Rock On!! - Review

To all who dropped me emails and comments saying that they enjoyed reading my first review...thank u so much. And also sorry to all those who dropped me stinker sms's asking me when the Rock On review would be up...well although I saw the movie yesterday afternoon, I guess I was just too bored to sit up and write a review...Anywayz here I am writing this one, dont think it would be as detailed as the previous one...firstly having a very bad headache...and secondly its way too late on sunday night...and monday morning blues are already striking me.

Before I start the review, let me confess, I am not a rock fan. So I had quite a bit of apprehension while heading out for the movie, but then went along, coz went with quite a group, so even if the movie went bad..we would have a good time making fun of it. But 10 minutes into the movie, all my apprehensions left me.

Anywayz getting to the review..The story is about 4 friends (i presume from college) with varied backgrounds, but who come together for a common interest, ie music. The quartet form the band Magik. Aditya (Farhan Akhtar), KD (Purab Kohli), Joe (Arjun Rampal) and Rob (Luke Kenny). The band reaches its pinnacle of success, by winning a competition and they get signed on by a major channel. But fate had its way and due to ego hassles, the band sees a premature closure. Ten years pass and each have gone their own ways and hardly kept in touch. Adi is now an investment banker, married to Sakshi (Prachi Desai) and lives in house which looks wow..!! (how I wish I had a house, half of that). KD works in his fathers jewellery shop. Rob does music sessions with Anu Malik (I presume they are doing jingles for advts), but Joe seems to be stuck where he was. He runs a guitar shop, takes guitar classes for the neighbourhood kids, sits with his guitar all the time like a failed musician, and his wife Debbie (Sahana Goswami) keeps yelling all over the place. Now fate (in the form of Sakshi), conspires them to come together for the one last time, to achieve the success that Magik had left behind.

The major premise of the story is pretty much predictable. You would know whats gonna happen next. But then, its this simplicity of the movie, that manages to hold you to your seat. Most reviews would say its a fault in the story and the screenplay, but ya for laymen like me...its just simplicity in the story. Performances wise...hardly anyone in the movie act. They all seem to be living their parts. Farhan Akhtar whose proved himself as a director, now proves himself as an actor. As a singer, well I guess he could probably just sing for himself, but cant make a career of it. Arjun Rampal would probably would have just done the best role of his career, and with that long hair of his, he totally looks like a rockstar. Purab and Luke are fine too. Prachi Desai in her debut vehicle, hardly has much of role...rather than to smile around. But with that cute lil face, who would wanna complain..although her character oozes with confidence. Shahana Goswani is a revelation. She plays one of the most difficult roles in the film, and she does a fab job of it...!! I wasnt that impressed with Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music when it was released on audio (rem I said I aint a rock fan)...but then it has been so wonderfully blended with the movie, that actually had me tapping my feet at the theatre.

ROCK ON!! is not just about music. Its about relationships. And relationships can get really complicated and messy as all of us wud agree. ROCK ON!! captures it so beautifully, so sensitively and so effectively on celluloid. (this para...is from some other review, sorry dont remember the review to mention the source. Yes the rest of it is my own words).

ROCK ON!! just goes on to prove that if you have a dream, work towards it...however long it would take. Watch this movie for an instant high and an instant feel good once your done with the movie. This is a coming of age movie (did u ever expect Javed Akhtar writing rock lyrics), and shows that Bollywood at the end of the day, is not just abt running around trees. Now that am done with the movie, I would still say that am not a rock fan...but seriously a fan of ROCK ON..!!