Film: 'Mission Istanbul'; Music Directors: Anu Malik, Shamir Tandon, Chirantan Bhatt, Mika Singh; Singers: Priya, Shaan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Mika Singh, Anoushka, Neeraj Sridhar, Hamza Faruqui, Ishq Bector, Kunal Ganjawala, Gayatri and Raaj Gopal Iyer; Rating: **

'Mission Istanbul' is Apoorva Lakhia's next 'tough guys saving the world' movie and the music keeps the theme in mind. It has a lot of energy with a few romantic pieces thrown in.

Mika Singh, the new rapper on the Bollywood block, begins the album with 'Apun ke Saath'. Written by Mika and Virag Mishra, it sounds more like a title song as the words 'Mission Istanbul' are used again and again.

Next is 'Jo gumshuda'. Although it has an Arabic feel to it, it is essentially a romantic song. While Sameer pens the lyrics, Anu Malik attempts to make the track a hit by bringing in Sufi melodies. Shaan and Mahalaxmi Iyer have lent their voice to this piece. The remix is actually better than the original, but still not the kind you'd like to download.

Pumping beats and enthusiastic vocals define 'Mission mission'. This Chirantan Bhatt composed track is another theme song for the movie, but the lyrics by Hamza Faruqui are quite random. Like any other theme piece, this would do well only on the big screen and is not the kind one would like to sit back and listen to.

Starting off with an interesting new tune is 'Nobody like you'. Now if any track were to save the day for the already sinking album, it would be this number that has Neeraj Sridhar, Anoushka and Ishq Bector at the vocals. Composed by Chirantan again and penned by Hamza and Ishq, it has a very western feel to it with a lot of interesting beats thrown in.

The next track is 'World Hold On', which sounds a lot like Bob Sinclair's song with the same title. It's an average song and its remix is not impressive either.

Another unimpressive number is 'Yaar mera dildaara'. Quite a drag, the song with Sufi shades has the versatile Sunidhi Chauhan joining hands with Javed Ali. Neither composer Anu Malik nor lyricist Sameer make any difference to this dry number.

The music of 'Mission Istanbul' would look good during the course of the movie and not as individual audio listings.