Shalimar

Indian popular music, largely showcased in vibrant and exciting Bollywood films, is a huge industry that Western audiences are only fleetingly aware of. My wife loves Bollywood films - the plots are simple enough to follow even though she doesn't speak Hindi, lots of colour and movement, banging songs and big dance numbers. Her idea of a great night out! There have been some cross-over attempts for Bollywood, of which Shalimar is an early example; some high-profile English cast members (Rex Harrison!), some English language in the songs, and dual release in English and Hindi. Is that why this is on the list -- because it is a cross-over release tailored somewhat for Western audiences? While normally compromising world music for the tastes of Western audiences makes for a thin gruel that pleases nobody. But Bollywood has long incorporated aspects of Western soundtrack and pop music for its own purposes and made its own thing. I'm not an expert in Indian popular music, but this seems like a pretty good example. Some great Bond-like soundtrack work by R.D. Burham and a clutch of fantastic songs in a variety of styles. This was just a super fun, highly entertaining listen. I am disinclined to analyse any deeper.

This album was actually pretty good, I thought it would be bunz, but it was interesting and unique, interesting rhythms but great instrumentals

I don't really know what this is or why it's here but it's funky and kinda fun, and something a bit different. Quite enjoyed it.

Another day, another soundtrack orphaned from its celluloid parent. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - One Two Cha Cha - Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai - Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na Thay

First listen.

A Bollywood soundtrack? Very odd choice for this, but hey its wayyyyyyy more interesting at least in orgin than a lot of fluff the list has. I know absolutely 0 about Bollywood or Indian music so this is a unique listen solely off of that fact for me. It's just alright to me, but it leaves me wondering if there are better albums that show the best the Hindi music scene has. Not sure if this list will have more, but a soundtrack seems like a really odd choice to me. A few of the songs I can pretty clearly see being the sound of certain scenes. Know nothing about the movie either, yet I have an image in my mind based off the moods these songs build so maybe it fits even better within the context of the movie. Not personally one I'd relisten to, but was a neat thing to try that I would never have listened to on my own.

20/10/2026 Do not agree with this being on here, absolutely a waste of an album slot. The only reason it isn't a 1 star is because it is not the worst thing that I've heard. Spotify listeners: Unknown

I don't understand the inclusion of this soundtrack. It's not bad, but why is it significant? I tried reading up on the movie and the music and I still don't get it.

kind of surprised seeing an OST on this list. some vocals were annoying, but overall i enjoyed this. SHALIMAR (Shalimar)

Kind of a hard one. I appreciate the music, but I feel like I would it would be better with the context of the movie. I suppose a 3/5 is fair.

Cool! There was a lot in there

Sorry, I didn't find this that interesting. If anything, it was interesting to see the influence of music from other parts of the world at the time, but that's about it.

Shalamar?! nm, bollywood

Really enjoyable

An interesting change of pace. Probably not the best example of Indian music of the time, but not a bad listen.

2.5. Interesting and different.

2.5 - ok

I'm just echoing everyone else on here but the editor knows music like this exists and still chose 50 fucking britpop albums

Unfortunately not for me. Musically good at times and I’m glad the list has given me something completely different. However I won’t be back and this is one of the closest I’ve come to not listening in full- I did persevere however, I’m not going to give in that easily… cha cha cha. Best track- ‘countess caper’ some nice sounds in this. Worst track- ‘one two cha cha cha’ 1/10

Shalimar Nice to have something different. But even with my viewing of, and listening to, Bollywood movies, I know there are infinitely better soundtracks than this. But at least it wasn't yet more western guitar rock. I'm sure we'll have more tomorrow. Best Track - One Two Cha Cha Cha. Absolutely irresistible 😂 (stolen by Idles for their track Dancer). But Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai was a close call. Worst Track - Countess Caper. Bit too Pink Panther for me 6/10 Salaam Bombay remains the no.1 Indian movie soundtrack in this house 😁

A perfectly fine listen although a very strange inclusion, especially seeing as it would require actually watching the film to properly appreciate it. Funky enough to be enjoyable, could have done with a primer beforehand.

Eh. Not too bad at times.

That was pretty good. I might even watch the movie.

OST, Bollywood, 1978 -> 2

This album is pretty great, a bit diverse, but maybe it is because it's actually a soundtrack. I don't know how I would rate it as a soundtrack (I should watch the film first, I guess), but, as a musical project, it is not outstanding but has some nice songs and some really great compositions. I don't think, on the other hand, that this can beat some other albums, even other soundtracks, nor other Indian albums. But it has its charm, it is pretty enjoyable and pleasant to listen to, and there are some not-so-Indian sounds that play around the album making it a bit more eclectic. It is nice.

