So yea, I said the next review would be Mere Baap Pehle Aap. It sucked anyway, so I’ll just skip it. No need to waste my time on it, especially when there’s good movies to be seen and reviewed, like this one.

Rock On!! stars Farhan Akhtar in his first acting role, Prachi Desai of ‘Kasam Se’ in her first Bollywood role, Arjun Rampal, Luke Kenny, and Purab Kohli. Music by SEL, lyrics by Javed Akhtar. It’s a movie about 4 friends, and we go back and forth between present day and 10 years ago, when they formed a band called “Magik”.

It’s a simple story, but these days, execution means everything. And Abhishek Kapoor, the director, gets it so right. He’s said that the casting was very important to him, he wanted his lead actor to sing his own songs, he wanted the backups to play their own instruments. He wanted to give his movie a real life feel, and he’s certainly succeeded. There’s a realness, and freshness to the movie. You feel like it’s a real band, struggling, rocking the stage, going through their ups and downs.

The conflict in the movie (because there always is one) occurs when the guys sign their first contract. They aren’t given the liberties that they expected, and this bothers them, especially Joe (Arjun). He blows up when Adi (Farhan) is given more face time in their first music video. They were all young, immature, and this really destroys the band. It’s by chance that they are reunited, but all of their lives have changed, and not necessarily for the better.

We’re promptly taken in, seeing why Adi’s so withdrawn from his wife, why he freaks out when she uncovers his past, how Joe struggles to make ends meet, how KD (Purab) is still his crazy self, and Rob (Luke) trying to keep music in his life. It may get a bit predictable towards the end, but as I’ve said before, what movie isn’t?

One note about Luke Kenny’s character, I don’t like the direction it took towards the end. I feel that could have been completely avoided, and don’t really see the need for it. If anyone has any insight, or something I missed that makes it fit, please let me know.

Performances you ask? Farhan Akhtar knocks it out of the park. Way out. He’s brilliant as Aditya Shroff. He plays the character to perfection. He sounds great singing as well. Such a unique voice, even in the slow ballad. He definitely fits the role of a rocker.

Arjun Rampal has impressed me two straight times now. He’s finally getting his due as an actor, and he’s delivering. This is his best performance since Tehzeeb, and I really hope he keeps it up. He’s got great potential, and with those looks combined with extraordinary talent, he’ll be unstoppable. One thing though, his long hair bothered me. And that mooch, it must go.

Purab Kohli was cute, though I wish he had some funny lines thrown in, so we see his personality a bit more. I loved his ‘I will survive’ routine, don’t miss it. Luke Kenny was great as well. Prachi Desai makes a great transition from TV to movies, and she does her role well. I just hope she doesn’t get typecast as ‘Bani’ from TV, because she could have an equally successful career in movies. Sahana Goswami also makes her debut as Joe’s wife, and she’s equally as good as Prachi. Both women have different circumstances, therefore the performances are different, but both make their presence felt in every scene they are in.

Abhishek Kapoor has really impressed me. I read the interview he did for BollySpice, and really loved his answers. You can tell he’s put a lot of work into this movie, and the critics seem to appreciate it. They’ve all loved the movie, it’s the best reviewed movie of the year so far. And it’s well deserved, if you put the work in, you’re bound to succeed.

SEL do it again, producing music that’s perfect for the film. Their tracks are all rocking, perfect fits in the movie. I love Sinbad the Sailor the most, and seeing it picturized like it was was a treat.

It’s the best movie of the year, by far. Rock On!! is a must see, please don’t miss it.

And, a parting shot…

Awwwwww Arjun…

Rating:

So many negative reviews came out about this movie the day after it released. I don’t think I saw one that gave it more than a 2. Which really disappointed me, I wanted this movie to be great. I was going to watch anyway, because it’s Shahid of course. And I was determined to like it.

You have to go in not expecting a Jab We Met. That movie was made with its dialogues. KiKo doesn’t have many great conversations in it, but that doesn’t make it a bad movie. I’m going to use the old cliche, and say it was really good timepass. When you start watching, you’re completely into the movie. Maybe because they used the best intro ever. Shahid in the shower. Can it get much better? And it’s not even a split second scene. He’s in there for a good minute, and even after, he walks around without his shirt. Can’t get much better for a Shahid fangirl.

Ok, getting past all the superficial stuff, it’s an enjoyable movie. The ’story’ unfolds, we meet Hiten (Vishal Malhotra as his joyful self), we meet Priya, we meet Priya’s boyfriend. Of course, boy loves girl, girl loves other boy, other boy does something bad, girl loves first boy, happy ever after.

Aziz could have changed the names. Raj and Priya? Please. Use some fresh names Aziz, not the exact ones you used in your last movie.

Up until the release, we heard about how the Shahid/Vidya pair wouldn’t work, Vidya looks too old for him, blah blah. Well honestly, I thought they looked pretty good together. Vidya didn’t look too old for Shahid in my opinion. Shahid’s looks have really matured, so I think they looked great.

