The soundtrack to the Bollywood-meets-Hollywood comedy The Guru features a wide, sometimes dizzying array of sounds spanning British teen pop, show tunes, smooth vocal jazz, hip-hop, and, of course, authentic Bollywood music. While the album might be almost too diverse for its own good, most of the tracks share a similarly lively energy, whether it's
Sugababes' "Round Round" or
Lata Mangeshkar and
Mohammed Rafi's "Kya Mil Gaya Kya." There are also a few covers, ranging from
Sophie Ellis-Bextor's take on
Blondie's "One Way or Another," which is passable but pales in comparison to the original, to
Diana Krall's nice but slightly schmaltzy version of
Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" to
Jo OMeara's similarly pleasant but overdone cover of "Every Kinda People." Though they make sense in the film's context, the inclusion of
los Del Rio's "Macarena" and
John Travolta and
Olivia Newton-John's "You're the One That I Want" from Grease just add to the soundtrack's fragmented, confusing feel.
Ms. Dynamite's "It Takes More,"
Pretty Willie's "Na Na," and
Paulina Rubio's "Don't Say Goodbye" lend some consistency to The Guru, but for the most part the album is a collection of fair to good songs that don't always sound good together. ~ Heather Phares