Rockstar | Thats Class | The Critique

It is such a divisive movie! I realized that there were reasons why people hated it. Even Citizen Kane doesn’t have an omnipresent fan base. Adulation, criticism, compassion, abhorrence are just some faces of showbiz. For me Rockstar works… It works more than any other movie released in India in 2011 and in all likelihood had worked more than any movie that might see the Silver Screen over next 45 days. Imtiaz Ali nailed it. He did it pretty hard.

Janardan is a typical Jat guy who wants to become famous like Jim Morrison. He wants to know what an heartbreak means but fails to understand it. He becomes friends with Heer, a Kashmiri girl, and their friendship sprouts unexplainable emotions in them. She gets married and goes to Prague. On the other hand, the character of Janardan alias Jordon goes through coming-of-age phase and brings out the music in him. Still he longs for Heer… As a member of troupe he goes to Prague where Heer is not in her best. There he realizes how much he wants her. He realizes what love is and what exactly pain is. His music grows manifold and he becomes an International face. But he does not want all that… he just wants his personal freedom and his love who belongs to someone else. The mix is violent and uncontrollable. Everyone wants a piece of Jordon but no one wants Janardan and that fills him with angst.

On screen the story comes up as a piece of modern Art where each pastel means something. The story juggles between past and present smoothly. It’s predictable at times but still comes out afresh, the way it should be. The growth of character by story and little play on senses with the montages collectively is the strong point of this movie. The way the angst brewing in the character, his escapism and denunciation of family and friends is explored on screen makes it a wonderful experience. Rock performances look like real ones.  Rahman’s music is kind of USP of this movie. The screen feel is awesome due to some good work in cinematography and editing department. In small patches it becomes slow though but just to allow you to revive. One need to let it grow to enjoy this movie… as criticisms are coming, I guess many viewers were not patient enough.

Ranbeer is simply awesome. This one eclipses every previous performances of his including Rocket Singh. In every phase of his character’s life, he looks like Jordon only. Nargis is perhaps the only setback. She acts bad and is not convincing even for a while. Her casting was perhaps the only thing that went wrong. Every supporting actor has done a decent job. Mohit Chauhan’s vocals and ARs music cracked the jackpot. Imtiaz… you are the man. Respect is the word for you… Rockstar was a difficult movie to make. It had an epic structure and you still pulled it off, and how amazingly.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh