Jeevi rating: 3.5/5
Punchline: Rock on Rocks!
Banner: Excel Films
Genre: Music
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Prachi Desai, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny, Shahana Goswami & Koel Puri
Music: Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Cinematography: Jason West
Dialogues : Farhan Akhtar
Screenplay - direction: Abhishek Kapoor
Producer: Farhan Akhtar & Ritesh Sidhwani
Release date: 29 August 2008
Review
Story
Aditya (Farhan Akthar), Joe (Arjun Rampal), KD (Purab Kohli) and Rob (Luke Kenny) are four friends in college and form a rock band called 'Magik'. A slight misunderstanding shatters their entire future in music when they are about cut their maiden music album. Wife of Aditya happens to see their nostalgic photographs 10 years after the incident. The rest of the story is all about how they reunite and perform on the stage.
Actors:
The nobility of this film is such that you don't need glamorous guys for the roles of rock stars. Hence the director has chosen the right actors. Farhan Akthar surprises you with his honest performance. Arjun Rampal who has shown his other side as villain in Om Shanti Om film reveals the complete actor him. He is a revelation in this film. Purab Kohli helps in getting some light moments. Luke Kenny is amazing. Shahana Goswamy gave amazing performance. Koel Puri is sweet. Prachi Desai is good.
Technical departments:
Story - Screenplay - direction: The story of the film is simple. It is about four friends who separated due to a misunderstanding during college going for reunion after a gap of 10 years. What makes this story work is screenplay and narrative style. The director juxtaposed the current story with spaced flashbacks. And music is just a part of the film and the director concentrated more on the relationship aspects in a matured way. The director tried to be hip without losing the honesty in the story. The director conveniently avoided the bad aspects (drugs, sex and alcohol) of rock bands in order to make this film appear very noble. However the following scenes impress you the most -
1. When Debbie comes and explains her husband situation to Aditya.
2. When KD sings and dances to it in a party.
3. When Aditya sings the song written by Joe in the finale
Technical departments: The music by Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy is excellent and it's their kind of film. Cinematography by Jason West is superb. Editing is crisp. Dialogues by Farhan Aktar are good.
Analysis: It takes lot of guts to make a film like Rock On. It is a well made flick that explores the strained relationship of four passionate music lovers who formed a rock band. The director dealt the film with lot of honesty and realistic approach. All the characters in this film behave in a natural way exhibiting their strengths and weaknesses (no filmy heroism). On the flip side, there are a few moments in the film where the tempo falls down. On a whole, Rock On rocks and every learned audience must watch it to explore the sheer honesty in the film.