*Spoilers ahead*

One of my favorite scenes was the one on the boat, when Priya finally decides she loves Raj. The whole “he has to be this tall” thing, and then Priya standing on the railing to check Raj out, and then the adorable little hug, awwww. It was the perfect way to play out the scene IMO.

There are a lot of unanswered questions. Where were Raj’s parents, and why was he living in such a big house if he had no job? On the same line, where were Priya’s parents? Two tiny scenes about the parents for each would have been helpful. How does everyone in Toronto know Hindi? I wish someone would take the time to look at these things, because it seems to happen in every movie. Everyone you talk to knows Hindi, like it’s become the universal language.

The dubbing seemed a bit off to me as well. Maybe it was just me, can anyone confirm? Sometimes they characters mouths were moving before the words were even said, which gets annoying.

Shahid and Vishal are great together. They seem so comfortable with each other, and this shows on screen. I think it’s the first time they are working together again after Ishq Vishq, and I hope to see them together more often.

The supporting characters really stand out, especially Himani Shivpuri as Om Puri’s wife. She was hilarious every time she was on the screen. Om Puri was barely there, but he was good. That new guy, Dev, kinda creeped me out though. Maybe it was his hair or something, but whenever he was in a scene, I looked elsewhere. He did a good job acting though, I think he comes in a TV serial.

Priya’s boyfriend was shady from the first time you see him, so you know something would happen with him. Boman’s role was short but sweet. Juhi was really cute, but at times, a bit weird. I liked seeing her again, but the role seems a bit beneath her. I guess it was a favor for a friend.

Very nice hearing SRK’s voice to the voice-over at the beginning.

One thing that really bothers me is the choreographers used for Shahid’s movies. The man can dance, and he can do it very very well. Yet every time he’s dancing, the moves are so basic or stupid. Let Shahid dance. The moves in Aai Pappi were not bad, but in Soniye Ve and Move Your Body Now, they were just horrible. Like someone was choreographing for Amitabh Bachchan. And it happens all the time. Argh.

Aai Pappi’s picturization was nice, but it really came out of nowhere. Bakhuda was a rehash of Mitwa from KANK, Soniye Ve was an excuse to show off Shahid’s arms (I’m not complaining), and Move Your Body Now was an afterthought, because of the horrible clothes and dancing. Is This Love was ok, but the random blondes coming in to dance was…weird.

Overall, I really liked it. I’m sure Shahid had a lot to do with that. So, go in expecting nothing, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Rating:

This movie is touted as a comedy, but it’s far from it. Sure, it has it’s moments (which didn’t come across as very funny to me), but overall, it’s a drama with splashes of comedy. The movie starts out introducing us to the characters. The first thing that struck me was they didn’t really seem all that crazy. Arshad Warsi’s character, who has an anger management problem, doesn’t need to be in a mental hospital, he needs anger management classes. Same with the other three, the mental issues are really downplayed, so you wonder why they are there in the first place.

Anyways, we get to the story of the movie. Juhi’s their doc, she takes them out to watch a cricket match, and gets kidnapped in the process. We find out how, why, and all that good stuff. Then, the 4 crazies decide to save the day and get her back. Throw in a love angle, a man reuniting with his family, a mute finally speaking, and you get a warm, heartfelt story about 4 mental patients saving the day. Aww.

Performance-wise, I liked Irfan the best. His sudden changes, the way he talked, everything he did was just so in character. Arshad went over the top at times, but that’s kinda what his character called for. Rajpal was good in his role, and Suresh Menon really didn’t have much to do, considering he didn’t talk for 95% of the movie. Rajat Kapoor and Zaakir Hussain don’t have much to do. Surprising, considering their track record.

And yes, there are ladies in this film. Though you wouldn’t realize it. Both are shafted. Tiny tiny roles. Especially Juhi. It makes me wonder why she would sign a movie like this. She can do so much better, she has so much talent and is still as beautiful as ever. Please, someone make a movie that features her, I’m tired of her talent being wasted in tiny roles like this.

Dia does a nice job with what she’s given too. I think she’s a pretty good actress, when given the chance. Someone give her a movie too.

The songs are nothing to write home about. Rakhi’s item number comes out of nowhere (though I guess that’s what item numbers are supposed to be), Shah Rukh’s does actually come in the story, someone’s at a club watching him perform (a bit too closely if you ask me, but I’ll get to that later) and Hrithik’s finishes up the movie.

So, about the highlights of the movie.

I liked SRK’s item number, but of course, I’m biased. Some of the dance moves were shady, but overall, cute. It’s fun to be able to laugh at him and still love watching him.

For Hrithik’s, all they did was show the one minute promo that’s been everywhere. Nothing extra at all. That was a bit disappointing, I was expecting to see more.

Overall, it’s only a decent movie, timepass. I didn’t find myself getting bored, but I wasn’t totally into it either. I found it a bit better than the movie that released the same day, U Me Aur Hum. At least I wasn’t bored to tears in this one.

Rating: