Amit Trivedi is not the only composer to complete a decade in 2018. If you go by the information available online, composing duo Sachin-Jigar made their debut in 2008 too, with the single, ‘Allah Beley’ from the film My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, which otherwise had music by Pritam and Himesh Reshammiya!
To be completely honest, as someone who has been tracking the Indian film music industry for a very long time, and vocally (through Milliblog) since 2005, I didn’t think much about this duo’s in the early days. changed my opinion to some extent, but it was that had me truly impressed. Post Shor, they were swimming along till the superbly entertaining happened. And then, with Shuddh Desi Romance, they completely won me over. It was a much derided and debated #300 on Milliblog. I was madly in love with that film’s music that I still think is vastly underrated.
To be fair, Sachin and Jigar themselves seem mighty underrated despite creating some fantastic music over 10 years. A large part of that blame may lie with the duo themselves, ironically. I still cannot decipher something unique about the duo’s music. In many cases, I’d guess Pritam as the composer when the music would have been by this duo! That’s perhaps an advantage and a disadvantage. For example, for Amit Trivedi, who has a recognizable style of music, it is both an advantage and a disadvantage. In Sachin-Jigar’s case, they seem to mimic other composers remarkably well, and at times, doing better than them. So it’s no wonder the big production houses have worked with the duo (like YRF, for example).
Also, while compiling this list, and with my long-list, I noticed something interesting – I had a lot more in the list of bouncy, dance’y songs, than in terms of melodies and softer tunes. That’s quite an interesting split, I thought. But, to bring it down to my absolute favorite top 30, I compiled this list of 15 + 15 – 15 bouncy tracks, followed by 15 softer tunes, just to help retain the mood for 2 parts of a playlist.
The duo also, for some reason, have an alarmingly large number of soundtracks where they are not the only composers and share credit with many others. Even their Wikipedia discography lists 17 film soundtracks like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that trend (they even have the best single in films like Finding Fanny!), but I do see them improving on that count, and hopefully, they get better control over scripts and associations with directors to produce thematically rich and suitable scores.
I’m aware that they have lately been doing quite a few Gujarati films too, like Bey Yaar, Wrong Side Raju (Satrangi Re was at No.18 in my list of melodies), Chor Bani Thangaat Kare (Bhuli Javu Che from the soundtrack is a great listen that missed the 30 owing to other better songs that I thought deserved the spot) and Best Of Luck Laalu. Also, to be fair, I should have added the Telugu song by the duo, ‘Meher’ (from the film D For Dopidi) in place of Jaise Mera Tu from Happy Ending (the same tune that was used earlier by the duo in Telugu). But I chose to add the Hindi song simply for broader accessibility and keeping it as a Hindi-only playlist.
I’ve given the duo quite a few #200 word reviews recently – , , and so on. And there’s a lot of music expected from the duo yet – even Stree has released only 3 songs, I believe more songs are in the offing. I may have qualms with a Parmanu occasionally, but there’s no doubt that this duo has the capability to deliver. They just need some great story-tellers by their side to inspire them to create great music. I really look forward to what they produce in the future.
PS 1: I’m doing away with song-by-song notes due to a paucity of time.
PS 2: Saavn and YouTube playlists have all 30 (+1) songs. Apple Music has only 29 (+1) since it is missing the soundtrack of A Flying Jatt.
15 for the feet:
01. Slowly Slowly – Go Goa Gone (2013)
02. Shake Your Bootiya – Finding Fanny (2014)
03. Jee Karda – Badlapur (2015)
04. Single Rehne De – Simran (2017)
05. Iss Tarah – Meri Pyaari Bindu (2017)
06. Khoon Choos Le – Go Goa Gone (2013)
07. Bezubaan – ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013)
08. Bandook Meri Laila – A Gentleman (2017)
09. Musik Bandh Na Karo – Hum Tum Shabana (2011)
10. Karma Is a Bitch – Shor in the City (2011)
11. Chanchal Mann Ati Random – Shuddh Desi Romance (2013)
12. Haseena Tu Kameena Mein – Happy Ending (2014)
13. Awww ! Tera Happy B’Day – ABCD 2 (2015)
14. Chandralekha – A Gentleman (2017)
15. G Phaad Ke – Happy Ending (2014)
15 for the soul:
01. Gulabi – Shuddh Desi Romance (2013)
02. Saibo – Shor in the City (2011)
03. Jaise Mera Tu – Happy Ending (2014)
04. Jeena Jeena – Badlapur (2015)
05. Babaji Ki Booti – Go Goa Gone (2013)
06. Sun Saathiya – ABCD 2 (2015)
07. Khair Mangda – A Flying Jatt (2016)
08. Meet – Simran (2017)
09. Jeene Laga Hoon – Ramaiya Vastavaiya (2013)
10. Tere Mere Beech Mein – Shuddh Desi Romance (2013)
11. Khamma Ghani – Happy Ending (2014)
12. Chunar – ABCD 2 (2015)
13. Afeemi – Meri Pyaari Bindu (2017)
14. Nazar Na Lag Jaaye – Stree (2018)
15. Issaq Tera – Issaq (2013)
Bonus instrumental song: Love In Jaipur – Shuddh Desi Romance (2013)
Playlist on Apple Music | Saavn | YouTube
