Popular RJ Salil Acharya of Radio City Mumbai looks back at the year gone by and selects the hits, the stars and the trends of Bollywood music during 2012.

MUMBAI: The year 2012 has been one of huge highs and very few lows for the Hindi film industry. Salman Khan still ruled the roost , Akshay Kumar made a superb comeback , Shah Rukh Khan appeared on the scene after a while with a bang and Aamir Khan added intrigue with ‘Talaash’ and Rs 100 crore to his belly too. So was it the same for the music industry too.

In effect I would have to say popular hits wise, it has been a significant year, if not historic year for the music industry. The blockbuster song of the year without a doubt would have to be ‘Chikni Chameli’ sung by Shreya Ghoshal but I think it became a greater rage because of Katrina Kaif which catapulted the song to blockbuster status, With ‘Agneepath’ breaking 100 crores at the box office, this song still continues to rule. The usual suspects continued to rule voice wise at the box office; with Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan being all over the place. But I think the latter half (of the year) was happy to see a new brigade emerging in the young talent pool.

1. Neeti Mohan - Jiya Re (Jab Tak Hai Jaan) and ‘Ishq Wala Love’ (Student Of The Year- SOTY) she's been around for years with (pop group) Aasma and AR Rahman but was waiting for the right solo break and with both these, she showed her versatility and was fabulous

2. Shalmali Kholgade– ‘Daru Desi’ (Cocktail ) ‘Pareshaan’ (Ishqzaade)- wonderful soul touching voice and fabulously versatile.

3. Benny Dayal – ‘Daru Desi’ (Cocktail) ‘Disco Deewane’ (SOTY ) - superbly fresh and has a ‘rockish’ feel to his voice.

4. Arijit Singh – ‘Phir Le Aya Dil’ (Barfi) ‘Duaa’(Shanghai)

5. Aditi Singh Sharma – ‘Raabta’ ( Agent Vinod - night in a motel), ‘Heroine’ (title track) - consistently  building a large body of work in the last two years she is one to look out for in the coming year too.

The future looks secured for the music industry (unlike the Indian cricket team ) and with heroines like Kareena and Katrina lending their face to item numbers, blockbuster songs will be a norm in the future, Does it take away from the singer? Possibly, but I feel like if a film does well everyone benefits and in this case the singer too shall benefit.

Among music directors, I think Pritam was fabulous this year once again with Agent Vinod, Cocktail and Barfi. The latter being nominated for the Oscars has been the icing on the cake for them. Allegations still continue against Pritam, this year during Agent Vinod being no different, but I have to say this man’s ability to churn out hit after hit is unbelievable. More power to him.

Another notable comeback this year was Himesh Reshammiya's. He had been away for two years but with ‘Bol Bachchan’, ‘Son Of Sardar’, ‘Khiladi 786’, this year made him the tour de force once again that he used to be.

This year also saw a number of actors lending their voice successfully , Ali Zafar in London, Paris, New York singing one of my favorite ballads, Ayushmann Khurana with ‘Paani Da’ that became a huge rage shows that the film industry is becoming more flexible, more ‘experimentative’ and a playground for the lesser mortals too- which is nice to see- because I always felt it was treated like the personal fiefdom of a notable few. Its time everybody with talent got a chance to prove themselves.

Parting Shot: Radio has always and will continue to play a huge role in popularizing music with the masses and I'm glad that the power of this medium is now being fully respected by music directors and actors alike, I do hope the coming year proves to be more musical and we have more rags to riches stories of singers - all because Bollywood continues to be the land of opportunity where the fittest survive.