Rock On - One of the most anticipated movie of 2008. Especially among the music lovers/Rock lovers!! Though the music, which was released sometime back , was not exactly a chartbuster but it had its own fan following.
And after having watched the movie yesterday(at a preview show), my opinion is same about the movie. It may not appeal to each and everyone but will have its own worshippers.
Rock on is about 4 friends, all connected by magik and music. They are part of a rock band called magik. Aditya Shroff(Farhan Akhtar) is the lead singer, Joe(Arjun Rampal) the lead guitartist, Rob(Luke Kenny) is on the keyboard and KD or Killer Drummer(Purab Kohli) is, as his nickname suggests, the drummer.
Aditya and Joe are close to each other and are the emotional ones in the gang. KD is the impulsive and the happening guy of the group. Rob is the pacifier and sensible guy.
To support these 4 are Debbie, a stylist, (Shahana Goswami) Joe’s girlfriend and Adi’s girlfriend(dont know who was the actor).
These 4 lovable guys hit the bull’s eye, when they win a contest by Channel[V} and are on a verge of making it big when something goes wrong and the magik vanishes......
10 yrs later everyone is now living their own lives. Things have changed a lot. Adi is a succesful investment banker married to Sakshi(Prachi Desai). Succesful, yet Adi is not Happy.. He tries to run from his past, so much so that even his wife doesnt know what exactly he was 10 yrs back.
As for Joe his life seems to be still for the last 10 yrs. Debbie, now his wife and a mother of a 8 year old kid is more practical. She has accepted the bitter truth, sacrificed her ambition of being a stylist and is working on Joe’s family business of fishery.
Rob is assisting a leading Bollywood music director(a pleasant cameo by Anu Malik).
As for KD he assists his father in the jewellery business..
These 4 dont even know where the other one is. But clearly they miss the good times.
.But by luck and as fate would have it all four come together again. Their friendship, their love for musik and their magik bring them back on stage, but of course they have to pay a price!!!
To begin with, Rock On is no Dil Chahta Hai. But it stands on its own. The tone of the film is set at the very beginning with the Socha Hai track.
I wont categorize it as a musical. Rock On is primarily about friendship among the 4 guys who are bound to each other by music.
The plot rests on a waferthin story. At times the things move at snails pace, but what keeps the interest alive is the spirited performances.
Farhan Akhtar is complete natural. He gets into the skin of the character. Given his talent as a director, it was not surprising that the gives a superb performance.. A brilliant debut, indeed. Finally we have a multi-talented artiste who is an intelligent director, superb actor and a rocking singer.. Three cheers for Farhan :)
Arjun Rampal suits his role. He looks every bit of the character, of a lead guitarist.. His performance and also his styling(mannersims, his mane) are sure to catch attention.
Luke Kenny gives a good performance and leaves a mark.
Prachi Desai as the concerned wife is very good and gets a smashig big screen debut. A very fine actress..
But the two actors who surprised me with awesome performances are Shahana Goswami and Purab Kohli. Shahana Goswami gets good footage and makes complete use of it. She is brilliant..
Purab Kohli is turning out to be a competent actor like his other VJ colleagues(Ranvir and Vinay). Just watch him in a party sequence, where he breaks into a song and a jig on the stage. Or in the climax scene where, just after Farhan completes his song, Purab suddenly starts playing his drums crazily even though Farhan is done with the song. The characters of Farhan and Luke are cluless. A cheer worthy performance....And yes the audience did cheer for him..Other actors(Koel Purie, Dilip Tahil etc) are ok..
Music by Shankar-Ehsaan Loy is terrific and suits the film very much..One of the best scores from the trio...Each and every song has impact..Vocals by Farhan are excellent. U get energised with songs - Rock On, Pichle Saat Dino mein, Socha hai and of sourse Sindbad Sailor...Tum Ho Toh and Phir Dekhiye are the soulful ones..
Cinematography by Jason West is good. Story/writing could have been better. The pace and editing could have been better.
Overall Abhishek Kapoor gives a fine film. He extracts brilliant performaces from the cast and makes an engaging affair out of a very simple story. Ther are not much of dialogues and most of the times the actors convey through their eyes and actions. Overall a good job!!
Rock On is a must watch, if you loved Farhan’s earlier films(Lakshya, DCH)
Overall for me - 3/5