement here is the work of Anand Raaj Anand, and it shows genuine craft in how it builds and releases.

Anand Raaj Anand, Ritu Pathak understood what this song required and delivered it without excess — the restraint itself becomes the emotion. Rajpal Yadav, Aftab Shivdasani, Om Puri, Mallika Sherawat, Shweta Tiwari, Nisha Kothari gave the film its soul, and Kismat - Bin Bulaye Baraati is the song that most directly channels that feeling into music.

2011 marked the release of Bin Bulaye Baraati, and Kismat - Bin Bulaye Baraati was the track that ensured the album would be remembered. Whether it plays on a long drive, during a quiet evening at home, or through earphones on a crowded commute, the song meets the listener where they are.

Running to 3:29, 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.