Speedy Singhs / Breakaway Review

There is a certain genre of film. It pretends to be a bollywood film, but is made abroad by a director who is either a non -Indian or an Indian who has not lived on the subcontinent for a long time. It has a mainstream release alongside it’s Hollywood counterparts and has three defining features:

1) The main character will do something that the parents will disagree with and the parents will complain their son/daughter is not Indian enough.
2) This disagreement will be resolved in the end.
3) The soundtrack to the film will be full of Punjabi and bhangra tracks to appeal to the Indians abroad.

Speedy Singhs, or Breakway falls into this genre. At eight songs, this feels like a relatively short album. But in terms of the big name artists it has on it, it sounds like a bhangra compilation album rather than a film soundtrack.

RDB have teamed up with Ludacris and Akshay Kumar to produce Shera Di Khom. This track has a great feel to it and Ludacris pulls his weight throughout the track. RDB also feature on Sansar. The mix of rap and Punjabi vocals make it sound a bit like the great year of 2004 all over again. Which is apt as one of the sample in the track was borrowed from Usher and  first used circa 2004. And then again in 2009 in De Dana Dan.

Ne Aaja Ve is a Rishi Rich Production with Veronica and H-Dhami providing the vocals. Veronica’s vocals are slightly weak and this is disappointing as she is the only female voice on a rather manly soundtrack. Despite that, it’s a good pop track. But the video for it makes me cringe.

Chaddi Wale Yaar is my favourite song on the album after Shera Di Khom. I am a fan of Josh and it is great to hear them on this soundtrack. This song is a perfect blend of pop, bhangra with a few whiffs of testosterone. I can see this being an anthem for the boys, especially on the dance floor.

Jassi Sidhu’s attempt of Rail Guddi is slightly disappointing. Mangal Singh’s version  is a classic and I can’t see this new version replacing it in any time soon. Also included is Veer Ji Viyon. This is a slightly different version of a song from the Jassi’s album Reality Check which first came out in 2003 and is nothing new. It’s a good song, but I just prefer it when an album is made up of new original sounds rather than editing old ones.

Verdict: The true test of a soundtrack is if it can stand alone without the film. This album passes that test. There is much more bhangra on this than the typical filmi album but it is well produced. This album will be on my play list for a long time.