I cherish a fondness for Ranbir Kapoor ever since I have seen his second release 'Bachna Ae Haseeno'(I gave his debut movie 'Sawariya' a deliberate miss for the acrid reviews). I simply admire the way he brings forth a character alive by his spontaneous god-gifted & genetic acting ability. In Wake Up Sid, even Kankona Sensharma, who is my favourite because of her natural expression, looks slightly faded in comparison with Ranbir's full-bodied performance. So I might be quite prejudiced when it comes to writing a review on Ranbir's film as my eyes remain transfixed on him throughout, everyone else sharing the same screen space looks hardly existent in the shadow of his power-packed deliverance.
'Rockstar' begins with Ranbir missing from a stage show & his entering the screen struggling with a band of police to wriggle himself free & finally arriving on stage with a guitar in hand. The next moment we are taken through a kaleidoscope of fast-paced flashback glimpses into Ranbir's life.The film covers the journey of an eccentric man called 'Janardhan' from an ordinary boy, passionate about music with dreams of reaching heights just like his idol "Jim Morrison", to a megastar, riddled with negative controversies & a heap of court cases.The first half of the movie was simply fantastic when Jordan aka Janardhan influenced by the words of his mentor made romantic moves towards the most beautiful girl in the college, Heer (Nargis Fakhri) with a motive to experience 'pain' as 'pain' motivates one to sing with passion. Their unusual friendship and curious attempts at socially unacceptable things brought them close to each other. While Nargis moved to Prague after marriage, fate & a chain of circumstances transformed Ranbir aka Janardhan into the country's next big sensation. The second half highlighted more of the candyfloss mushy romance between Ranbir & Nargis than the ups & downs of the rockstar's life. The movie went overboard with an application of the cliched stereotypical formula of Bollywood showing true love winning over a terminal life-threatening disease. It was just way too much and watered down the effect of the film.However, for a die-hard romantic person comfortable with conventional love stories, the film might do the trick.
The hypnotic numbers composed by A.R Rahman playing in the background was mesmerizing, interweaving perfectly with the story-telling.I like the way Imtiaz Ali built the story with minute details. The technique of showing a collage of shots passing rapidly on the screen and then painting a picture through subsequent development of the story was undoubtedly commendable and artistic. Shammi Kapoor in the last role of his life as Bismillah Khan was heart-touching.The film even paid a tribute to late Shammiji through the enactment of a one minute song sequence from 'Kashmir Ki kali'. Shot across beautiful locations of Prague with the breathtaking bird's eye view capturing the entire city in a single frame, the cinematography by Anil Mehta was stupendous. Needless to mention, Ranbir outdid his fellow actors in his portrayal of the passionate whimsical somewhat crazy character of 'Jordan', the rockstar. Ethereal Nargis Fakhri was more noticeable for her ravishing glow than acting.
The film with all its flaws in archetype storyline is watchable because of many reasons mentioned above. Undisputably, the movie would have been awesome if the story, woven around Janardhan's achievement, failure & frustration, would have received the main focus of treatment with the love story complementing it. Sadly, love ostensibly being the main concern overshadowed what the movie was meant to be based on - "Music & Rockstar".
'Rockstar' begins with Ranbir missing from a stage show & his entering the screen struggling with a band of police to wriggle himself free & finally arriving on stage with a guitar in hand. The next moment we are taken through a kaleidoscope of fast-paced flashback glimpses into Ranbir's life.The film covers the journey of an eccentric man called 'Janardhan' from an ordinary boy, passionate about music with dreams of reaching heights just like his idol "Jim Morrison", to a megastar, riddled with negative controversies & a heap of court cases.The first half of the movie was simply fantastic when Jordan aka Janardhan influenced by the words of his mentor made romantic moves towards the most beautiful girl in the college, Heer (Nargis Fakhri) with a motive to experience 'pain' as 'pain' motivates one to sing with passion. Their unusual friendship and curious attempts at socially unacceptable things brought them close to each other. While Nargis moved to Prague after marriage, fate & a chain of circumstances transformed Ranbir aka Janardhan into the country's next big sensation. The second half highlighted more of the candyfloss mushy romance between Ranbir & Nargis than the ups & downs of the rockstar's life. The movie went overboard with an application of the cliched stereotypical formula of Bollywood showing true love winning over a terminal life-threatening disease. It was just way too much and watered down the effect of the film.However, for a die-hard romantic person comfortable with conventional love stories, the film might do the trick.
The hypnotic numbers composed by A.R Rahman playing in the background was mesmerizing, interweaving perfectly with the story-telling.I like the way Imtiaz Ali built the story with minute details. The technique of showing a collage of shots passing rapidly on the screen and then painting a picture through subsequent development of the story was undoubtedly commendable and artistic. Shammi Kapoor in the last role of his life as Bismillah Khan was heart-touching.The film even paid a tribute to late Shammiji through the enactment of a one minute song sequence from 'Kashmir Ki kali'. Shot across beautiful locations of Prague with the breathtaking bird's eye view capturing the entire city in a single frame, the cinematography by Anil Mehta was stupendous. Needless to mention, Ranbir outdid his fellow actors in his portrayal of the passionate whimsical somewhat crazy character of 'Jordan', the rockstar. Ethereal Nargis Fakhri was more noticeable for her ravishing glow than acting.
The film with all its flaws in archetype storyline is watchable because of many reasons mentioned above. Undisputably, the movie would have been awesome if the story, woven around Janardhan's achievement, failure & frustration, would have received the main focus of treatment with the love story complementing it. Sadly, love ostensibly being the main concern overshadowed what the movie was meant to be based on - "Music & Rockstar".
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