Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Rock On!!

All of us have been conditioned to believe that people have to be passionate, follow a dream, else life is nothing but a compromise. Great men were passionate - Vincent Van Gogh, Jim Morrison, Fox Mulder. If you are working 9 to 5, then it is assumed that your life is a compromise. If you don't go bungee jumping, don't party every weekend, or watch movies on weekdays, you have become old and jaded. Or so we are led to believe. Rock On!! works on similar premises - if you don't become a rock star, your life is not worth living. The fabulous house, the loving wife, the BMW don't offer an iota of comfort if you are not a rock star. Or at least, a pale imitation of one.

So there we were, G and I, being cool on a weekday evening, wasting our precious time on Rock On!!, a movie that is filled with one cliche after another! Director Abhishek Kapoor (such a perfect filmy name) doesn't even attempt to use something so banal as intelligence. Why try realism, when pseudo realism will do? Why bother at all, when Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy have done all the hard work for him? Never mind if your cast can barely act, the music is great and all they have to do is swagger around and look cool.

When will Bollywood learn the difference between an investment banker and a wealth manager? Did you know that a selfish moron who can't appreciate what his wife is trying to do to make him happy will get a blinding flash of clarity at a passing comment from some third person? Could I get my hands on the teleporter that Arjun Rampal used to navigate Bombay traffic and land up at the right spot before a 5 minute song ends? Mr. Kapoor, too many short cuts may make your job easy, but attention to detail never hurt a movie. See Johnny Gaddar if you want to know what I mean!

Verdict: Pretentious, shallow and a total waste of time.

PS: Shahana Goswami and Purab Kohli deserved better. Two bright spots in an otherwise dull movie.

PPS: The end credits say "Don't download the music, buy the CD". I downloaded, then bought and regretted the purchase. Dudes, if you want us to buy, then the least you can do is give us better sound quality on the CD!

On that note, here's Nickelback:

4 comments:

U No Hoo said...

The dream to be a rock star is just a metaphor for what could be any dream. And once you have a very passionate dream in your 'to do' list, no BMW can ever keep you happy. Of course, I do not have a BMW [ :( ]but then BMW again is a metaphor.

It is completely fine not to dream and for them the material luxuries would suffice.

Diviya said...

Exactly. I know investment bankers and stock brokers who are crazy about their jobs (in a good way). The 'rockstar' dream is part of the growing up process. If Rock On!! had been about wannabes growing up, it would have made a lot more sense.

Insane said...

I often read ure blog reviews are good. But this time I feel u got more in technicalities ....blame it on mood while watching this movie. yaa actors were bad movie was average.

But u have to agree u can't understand feelings unless u experience them. I m emphatic to characters situation where whole doesn't satisfy since they have never imagined life beyond it.

"things once u want to own, starts owning u" - FIGHT CLUB

Iya said...

hey.. remember me??
on this post - i guess this is the first review that complains about the movie.. i say this as i am yet to see it...