Hello, Various artists

"...Is it me you're looking for?"

The film Hello, directed by Atul Agnihotri, is based on Chetan Bhagat's book One Night At the Call Centre and deals with the lives of India's ubiquitous call centre operators. Both the music directors, Sajid and Wajid, come from legendary families who have influenced Bollywood's music for the past 50 years. The duo have attempted to bring in different influences from Indian music and, on at least some of the songs, hold them to their true forms without muddying them too much with western influences. They picked classical singers such as Bhangra folk vocalist Daler Mehndi to sing Karle Baby, Dance Wance (Dance Baby) and Zubin, and Sunidhi Chauhan for the Sufi-based rendition of Rab Ka Banda. Wajid lends his own voice to a choir in the contemporary title song Hello and then averagely mimics being a rock star in the aptly titled Bang, Bang, Bang which blends English and Hindi lyrics well, with credit going to Wajid's voice. But really, the music feels like it has come straight out of the video game, Guitar Hero. Overall, the soundtrack is surprisingly worth a listen, with a mix of upbeat and mellow tunes that should work well as an accompaniment to the film.