Spy thriller - ' 16 December ', modern world meeting pre-historic mythology - ' Rudraksh ' and now a thriller with an army background - ' Tango Charlie '. Mani Shankar, the techno wizard, has always believed in doing the best when it comes to creating a genuinely 'different' and 'slick' product. Though his movies have had mixed results at box office (16 December was a surprise success while ' Rudraksh ' failed to woo audience due to it's complicated execution), the fact cannot be denied that one eagerly looks forward to another high-tech wizardry in the shape of 'Tango Charlie '.

Before one starts making conclusion about this Nitin Mamohan and Gaurav Digital production as yet another movie about war between India and Pakistan, it needs to be clarified that TC is also about the battles that Army fights inside the country rather than just outside. Coming straight from the newspaper headlines, TC boasts of an A class starcast of Ajay Devgan, Bobby Deol, Sanjay Dutt & Suneil Shetty (in special appearances), Tanisha (her third movie after Sssshhh... and Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao ) and Nandana Sen ( Black ). Agreed that except for Sanjay Dutt and to an extent Ajay Devgan none from the rest of the leading starcast is having a great time at the box office. But TC could be one ground where each of them could meet with that much eluding success. 

With a tagline of ' The Heart Of A Hero ', one gets the message that the movie will also have love stories running in parallel. This is the reason why Anu Malik and Anand Raj Anand come up with some love songs worded by Javed Akhtar saab and ARA himself. Ajay Devgan and Nandana Sen romance in the 'shuddh hindustani - radha shyaam saga' - ' Odhni Odhli '. Sung by Udit Narayan and Madhushree Iyer (of 'Hum Hai Iss Pal Yahan - Kisna ' fame), the number makes more of an impression while one hears it rather than seeing it. The song composed by ARA is of the kind that Subhash Ghai would love to have in his movie due to pure Indian melody and a sure shot formulaic appeal that works well at an all-India level. A pleasant number to the ears that also has an 'Instrumental' to boast of!

Beats of ' Chappa Chappa Charkha Chale ' from ' Maachis ' are revisited as ' Akkad Te Bakkad Te ', an all male song picturised on the Army folks. Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher, Kunal Ganjawala and Vijay Prakash get together to sing this male-bonding song about 'Let's make merry as who knows what would happen tomorrow!'. Again based on Indian melody and rhythm, this theme was quite popular till about 2 years back when such numbers were far, few and selective. But due to an over flow of such tracks, the excitement value has gone down.

ARA takes you a trip down the memory lane with ' Ek Diwani Ladki ' that reminds you of the late 70s Amol Palekar hit 'Na Jaane Maine Tumse Kuch Kaha'. An extremely foot tapping number, it is sung extremely well by Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal. Very expressive in rendition, both the singers do an amazing job with the song and the results are there to be seen. One keeps snapping fingers with a smile on a face constantly through the number!

Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal come together for a romantic outing in ' Dheere Dheere ', a gap filler number by ARA that sounds fine but that's it. A soft song, it doesn't have many ingredients in it that could take it to a chartbuster status and hence ultimately settles down to an average status.

After ' Akkad Te ', Anu Malik returns to the musical scene with ' Kya Bataoon Dilruba ', a catchy number by the vintage and the most reliable jodi of Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. A melodious track with nice rhythm, it calls for a nice picturization to reach out to a good spread of audience. After ' Odhni ' and ' Ek Diwani Ladki', 'Kya Bataaon' is another lively song in the album. And yes, in true T-Series tradition, it also has an ' Instrumental '!

' Ae Aasman ' is the last song in the album that gets into the mould of "peace'n'love for all". With good lyrics to support, it is a thoughtful number that aims at spreading message about love, brotherhood and respect for one's nation. Sonu Nigam is dependable as always and the tune by ARA is good as well. Since there has been a flurry of such tracks in last two years and the war theme has just died down, the only question that comes in mind is that is today's audience still interested in hearing this genre of songs?

Tango Charlie doesn't have a chartbuster in the making but still has a few songs that can be heard and hummed along. Even rest of the songs are not outright rejects or of a skipable variety. In nutshell, an album that won't become a rage in the weeks to come or become the talk of the town. At the music stores, Tango Charlie should be able to do an above average business.