In my view, Season 3 of Coke Stuio @ MTV was shades below Season 2 (but obviously far better than Season 1, of course!). Season 2 set the standard quite well that this season seemed to be struggling to match. But yes, there were some terrific songs in this season too. My two favorite episodes – as defined by the simple thumbrule that I repeatedly like to listen to at least 3 songs from one episode – were Amit Trivedi’s (Naariyan, Shahr main and Rabba) and Papon’s (Khumaar, Benaam khwayishen and Dinae dinae).
Rahman’s and Ram Sampath’s episodes had good songs too, but in the overall scheme of arriving at a list of 10 songs, I’d drop much of their songs and perhaps retain just 2, one from each. Even here, Kattey is something I grew to like over the weeks, despite my annoyance with Hard Kaur’s intrusion in what is otherwise a smashing song!
The most disappointing episodes, from my perspective, were by Hitesh Sonik and Clinton Cerejo. And I did not expect much in the multiple composer episode anyway and that one obviously was terrible – the worst of all episodes in this season. One thing I’d love to see in Season 4 is more non-Hindi composers and music producers, particularly from the South. My wishlist includes Raghu Dixit, Anirudh, Thaikkudam Bridge, Sharreth, Sunny MR (of Swamy Ra Ra fame) and Raman Mahadevan, besides mainstream folks like Vishal Bharadwaj and Hariharan. And yes… an episode with Ilayaraja would be bloody awesome, though I’m guessing that the chances of such an episode is rather bleak, for multiple/assorted reasons!
Anyway, here’s my top 10 songs from Coke Studio @ MTV, Season 3 – as always, in order of *my* preference. I enjoyed the weekly process of listening to fresh songs and articulating my thoughts the day after. Here’s looking forward to more good music in Season 4!
01. Naariyan – Amit Trivedi
02. Zariya – A R Rahman, with Ani Choying Drolma and Farah Siraj
03. Khumaar – Papon
04. Kattey – Ram Sampath, with Bhanvari Devi and Hard Kaur
05. Benaam khwaayishen – Papon, with Anweshaa
06. Rabba – Amit Trivedi, with Tochi Raina and Jaggi
07. Namaste – Salim Sulaiman, with Des Raj Lachkani Group and Shraddha Pandit
08. Shaher main – Amit Trivedi, with Tanvi Shah
09. Kalapi – Clinton Cerejo, with Kailash Kher
10. Cheene re mora – Salim Sulaiman, with Ustad Rashid Khan