I was NOT expecting a Bollywood movie soundtrack to show up on this list. I know that my English teacher from my first year of college listened to a lot of Bollywood soundtracks, so I wonder if she's familiar with this one. That being said, it's equal parts incredibly goofy and "what the hell is going on?" with some actually decent songwriting thrown in between. It's a good experience for how novel it is, if nothing else, but man would I struggle to find space in my brain to listen to this again.

I liked the last 30-40 seconds of Naag Devta. I hated absolutely everything else about this one. It might be my worst album so far.

Shalimar was certainly an interesting album. I have never seen the film that this soundtrack is from but from what i have read about it's plot, it seems like Bollywood Indiana Jones and the soundtrack definitely fits that quite well. These songs could sound quite different from each other with the intro sounding like some kind of James Bond theme then the album would have things like a song that feels like a dance number, a more romantic sounding song which isn't the main romance theme and the actual romance theme which sounds like something i'd hear out of a western film. Due to me not seeing the film, i don't have much context but i will give Dimery and his team of critics credit for picking something as interesting as this. Best Song: Title Music Worst Song: One Two Cha Cha Cha

better than i'd expected. some interesting melding of different national sounds

rip incomplete album on spotify what's there is good, but doesn't stick 💥title music (shalimar)

Hubby walks into the room as I am listening this and gives me his best "wtf is this?" face. haha. The kind of eclectisism you can only get from a movie soundtrack from the 70's and an indo-american bollywood film at that. With Cha Cha, accordian, sitar, bongos, big brass, hindi lyrics, amongst other sounds I'm not quite sure how to explain, I don't think you HAVE to listen to this at all but I am sure it was chosen within this book for being seminal at the time and for the genre.

The problem that I have with soundtracks is that most of the time I haven’t seen the film that music comes from. Maybe if I saw this film, I would enjoy this music more.

I didn't hate it, but I don't know that I'll come back to it.

𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳 is a filmi album, written for an Indian film rather than conceived purely as a standalone record. There are some interesting melodies and colourful arrangements here, but the recording quality keeps getting in the way for me. Much of it sounds thin, distant, and slightly murky, which takes away some of the impact the music should have. I often get the feeling that the ideas are more appealing than the way they actually reach my ears. As an introduction to Indian film music of the period, it is interesting. As something I would actually want to hear again, much less so.

So once again, I’m scratching my head as to why this is on the list that we must hear before we die. I have no a priori dislike for Indian music or Bollywood, and I assume this album is meant to be some kind of primer for both. That said, I don’t hear a ton of traditional Indian music in this. What is there is jazzed up, and there is a lot of other stuff, sounding at times like bad James Bond music, spaghetti western music, and even some Bernard Herrmann. And the overt reference to KC and the Sunshine Band in the second track was hilarious. So for me, this doesn’t work as either a soundtrack or an introduction. For better examples, one might look to the “Saturday Night Fever” or “The Harder They Come” soundtracks, both of which give an excellent capsule overview of their respective genres, but sadly are not included on this list, presumably for being by multiple artists.

eh it's okay

I doubt I would have found this without this list so I’m glad I listened. It is very 60’s Bollywood soundtrack vibe

It is a good Bollywood soundtrack. Some fun tracks on here in places, but some work better in context (Naag Devta, for example), and some hardly work even having seen the movie (the quite annoying One Two Cha Cha Cha). Still alright like, but not one I will often come back to I suspect

I thought I would hate this based on the album cover alone, but I actually enjoyed it.

Didn't hate it, I actually really appreciate getting something unique rather than another British new wave punk album. A 70s Bollywood movie soundtrack wasn't what I expected, but I'll take it. I enjoyed this one enough

This was an okay listen if for no reason other than to expand my experiences with music of other cultures. However, I already don't like Hindi music so there was some suffering involved. As much as I hate to say it, the western influences that make this "Bollywood" music were the only thing I enjoyed because of their camp and over the top nature.

4/10 - there are way better Bollywood albums out there

a fun listen but also a bit silly that it’s a soundtrack rather than a regular degular hindi(?) album.

Interesting. I'm wondering why this list chose a movie soundtrack and not something else to represent India. Enjoyed it. but didn't love it.

How did this make the list. There were some good musicality, but it was buried under some of the business. I like world music, but this was not it. 1.2

This was decently interesting and varied. Not something that will enter my rotation, but it’s nice to get out of the more common themes on this list. 6/10 Pretty Good

funky, cool psychedelic vibe sometimes... overall... overstays its welcome

was not expecting this but it is beautiful must i start casually playing it

70s sound with synths and wah-wah guitar, mixing in some other styles. Not sure this qualifies for a spot on this list, but it's fine.

I'm a little confused by this album... I don't really have much to compare it too but have a bit of a hard time believing this is the one single best or most important Bollywood album of all time. I thought it was a fun listen and a welcome change on this list, but don't quite get the significance or "special factor."

