Mumbai: Ajit Pal Mangat launched the music of his film Victory at Vie Lounge on 28 December. Besides the main cast and crew of the film including Amrita Rao, Harman Baweja, Harbhajan Singh, Tinu Anand, Brinda Parekh, Annu Mallik, Kailash Kher, Manmohan Shetty, and Kannan Iyer, industry people like Bijon Das Gupta, Ashutosh Gowariker, Prakash Jha, Boney Kapoor, Mahendra Verma, Amir Ali were also present at the launch.
Victory is an epic story of an international cricketer and as the title suggests it’s a story of heroic triumphs against various adversities and odds that the protagonist faces. The original story was written by Ajit himself and it’s co-written by Kannan Iyer. Besides Lagaan, none of the other films based on cricket have made such a big impact at the box office in India so even though the music of Victory sounds good and the film does look good, it’s difficult to say whether Victory will win at the box office.
For Mangat, who has been an actor himself and also directed a number of ad films and television serials, Victory is the first feature film that he is directing. The film is very close to his heart because like every Indian, he too is a big cricket fan and he has a lot of expectations from the film. He says, "When someone says I don’t have any expectations after making a film, I think he’s lying. Once you’ve worked hard and given five years of your life to make the film, you obviously want it to be seen by one and all. More than anything you cannot let down the people who have invested money and have shown faith in you."
He feels it’s the most difficult job to be a producer, director according to him "It’s a mother of a job! The most difficult job. And now I realize why Mr. Manmohan Shetty told me to produce it."
Anu Malik, who has given the music for the film said he was happy with the way the music has shaped up and he feels that everyone’s going to love it. He said, "There is nothing that tastes better than the taste of victory." According to Harbhajan the music is the kind they can hear in the changing rooms to pep them up before a match. Balla Utha Chakka Laga seems to be everyone’s favourite besides Cricket Hai Jeevan Hamra Kehta Hai India Sara which Mangat feels is going to be the theme song for cricket in India for years to come.
