Music of Heroes

With a title like that, it’s pretty obvious that this flick has no dearth of stars – bringing the Khans and the Deols together, and peppering in a Chakraborty and a Zinta for good measure.

The patriotism-heavy trailers have made this movie seem like a “Border”-meets-Biker film. Disparagingly, the music – a joint effort between Monty Sharma and Sajid-Wajid – doesn’t live up to either the lofty imagery or the all-star cast.

“Gurbani” is a short hymn-like track, adeptly sung by Shail Hada, giving the album an ominous start (similar in feel to “Ek Onkar” in “Rang De Basanti”).
On a sharp tangent from the godliness of “Gurbani”, we have “Badmash Launde”, which, as the title may wholeheartedly suggest, is a front-bencher track, replete with Bhojpuri lyrics and annoying side commentary by a chorus girl crew. If you can sit through this track without flinching, you may be in need of help.

The electronic “tumbi” that kicks off “Makhana”, followed by Sukhwinder’s vocals, may give you the impression that you are in for yet another clone from the bhangra basement. Yup, you’re right. Although, a few props are due for an energetic bass and percussive layout (a la Punjabi MC’s “Knight Rider”), but this conventional track has little else to its credit.

“Wat’s Up My Bro” stands out because of the interludes, which blend rock with ethnic instruments. The rest of the rock song, including lyrics and feel, come across as rather “wannabe”.

“Mannata” is a sweet, folksy ballad, reminiscent of similar tracks from the recent past like “Pehli Pehli Baar Baliye”, rendered by Sonu Nigam and missing-in-action, Kavita Krishnamurthy. Simple and non-pretentious, this track stands out hesitatingly from the milieu of stereotypes on this album.

The instrumental “Heroes Theme” is worth a listen. Just once, though.

Balance sheet: American humorist Will Rogers once said, “We can’t all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by.” “Heroes” is one such rightfully sidelined album, which will stack up the shelves as more deserving underdogs ‘rock on’ the airwaves.

On another note, this album also has the most curious supporting titles for its remix versions. While prior albums used realistic language like “revisited” or “acoustic mix”, “Heroes” uses random and intimidating terms like Blasted, Killer and Cruiser. Scary, no? But then, hasn’t Bollywood had its own history of random taglines for its movies? Three words for you - “Daag: The Fire”.