Right off the bat, my review has been impacted and biased by a truly awful listening experience. Shalimar isn’t available on Apple Music for some reason. Normally, that’s not a major issue as I can usually find the album on Bandcamp, YouTube, or the Internet Archive. That wasn’t the case today. Instead, the only place I could find it was Spotify. Now, I don’t like Spotify to begin with due to how shitty they are to artists and their support of AI, but I figured it won’t hurt to download the app to listen to this album. Boy was I wrong! Turns out in the free Spotify the “Smart” shuffle is permanently enabled, which meant I had to individually select each song, but you’re only allowed to individually select 5 songs before it disables this as well! You literally cannot select what music you want to listen to unless you pay them! What the fuck!? I had to then find the last couple songs individually on YouTube, which apparently I should have done in the first place. Fuck Spotify! Ok, with all that out of the way, this album was alright. The quality seemed to jump from track to track, but it’s difficult to know if that was the album or my piecemeal listening method. Some of it felt a bit too Westernized and it didn’t feel too important or impactful overall, so it feels like a poor representation of Indian music and really weird selection for the list. I have little desire to listen to this again, but I’d be happy to give it another shot if someone has a way to listen to it properly.

2,5 - I have no idea why this soundtrack is included in this list

Honestly I think I have to watch the movie bc it's not really my jam

Actually very grateful for the intro to this album. It was upbeat and engaging, but also something to listen to while I’m working.

At first glimpse I thought ‘oh no, more white boy trying to be cultural.’ But I was wrong. Bollywood is a major major market and this soundtrack is a really good example of the style. It’s five stars because of the example it sets. Definitely worth a listen.

Interesting and love Bollywood but not sure I enjoy the music without the context of the movie. Some of these songs are SO catchy though.

... a bollywood soundtrack?? The title track almost feels like it would have fit in a Roger Moore Bond film... I don't even know how to categorize the rest of the songs. Some of it is very eastern, some of it is very much not. There's been a few songs that I actually liked a lot, but there's also a few that are just... rough. Production isn't great, but you'd expect that from an early 70's album that frankly, sounds like it's trying to do too much. I'm enjoying the music a fair amount, but I definitely don't understand why this is on this list. It does make me want to watch this movie to understand how this eclectic soundtrack fits.

I'm not exactly sure what to with this album. I certainly don't need to hear it again.

5.5/10

Enjoyed this one. Indian music seems a bit underrated imo, there’s a real point of difference in the style I find appealing

I hate this music.

I mean I get the musicality of it. Certainly there is talent, it’s well put together and all. That being said it wasn’t a pleasure to listen to for me.

I'm sure this works fine as a soundtrack, but as a standalone album I'm not really sure what it's doing here. A good score can make a big difference in a movie, but I essentially never want to listen to an hour of John Williams, much less some Bollywood film I've never seen. Couldn't we find some Indian artists who made actual albums? Surely there's an artist or two among the billion people who live there who make music for a living... Really hard not to give this a 1 as it simply should not be on the list (how many people will ever come back to this one??). 1s are reserved for objectively bad music and this is not that, but this is a silly pick.

Forgettable, not very good. Combine to a 1.5, rounding to 1

c'mon now

Sonically, the production on this is quite awful. Especially for the late 70s. I thought there were some moments that moved me quite a bit. So in that aspect it was successful. But I just could not get over how bad it sounded at times. Weird panning, mics breaking up. I cane into this excited but I think I have to go with a 2, because I can’t imagine wanting to listen again.

India meets James Bond and other interesting stuff. At times feels like it is a decade older than 78 release...

Intressting. Film Music. Like James Bond or smt

weird inclusion. makes a change from a million whiny white dudes from manchester.

This is fun! But I have a really hard time believing that the most significant peices of music to come out of *the most populous nation IN THE WORLD* are from a movie soundtrack... 2.5/5

Wow! Interesting. It didn't occur to me that film soundtracks could be on the list lol. I really enjoyed some of these songs!

Not for me 🤷‍♀️…

I am completely out of context - I might assume that this movie (together with the soundtrack) was a banger back days in late 70s, beginning of the 80s. However, now is sound just like another song from a typical Bollywood movie.

That intro is so funky

Of all the Bollywood OSTs you go with Shalimar???? Critical and commercial failure Shalimar???? I'll admit I had fun with it but come on

Unusual. Nice one.

This was a welcome change of pace on this list! Good fun listening

Another cringy attempt by Robert to bring us the very best the non-Anglo world has to offer. Seriously, bro. If you were going to be this half-hearted when "diversifying" your book, you really should have just stuck to your lane and written a tastefully honest foreword disclosing that you simply don't have the necessary credentials and exposure to be telling anyone what's "must-hear" material outside of your limited range (even within, your qualifications are unquestionably questionable). I, for my part, have no idea what India's most essential music is, but I'd like to believe that it isn't the soundtrack to some random-ass Bollywood film from the 70s. Or at the very least, not THIS soundtrack. This sucked.

