It's rock 'n roll baby!

As experience has taught me, I am sceptical about movies which everyone raves about. For example, people were going gaga over Chak De last year, and some even suggested that it should go to (and get) the Oscars. But I had a hard time digesting a women's international team playing a men's international team and keeping the scores close; or the entire team going to McDonalds for lunch before an international tournament (whatever happened to sports nutrition) and getting into a brawl with local rowdies and the coach encouraging that in the name of team spirit. I need spirit of a different kind to gulp that. For me, you either make a movie where practical scenarios can be tossed aside (like Munnabhai movies, superhero movies) or you make movies which are true to practical scenarios. Of course, when you tout the film as being inspired by true stories, I would expect you to stick to real life.

Why am I saying all this? Because Rock On comes very close to being a superhyped movie which lives up to it's expectations. The direction is good, the characters are well defined (mostly), and all the lead actors are excellent. I thought Sahana Goswami was outstanding in her portrayal of Arjun Rampal's wife.

The music is ok, but nothing great. I mean I am not keeping it on a repeat loop on my player or eager to learn the lyrics like I did with Life in a Metro. Prachi Desai's character for me was a little too sweet for a lady from the portrayed society. Not complaining about her acting though. I didn't care about a band member getting brain tumor and dying soon after their last performance sub-plot: too filmy and repeated too many times. I would have loved to see the characters physically change (weight gain, muscle definition change) between the 10 years gap, and not just through change of hairstyle and clothes. I am really nitpicking here, isn't it?

Overall the movie was enjoyable, and while watching it, one does wish that the band get together again, and sort out things between themselves. And kudos to the producers for investing in a film with a uber-urban subject like Rock band.

13 comments:

Adisha Agarwal said...

so finally you watched the movie as well... i'm glad you enjoyed it... I think the director must be real happy... we all are writing good reviews about it in our blogs... ;)

RB said...

I wrote a long comment! :(
Bugger blogger!

~ ॐ ~ said...

sahi likhe ho tum :)

R said...

Haven't seen the film yet. Not very keen on it either. Except perhaps that model in the film. Moving on.
I had an option to go for it last weekend, and then since the new De Niro movie is here, I cancelled that and tried for its tickets instead and I didn't get the tickets after all. Rock On seemed to chic for a rock band based movie to me. Still gotta see it though.

Subhadip said...

@Adisha
Yeah, they should be happy :)

@RB
Cest La Vie :(

@Om
:)

@RT
A case of a bird in hand being better than two in the bush! Watch it... you may not be disappointed.

Butterfly said...

How was Farhan Akhtar?

Subhadip said...

Farhan Akhtar was very good - both in the singing and acting department. I think he also ghost-directed the movie, his touches are everywhere. If so, he is very good in that department too.

Anuradha said...

I should try and watch this movie sometime, just that too many things happening to make me goto a theater and watch a film or maybe will wait for the DVD to be out..Have you seen 'The dark Knight' and 'Iron Man' , I liked both of them..

Subhadip said...

I think you will like the movie. Haven't seen either Dark Knight or Ironman... will watch Dark Knight soon.

Anonymous said...

Hi..i read your blog a few days ago ..but since then this line has been troubling me..and am here to resolve that pinch...please bear with me :)

"Prachi Desai's character for me was a little too sweet for a lady from the portrayed society "

- not that i claim to be at all from the section of society where stylists bring clothes to show them to you at home, but i do shop at some of the same stores as this character did (so do i qualify to make a comment :)...yet i was disturbed by the generalisation in your comment.

people from a section of society who often feature in the media and come in the lime light (and so we get a glimpse into their lives and formulate an impression about them) are those who are aggressive and forcefull in their life-style/carrier choices/etc..but there are many who have a sweeter gentle demeanor so you never hear of/or see them but they too belong to the same social strata..and they are as sweet as the girl next door :)

donno why but it was imperative for me to say this. thanx - for having a space available to do so.

Subhadip said...

@Jyoti
Thanks for taking time out to think about what I wrote, and providing the feedback. You are right when you say our perceptions are built by "those who come in the lime light ... who are aggressive and forceful". My first hand interaction left me with the impression that if not aggressive, they are very assertive. As a case, I take your example. You read this blog by an unknown bohemian, and you could have just ignored the sentence (or cursed me mentally) and carried on with your life, but you didn't. You came back, despite the bad connection, and in a structured way, protested. That's the trait I found missing in that character.

But you are spot on about generalization. I don't like generalization myself, and have written against that in this blog many times. Yet I did the same thing. I plead guilty.

Let me re-phrase: "Prachi Desai's character for me was a little too sweet" Full Stop.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Anonymous said...

well to start with you are not completely unknown, in worldly terms....also there are more ways of connecting with people (no bad connections btw) than what is apparent by the senses we easily perceive (but this is slightly esoteric so will keep at bay for the time being)

sweetness!!...can assertive people not be sweet? sweetness is a state of mind, development of the heart, assertivness (vs agressivness) is a communication skill.

just sweetness w/o assertivness = spinelessness/door mat - is that the quality you were meaning??

beg pardon for putting words in your mouth :)

and thank you for taking out time to answer...i do this because social psychology interests me...so thanx for indulging my interest :)

Subhadip said...

"just sweetness w/o assertivness = spinelessness/door mat - is that the quality you were meaning??" - Pretty much what I meant.

And I am not completely unknown to you? I am intrigued. Give me a hint, please.