Mast Kalandar - David by Mikey McCleary, Rekha Bhardwaj

Mast Kalandar - David works because it does not try to do too much — it finds one feeling and holds it perfectly. Mikey McCleary's arrangement gives the track a layered quality that rewards repeated listening.

Mikey McCleary, Rekha Bhardwaj's vocal here has a quality that is difficult to describe but impossible to miss — it simply feels true. The song is tied to Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vikram, Vinay Virmani, Tabu, Isha Sharvani, whose presence gives Mast Kalandar - David a visual dimension that fans of the film will always associate with it.

2013 marked the release of David, and Mast Kalandar - David was the track that ensured the album would be remembered. It is the kind of track that works at full volume with friends and equally well in a quiet room alone — the mood adjusts without the song changing.

The 4:19 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.