This was pretty disappointing. I’ve got to believe there is something better out there for this genre.

Blend of eastern and westernised interesting

While there are lots of movies with great soundtracks, it always feels kinda weird in a project like this, because it feels like it's an incomplete experience or something. That being said, I did enjoy this album. I believe this film (and thus album) are Indian, and as the most populated country on Earth, I do think it's sorta weird that this is just the second album I've seen from India, and that it's a soundtrack. It also feels, to me like an Indian album that seems inspired by Western music quite a bit, so maybe it's an accessibility thing? Regardless, there are some great, varied and interesting songs here. I think the second side is a little more interesting than the first though, and I have a hard time imagining what this film may be about from the soundtrack, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is important if the expectation is that we just listen to this without the movie. In all, I kind of think about this as an edge case on the list (along with the other soundtracks), but it was enjoyable and unique.

As much as I want to praise this album for being on the list, I actually have many complaints before even talking about the music itself. Firstly, I can't help but notice that I've only got about 100 albums left, and I'm pretty sure that this is the only Bollywood album I've had so far, and I don't think that there aren't any others coming up after this. It's all good and well trying to include as much diversity in sound and culture as possible, but I just wonder why the entire of Bollywood music is represented just by this, all the while I've had to listen to more glam rock slop albums than I would care to count. And even then, a fucking soundtrack of all albums? Soundtracks on this list should really be used sparingly, as it's extremely rare for a sountrack to hold up as an album in its own right, seperate from the film/tv show/game it comes from. I haven't even heard of this film, let alone seen it, and I imagine that is true for most people doing this challenge. So how could anyone possibly be able to appreciate the music if they aren't even familiar with what it's from, or even the entire culture of that part of the world's art. Anyway, rant about this awfully put together list over, I really don't have much to say about the album itself. As already mentioned, I know nothing about this film or really any Bollywood films (or music for that matter), so I can't really judge this by anything other than my first impressions listening to it. It was a perfectly pleasant experience but I wasn't exactly in love with it. Maybe if this Goddamn list actually included more stuff like this (ideally not soundtracks though) then I would have more context as to whether this is actually any good or not, but for now, listening to this was simply a very average and underwhelming experience.

Kinda enjoyed this.

I'm all for a bit of diversity on this list but I could really have done without this

Kind of cool, 70s funk meets Indian. The high-pitched repetitive stuff isn’t my favorite, but glad I checked it out.

Not my type of jam

That was an experience for sure... Somewhere i think its sad that this is the only Indian album on here

I’m American and have no idea what I just listened to but I enjoyed it.

This is a stupid album

This was a lot of fun. I’ve never gotten around to watching a Bollywood movie, maybe this should be my first!

This album just is not interesting. It’s even in doing respects too corny for its own good. Especially the fact that it’s a sound track taken out from the context of the movie, it definitely hinders it. Not everything is Purple Rain

Sublime

Turned out to be a fun little record. I have to say I was not looking forward to it. 3/5

Yeah… not for me…

This record is kind of frustrating. On one hand it is a breath of fresh air amid all of the country, 80's britpop and 20 Bruce Springsteen records, but it is also just not very good. First off the quality is just shit. The audio clips constantly and it sounds like it was recorded on a pringles can. It genuinely hurts my ears so much I can't look past it. Secondly it is just an incohesive movie score for what is most likely a pretty a mediocre film. It has some interesting influences from India, but not enough to make up for its deficits. This is all very frustrating because millions of people live in India and it has a rich cultural and musical history. I have heard one other indian record on this list and that was stellar, so I was really looking forward to hearing more. Having this record represent India feels like having the soundtrack of Mac and Me represent the U.S.

I can't say I expected to see a bollywood soundtrack of all things on this list. Some of the songs on here are pretty fun, and interesting, just a bit random at times. I also struggle to find any particular reason why this album specifically on this list except for the fact that it seems to be a pretty well received soundtrack, and that this list required a bollywood soundtrack according to the author. This is not necessarily a criticism, I am mainly just confused as it feeels very random. Overall far from the worst album on this list, though some of these songs are very clearly meant as a background behind a scene and therefore feel a bit random and lacking context.

**an ok, easy listening album

Alright album at first impression, liked the first track and some of the last tracks. Sounds like a typical Bollywood-soundtrack, but with some western influences.

*1978. Bollywood soundtrack. *This is kinda fun, but mostly super cheesy and kitschy. *Probably not the best way to showcase Indian music (although I assume I'll be coming across Ravi Shankar at some point), and certainly seems like an odd inclusion to this list... but I suppose I appreciate being exposed to some Bollywood music? RATING - 5/10

i liked this way more than i probably should have