Film soundtracks are more often than not cheesy. There is always that song or two that stands out, sure, but a lot of the times, it is hard for the entire soundtrack to be a serious one and still come across as neatly wrapped package. No loose ends and no irritating requisite ‘item’ song. My Name is Khan is a film with a soundtrack that neatly boxes and marks itself with a can-do-no-wrong tag.

The soundtrack has been directed by the musical trio that in itself is a neat package – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Having musical scores such as Bunty Aur Babli, Dil Chahta Hai and Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna among others under their belt; the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy team has become synonymous with successful soundtracks. The vocals the directors have used work with their style and direction to put together a well-rounded album that makes for easy listening.

Having said that, the MNIK soundtrack is not the most exciting one you will have ever come across. The songs are all good – not one of them qualifies as crappy – but they are far too vanilla to stand out too much in a world where music directors are mixing serious with edgy.

MNIK’s music veers towards the pop side of the qawwali lite genre. Given the nature of the film of course it makes sense not to have glitzy numbers that Bollywood films are given to, or to have something as spiky as ‘Dhan Te Nan’ on the soundtrack; but maybe the score could be kept sober but with a kick.

Take ‘Allah Hi Rehem’ for instance – sung by Ustad Rashid Khan (‘Aogey Jab Tum’ from Jab We Met) – a very mellow song, slightly qawwali-ish but with light undertones, it is pleasant to listen to. But it is so reminiscent of many other Bollywood qawwalis that it can be safely put in the forgettable box and never thought about again.

Some of the hype about the soundtrack has been generated by the fact that both Shafqat Amanat Ali and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan sing for the movie. However, in Pakistan we have such a hugely talented music industry that when you take a couple of our best singers and mesh them in with music direction aimed at capturing a wide audience, the effect at best will be one that would get a solid B, stopping short of an A.

‘Sajda’, RFAK’s contribution to the soundtrack is good. It is not brilliant. Anyone who has heard the Charkha album several times over knows exactly the vocal mastery Rahat is capable of, and that knowledge alone is enough to make one think his voice could have been fashioned around something that sounds more intense. ‘O Re Piya’ was an intense song that used Rahat’s voice to it’s full advantage. ‘Sajda’ is not a bad song but Rahat’s usually overpowering vocals get lost in the backing chorus, Richa Sharma’s own strong voice (she sings with Rahat) and Shankar Mahadevan’s supporting vocals. Looked at as a collaboration, the song works – looked at as something you especially flew RFAK to sing, it disappoints massively.

The second Pakistani gem on the soundtrack is Shafqat Amanat Ali. With his history in Bollywood of singing the bursting with love and sunshine ‘Mitwa’ and the incredible ‘Yeh Hosla’ (Dor), and his own independent music career, one expects nothing short of fantastic from him. ‘Tere Naina’, his piece on the soundtrack is once again, pleasing. You will listen to it being played ad infinitum on the radio, television and will one day give in and buy the CD or put the song on your iPod. Where ‘Yeh Hosla’ and ‘Mitwa’ were both tracks that burst with passion, ‘Tere Naina’ is soft with a lighthearted blush. And once more, one suspects Shafqat looked at the song as paid vacation. Quite like Assad Ahmed did his stint with Awaz, money and fame but not drawing too deep on his well of talent.

The songs that do sound like possible anthems both have Shankar Mahadevan on vocals. ‘Rang De’ is upbeat with a positive message and sounds like its straight off the Rock On! soundtrack. “Rang de, aman se aasman (paint the sky with peace)” is the song’s core. ‘Noor E Khuda’, the other song that features Shankar is equally good.

‘Noor E Khuda’ also has Adnan Sami Khan and Shreya Ghoshal singing on it. The song is one that leaps out more brightly than the other numbers. In the tradition of all MNIK songs, ‘Noor E Khuda’ too is soft and gentle and, well, nice, but Sami’s voice lends it a slight kick that is missing from the other tracks, This is not to say ‘Noor E Khuda’ is exceptionally kicky; but that it has slightly more flavour than the safe softcore qawwalis and lightfooted classical the soundtrack boasts of otherwise.

While MNIK’s soundtrack might not be one that becomes an obsessive habit, it is one that would provide a breather from songs that tend to become obsessions. It’s a soundtrack well done. It is a break from bittersweet edgy or nauseatingly sweet. It is vanilla, watered down.