Countdown fever continues as Sal, lists his favourite Bollywood soundtracks of 2015!  Does your favourite album make the cut?

BOMBAY VELVET

It is unfortunate that people might overlook this record because of the film’s sad reception, because this might be one of this century’s most impressive Hindi film OSTs. I hope Amit Trivedi’s magnificent accomplishment (with its clever, literate use of influences as diverse as swing, jazz, torch songs, and OP Nayyar) will, in time, find the acclaim it richly deserves. Songs like 'Behroopia' (the year’s most exquisite love ballad), the piquant 'Sylvia', and the devastating 'Dhadaam Dhadaam' (Neeti Mohan’s vocal performance on this one is one of the greatest in recent Bollywood music) are modern classics.

TAMASHA

A.R. Rahman has formed a fruitful, exciting collaboration with Imtiaz Ali, who calls on the playful, wandering sprite from the august composer’s quiver of inexhaustible muses. How delightful is 'Matargashti', with its hilarious nonsense lyrics (by Irshad Kamil) and its unexpected romp down Dev Anand lane? And how ravishing is 'Agar Tum Saath Ho', with Alka Yagnik delivering a vocal so daydream-serene (and shorn of her trademark pitchiness) that one can’t resist swooning a little?

BAJIRAO MASTANI

Sanjay Leela Bhansali proved with Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela that he was a terrific, versatile musician, and he ups his musical game considerably for his dream project. Bajirao Mastani’s OST might not have the soaring, rich arrangements of Bhansali’s musical collaborations with Ismail Darbar, but it is a refreshingly uncompromising, thoughtful work that nods reverently to classical and folk traditions. The filmmaker-composer’s touch is light in a trio of numinous love songs ('Aayat', 'Aaj Ibadat', 'Aaj Tohe' 'Jane Na Doongi'), but his true triumph is the unforgettable, entirely-too-short 'Deewani Mastani', which brings to mind the melodies from the showpiece numbers in Raj Kapoor’s films.

TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS 

Krsna Solo’s eclectic, super-fun OST for Aanand L. Rai’s domestic dramedy of errors has all the melodic heft and unabashed sentimentality of Bollywood music from the Eighties and Nineties and none of the tacky arrangements or the shrill vocals. This is a bold, energetic record, stacked with straight-up bangers like 'Ghani Bawri' (the Nooran sisters are a national treasure), 'Banno' (composed by Vayu and Tanishk Bagchi), and 'Move On', but its highlight is the gorgeously old-fashioned 'O Sathi Mere', on which Sonu Nigam reminds us why he’s the unchallenged master of the big, sweeping love song.

ROY

'Sooraj Dooba Hai' is the sort of jam you could dance to all night long; 'Boond Boond' is a velvety slow jam ideal for sexytimes; and 'Tu Hai Ki Nahin' has the perfect, broody Arjit Singh vocal that makes one overlook the triteness of the song’s Tumblr-philosopher lyrics. Roy is a solid, shiny, unimpeachable album.