Rock On!

A sad story. With an inapt name to it. But, yeah, an attractive one, I must say. The movie was wonderful. But not 'rocking', as the title would suggest. To those, whom I've already said, that I didn't like Rock On!, hold on. I must have also said that the movie couldn't have been made better.

Four friends. And, they, like many others of their age (i.e. our age) had a passion for creating music. What's more, they literally lived on it. 'Magik', their band, performed on a small scale, entertained people on a small scale, and earned, on a small scale as well. So, when one of their girl-friends informs them about a competition that gives the winners an opportunity to launch an album-cum-music video, money poses the first problem. This is the touch or realism all throughout the movie, that I appreciate the most; the thing about Rock On! that makes it a superior movie to 'The Happy Life' (it's Korean clone). Life is all about compromises. You'll hear this a number of times in this movie. Their first compromise being the performance at the Dandiya event. They earn they bucks, buy the equipment, take part in the proposed 'life-changing' competition. And win.

It is Debbie (played by Shahana Goswami),  Joe's girl-friend (Arjun Rampal plays Joe) who's the axis of the story, I guess. She's the one who had brought the news of the competition. Who had fed memory pills to KD (Purab Kohli) to help him remember details. Who had given Aditya (Farhan Akhtar) medications for the restoration of his voice. Who didn't mind when the album producers refused to use her as the album stylist. Who had stood by the band so faithfully. She makes the story. When the band disrupts after a fight at the recording studio, and everyone leaves everyone, she sticks to Joe. She kicks away her dreams of 'fashion-designing' and comes to manage Joe's family fish business.

Ten years later, Saakshi, Aditya's wife (Praachi Desai) runs into KD. And a few photos and cassettes and papers from her husband's past. She tries and manages to re-unite the four friends, and help them sort out their differences. The first pivot of the story is how
Aditya, who thinks he has detached himself from his past, his friends, his music, begins to differ. The second of the pivotal points in the story come when Debbie reminds Joe how the band had hurt him in the past, and tries to prevent him from the others, not because she hates them, but because she needs to have Joe earn money to run the family. The third jolt comes when the news of Rob's brain tumor reaches the others. The character of KD was the only one who didn't have personal problems. But that wasn't unfair injustice done to Purab Kohli. He's the one, the 'killker drama' (watch the movie to know what I mean), the one who actually extricates the others from their own worlds. And brings them back to stage; for one last performance before Rob's (Luke Kenny) death. 

The conclusive flashes say that Debbie retires from the fish business and becomes a successful stylist. Joe, who had wrenched his hand free of Debbie's grasp to forego the cruise trip (the new job Debbie found him) and go to the concert instead, has money enough all of a sudden. This is why I was disappointed. I wish Debbie's struggle was given a better illustration. I had found the first half of the movie pretty slow. The director could have compromised with the moments of his inactive retrospection onscreen and highlighted the more important part in the end. It was more important for me to know how things work out well for someone who decides to turn a deaf ear to the voice of logic inside his head, for the sake of things such as emotions, friendship, music etc. It was, and is, important for everyone else too, I guess.

The sight of Arjun Rampal playing the guitar, with a halo of long hair flowing behind him, is a feast for the eyes. The fact that I saw him few feet away the previous day, endeared his celluloid image even more to me. The guest appearance by Anu Malik as Rob's employer is a welcome sight as well. Koel Puri's performance as Saakshi's friend and KD's love interest deserves a mention as well. Watch the movie. It'll move you, for sure.

P.S.: One thing I hated about the movie is that the posters showed the pictures of all the four men in equal proportion, yet the movie focused most on Farhan akhtar's character, and least on Purab Kohli's life. The director (Farhan Akhtar himself) shouldn't have allowed the camera capture every detail of his lifestyle including, bathing, eating, sleeping etc; and compromise with two others' characters (Arjun Rampal had justice to his bit).