“Pata hai, yahaan se bahot dur.. Galat aur sahi
ke paar.. Ek maidaan hai. Main wahaan milunga tujhe!”
Imtiaz Ali’s latest directorial venture opens
with this incredibly amazing and tremendous quote by the Persian Sufi poet
Rumi. And then a Ranbir Kapoor, in his long-hair, “Rockstar” look, full of
arrogance and attitude, takes center stage in a concert where fans have flocked
in by the thousands for a glimpse of him. You wonder if this is going to be
another Imtiaz Ali masterstroke. Unfortunately, it only ends up as a well
crafted attempt at it.
With movies like Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal,
which I had really liked, Imtiaz Ali has made quite a reputation for himself in
the film fraternity and on the background of those movies, I went in for
Rockstar with huge expectations. To say huge would be disrespectful towards my
extent of excitement actually. Add to that, the extravagant aura of A R
Rahman’s stupendous and intoxicating music around this movie, so I had to
surrender myself for it’s extraordinarily long run time of more than two and a
half hours. Sadly though, as much as I hate to say this, I left the cinema hall
disappointed.
Janardan Jakhar (Ranbir Kapoor) is a
simpleton who aspires to be a music star and loves music passionately. He
idolizes rock stars like Jim Morrison and numerous such others. But all he gets
for his music is ridicule and laughs. His family doesn’t support his ambitions
and his college canteen owner thinks he lacks that one tragic feeling of loss
and desperation, which all successful artists have in common. He is told that
only a broken heart can yield brilliant music. And so, quite stupidly and
innocently, he goes up to the most sought after girl (but soon to get married
to some high class man from the Czech Republic) in his college – Heer (Nargis
Fakhri), and tells her that he loves her. I won’t go into much detail, but this
is the best part of the movie. They become more than good friends, as she
realizes his innocence and plain goodwill at heart. He goes wherever she wants
to go, whenever she wants to go, even at the risk of his passion for music. She
renames Janardan “Jordan” – a name which he keeps forever after, much like
their estranged relation, whereon the film gets all awry and wayward. Jordan
later gains immense fame and popularity, but his mind never gets the happiness
he seeks. His music becomes popular, but he becomes a portrait of everything
“negative” in the scoiety. What happens further is the part they would blame me
for dishing out “spoilers”.
The concept and the story of the
film is quite innovative and intriguing. But it lacks the screenplay needed for
a film that tries to show the dilemmas and complexities of its central
characters. While the relationship between the two has been established with
great honesty and sincerity, it fails to create the necessary connection with
the audience. Yes, the director has never been known for amazing story telling
and character establishing, but when you do not feel sad for the characters
during their tragic moments, you know there’s something lacking.
Another very important aspect why I
feel the film disappoints is the way the musical element of the whole project
is handled. The songs are obviously mesmerizing and no doubt you will be
humming them for a long time to come. I could do a whole different review of
Rahman’s musical genius – “Kun Faya Kun” & “Jo Bhi Main” are absolute
delights. But they could have been far better utilized within the screenplay.
Apart from that, for a film that revolves around music – there is far less of
it on-the-screen. Jordan never seems believable as a famous “music” artist. The
film devotes more than two thirds of it’s time to the Jordan-Heer relationship,
leaving the film’s USP far behind. Simply put – for a music oriented film, it
never haunts the audience with it’s soul, when in fact, it had all the capacity
to do so. This is something that disappointed me the most.
On a positive note, in spite of the
limitations, Ranbir Kapoor does an excellent job as Janardan aka Jordan. His
body language and character ramifications are delightful and brilliant. He
sparkles throughout the film, oozing confidence in his acting skills and
growing on you scene after scene. He surely is the one actor in Bollywood right
now, who is ever-improving and capturing all hearts. Nargis Fakhri, on the
other hand, is at the most, decent at times. Quite naturally, Hindi isn’t her
best skill and currently, so isn’t acting. But she has the confidence and shows
signs of future improvements. Other actors, most notably Piyush Mishra, have
given substantially good performances. Special praises must go to Mohit
Chauhan, who has done all the vocals for Ranbir’s Jordan, and he has done that
with immense results. His voice is only pleasure to the ears.
As a whole, I feel Rockstar has a
more than decent subject, it only lacks the factor that connects the audience
with the characters and the story. The length of the film doesn’t help either.
In the end, it resembles the meaningful soul that got lost searching for its
nirvana. Fans of Imtiaz Ali might like this, or if you are an ardent movie buff
who follows Bollywood with your heart on your sleeve, you’re welcome to go for
it.
2.5/5
Omkar Divekar
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