Andheron Ko Cheer - I - Proud To Be An Indian by Daboo Malik, Kunal Ganjawala

Not every song from I - Proud To Be An Indian lingers, but Andheron Ko Cheer - I - Proud To Be An Indian is the one that stays. Credit goes to Daboo Malik for a score that understands exactly what the song needs and nothing more.

Daboo Malik, Kunal Ganjawala's vocal here has a quality that is difficult to describe but impossible to miss — it simply feels true. For fans of Sohail Khan, Tim Lawrence, Heena Tasleem, Imran Ali Khan, Andheron Ko Cheer - I - Proud To Be An Indian is one of those songs that immediately conjures specific scenes and emotions.

Released in 2004, it arrived at a time when Hindi music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. It is the kind of track that works at full volume with friends and equally well in a quiet room alone — the mood adjusts without the song changing.

At 5:13, the track does not overstay its welcome — it says what it needs to say and leaves the listener wanting more. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.