Socha Hai!

Mainstream Bollywood cinema a decade back would have perhaps been apprehensive in rolling their precious film spool on rock music, punk adventure and an undying spirit to make music. And with "Rock On" hitting the theatres with unlikely heroes in unlikely characters, the film begged a viewing!


The film came out to be honest and well researched but in parts lacked luster. Luke Kenny, the odd channel V face was seen delivering a power packed performance and standing forth in scenes like an old mascot of the industry. Farhan Akhtar as lead vocalist played up the image of the star with finesse. His seasoned vocals and chiseled good looks added to the oomph factor any boy- rock band has. Much like "That Thing You Do" where the lead vocalist had everything from good looks to a pretty girlfriend (Liv Tyler) and a stint at the local radio... the comparison was inevitable.

Purab Kohli, a former VJ turned actor, fitted the cosmos of interesting characters by his slapstick humor and inopportune jokes. As for Arjun Rampal, model turned actor with a baritone voice, played the under-dog, the true blue artist who is unquestionably the most talented amongst the lot.

The characters all had a purpose and they all formed a unit "a band", with much success in the film. The chemistry within the band members wasn't forced nor was it uptight, it was just right. But what the film failed to deliver was tightness, a sense of insight and also a feeling of attachment to the characters. Just when one thought that there was more to what meets the eye, the film would slip into a vacuum. And you are left craving for a little more detail by the end of the scenes.

Farhan's disdain to his past and music is not at all well established and delved into.
It is something that is left to the audience to make sense with flashback sequences. The fear of the character’s past and the heartbreak was left unexplored. What was even more jarring was the aloofness between Farhan and his wife (Prachi Desai, TV Actress) was unconvincing. The cliché about the glamorous rich wife with pretty friends (Koel Puri) and an insensitive husband was so out of place that the scenes became uninteresting and also slowed the pace of the narrative by a few notches. Prachi Desai’s character seemed a cardboard cut- out of bored housewives with too much free time and lots of money. The texture of tension between these two characters and the skeletons of farhan’s past could have delivered the much needed punch into the narrative!
As for Joe (Arjun Rampal), the drudgery of his shackled life was pondered upon a tad too much. And Debbie's nagging was exaggerated to a point that made a viewer feel irritated and incapacitated. KD's sentiments towards the band only boils up to the point of the last gig when in the green room Farhan says that Joe may not come to play! KD's outburst and his resentment towards the inner politics only gets reflected in that one scene and one wishes that this complexity within the band could have been revealed earlier. The “namak’ as they say in the movie was just not there.
The focus on Arjun Rampal and Farhan Akhtar in parts of the film left the other two languishing in the narrative as extras. There on and off appearances without much to say was odd. Though KD is made out to be this jester his detachment with the band at some level is just a matter of one time outburst almost like a kid throwing a fit!
The interspersed scenes between Anu Malik and Luke Kenny are shallow and it clearly does not reflect the character's boredom or frustration.
Luke Kenny anyway had measured scenes and dialogues and is done away with as a frail dying man in the band who becomes the raison d’etre for others to realize their commitment to the band and their friendship. (why do people have to die in Bollywood to make things work)…..Cry out loud, he was the only one who perhaps deserved more screen space than the wannabe actors trying to mould themselves as draconian rock stars! Luke I feel for you man!!!



The band's re-union so to speak is a whimper. It could have been dramatized (not emotional hyperbole/dramatization) but the scene could have been longer and shot better. Farhan’s entry in that dingy basement could have been juxtaposed with some much needed flashback scenes … I mean editors you need imagination to cut a re-union scene… L

In parts the film seems to fall flat and in parts it reaches a crescendo.

The music is refreshing with rock notes. The composers Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy mostly stuck to ballad rock so as to appeal to the more pop'ish gentry of audience. The reunion gig's song (Tum ho T0) borrowed traits from Pink Floyd’s sense of music and noticeably so! The only song that perhaps makes the demarcation from just a boy band to that of a coming of age band.

Tracks like Socha hai, Pichle Saat dino mein, Ye tumhari meri batein all reflected and smelled like the teen spirit. So for the sake of good music, I would say "ROCK ON"

And By the way “ WHY MAGIK???”


FOR GOOD ROCK FILMS RECOMMENDED—
SCHOOL OF ROCK
ALMOST FAMOUS
PAANCH
DOORS
THAT THING YOU DO