Rock On!
Hai yeh waqt ka ishaara
Rock On!
Har Lamha Pukaara
Rock On!
Yuhin dekhta hai kya tu…
Well that’s how I entered the theatre, humming the addictive title track from Rock On! and I exited slow walking and thinking,
Rock On! Zindagi milegi na dobara.
That’s because this sequel failed to recreate the Magik.
Eight years ago, ‘Sinbad the sailor’ took everyone on the journey of music, where you could believe to live your dreams and take whatever the life offers you. Rock On! Till your last breath. Remember Luke, he brought the band back.
But this comes back or union of Magik leaves you unsatisfied. The thirst for ‘that’ music and ‘that’ magic is unquenched.
Adi(Farhan Akhtar) has moved to Meghalaya, the farthest eastern corner that he could find to do some work for the welfare of locals. He has retired, voluntarily, from music, but music doesn’t leave him. Joe(Arjun Rampal) is making it big in the music world. He owns a nightclub that plays live music and a judge on a reality show. He is living the high life. KD(Purab Kohli) is the one holding on to the ropes that one day the band might reconcile. He gets a ray of hope when Uday(Shashank Arora) sends him a recording that has Jiah’s(Shraddha Kapoor) composition.
Can KD bring back Magik together? Will Adi overcome his personal problems and return to music?
This makes for the core story of the movie. And the way the plot unravels itself, it is quite predictable. Trust me, you can point out what is going to happen next. You don’t need to be Sherlock.
Director Shujat Saudagar has tried to bring a different side of the music artists that come, earn fame and then fade behind the new world of music. Sometimes, the cruel reality of what life a rock star lives and goes through never reaches the common people. The script is strong but the execution could not convey what they were trying to, or maybe the writers did leave few loops that made the plot sink in and vanish.
Thinking of Rock On! only made me think of all those songs and do few dance steps to stop myself from singing out loud. What?! Really. If you are a Rock On fan you will understand.
Rock On 2 failed to bring on that zest and zeal of the original soundtrack. The expectation from the movie was high after such an awesome hit of the prequel. Those expectations were left high and dry. Too dry for the wind to work on it.(too much maybe, but true).
Let’s talk about the performances, Farhan Akhtar lacks the lacquer and maybe that is because the writers couldn’t amp up his character. Arjun Rampal looks hot af, even in his short crop and that’s it. he was better in the prequel.
Purab Kohli looks the same and acts the same, it’s just that he has put on a little here and there. Shraddha Kapoor does the crying part and cries. Sings sometimes. And acts as much as a pinch of salt.
Feels bad for Kumud Mishra and Shashank Arora because these two good actors are wasted in this terribly written script.
A word from a wise(straightens a bit), if you are a Rock On! fan, then give this a miss. This may be heart shattering. And if you did not witness the prequel then you have nothing to lose.
Plan something else this weekend, if you can.