Panchi by Gulshan Sharma

Few songs from 2020 have held their ground as well as Panchi, a track that keeps finding new audiences. The music, composed by Gulshan Sharma, carries the song forward with a confidence that matches the performance.

Gulshan Sharma's vocal here has a quality that is difficult to describe but impossible to miss — it simply feels true. The chemistry of a talented ensemble cast is embedded in every moment of Panchi, making it as much a performance as a song.

2020 marked the release of Panchi, and Panchi was the track that ensured the album would be remembered. The emotional register of Panchi is wide enough to fit celebration and solitude equally well.

The 4:27 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.