Sham - Aisha by Amit Trivedi, Nikhil D'souza, Neuman Pinto

Sham - Aisha works because it does not try to do too much — it finds one feeling and holds it perfectly. What makes Sham - Aisha musically distinctive is the composition by Amit Trivedi, which balances simplicity with depth.

The vocal on Sham - Aisha is among the better performances Amit Trivedi, Nikhil D'souza, Neuman Pinto has committed to record. The song is tied to Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, whose presence gives Sham - Aisha a visual dimension that fans of the film will always associate with it.

Released in 2010, it arrived at a time when Hindi music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. Listeners have described the experience of Sham - Aisha differently — romantic, melancholic, uplifting — which suggests the song is large enough to hold many truths.

The 4:44 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.