Rock On!! — Movie Review

Before I start reviewing this film , I would just like to make my purpose of writing this review clear to all the readers . As a reviewer my job is to analyse a film so even though if the film is liked by the masses it is very much possible that I would still find it fairly entertaining and won’t be satisfied with the product . So one thing is clear that Rock On is a good film and would be liked by audience in general to an extent . So should I must stop writing anything about the film and just say that it would be liked by people at large so go and watch it ? My answer to that question is no , I would still write about the film since I have seen it as a general audience and there would be someone that might agree with my opinion .

So cutting the crap off lets talk about the film . The film in my view is a good example how an average film that very well could have been a classic but doesn’t turn out to be one due to some flaws in it . Rock On as we all know is about Music so the biggest role that anybody could play in this movie was the music itself .The heroes of the film are not Farhan or Arjun but it is the music . Chak De is a classic in sports film genre not just only because of SRK or the Girls but mainly because of the Hockey that was shown in it . Same thing applies over here .In Rock On I couldn’t find one single musical tune that I would never ever forget in my life . There was no piece of music that was as powerful so that it can last a lifetime . Music being the base of the film and the base itself wasn’t that strong . I agree that it wasn’t that bad but even music of several films is equally good or even better . But those films are not based on music . This one does . People who would wanna argue with me will say to me that Dude you don’t understand rock music that’s why you are saying so . For them I would like to say that Dude lets assume I don’t understand “Rock” music , so what , most of the people in India don’t but still they listen to LP and Greenday don’t they ? Then why do they do so , the reason being music of all genres is at the end of the day music only and good music can always cheer you up . You don’t have to do a thesis on it . Music of Rock On cheers me up but like all other movies . Mind you this is not a Music Review , I am talking of music because it is the biggest factor and the whole film is based on it .

Lets leave music aside and talk about other aspects . Next comes the script . The script or the story of the film is very much predictable and several such scripts have been already written and just set-up has been changed to an extent . The story as we all know is about a band who gets a chance to fame but gets broken up due to ego clashes and then one day they again reunite to create “Magic” . You would understand why I have quoted the word magic after you see the film . That’s the story of the film for you. Simple and tested many times on screen .

After script comes performances and situations . The audience’s connection with the characters is only limited to an extent and the audience doesn’t get attached to any of the characters . This fact is very much clear from the fact that even though one of the band member is not completely fit health wise you don’t feel sympathised for him to a large extent . You’ll just feel sad but you won’t sympathise because the connection with the character is quite less . On the other hand if SRK gets ill in a film people start crying or at least sympathise with him just because his characters connect with the audience . So the connection is quite less and the characters are forgettable . I still remember sameer , aakash and siddharth of Dil Chahta Hai because I felt connected with them . And I don’t even remember the name of Farhan’s character in the film . I just remember name of Arjun Rampal just because his name is quite cool in the film , Joe Mascarhenas . Sorry if the spelling is wrong .

Then comes acting . Well if you didn’t feel connected to the characters that means the actors didn’t act that well . Most of them were first timers and were good for first timers but were not at all great . The whole group of Jaane Tu.. was much better acting wise . Casting as they plays a big role and I could find only two characters being properly casted , one being Arjun Rampal as tough guy who is soft at heart and his wife(Debby) which is played by Shahana Goswami . This girl has got talent and acting comes naturally to her . She according to me acted the best in the whole film even though her role was quite small . Farhan has acted so so and his acting skills are not as good as his Direction skills so he must focus on what he is better at rather than wasting time on improving his acting . He has done a fair job but why should he act when he can Direct a fine piece of Cinema like Don and Dil Chahta Hai . The two sidekicks Luke Kenni and Purab kohli have done their job like as they should have and not tried to become heroes which is appreciable . Purab is quite funny and can act better . Luke is good for the kind of role he has played in this one but nothing more . Then comes Prachi Desai , the TV girl , who looks nice but gives very limited expressions . She was either smiling or mum . She never got a chance to prove her acting skills . Still , it would be quite difficult for her to go ahead in Bollywood . Arjun was as usual , neither too good nor too bad .

After script and acting comes screenplay and Direction . The screenplay of the film wasn’t that tight and had gone lose on several occasions . The pace of the film is a little on the slower side . The cinematography by Jason West was top notch . But I couldn’t understand the basement or the attic where the Band practises . There are no such places in India . You may find many such places in America but not in India . In a way the film would appeal to western audiences more than Indian audience after all how many “original” bands does India have anyways who write and compose songs on their own . There may be a lot but the number would be still low as compared to the west so all the original bands don’t get offended . Then comes Direction which is by Abhishek Kapoor who has done a decent job as a newcomer but could have done much better . How much influence did Farhan had on the sets that we don’t know so nothing can be said about his Direction skills . The story itself and actors were weak what could have the Director done . He should have probably worked harder on the script before going on to make it .

Overall , the film is good and would be liked by people in general . Saying that , I would still say that it could have been a much better film and probably a classic if they would have worked slightly harder . The film would entertain you for its length but won’t blow your minds . So if you want to just pass some time then you can watch it . I expect a top class product from Farhan who is the producer also , especially after films like Don and Dil Chahta Hai coming from his house . The film can be watched once and the efforts that those guys have put in can be appreciated .

Movie Rating : Three Stars out of Five , entertaining to an extent but same old story .

There’s a line that appears on screen after the film ends that says —“Don’t Download the Music , Buy it” which reminded me of the starting credits of the Hollywood Hit “The Simpsons Movie” that featured Bart Simpson writing something on the Black Board as punishment . See the screenshot . I laughed very hard when I saw it since I had myself downloaded the film and watched it even before it got released in India .

Rock On !!! — Music Review

The music of first Rock Music oriented film is out now and the album is mostly a rock album with majority of tracks belonging to Rock music genre . Rock Music belongs to the west and it is their forte , not ours and this is what comes out clearly in this album . The last attempt at rock music was made in Metro by the “Metro Band” headed by Pritam . The songs of Metro were a huge hit and if you ask me they were no doubt the best of Pritam . There is one thing to take note from the songs of Metro and that is that they were Rock songs but the Lyrics of those songs were completely Indian with no western touch to them . Even the singing style was completely Indian . The album thus became a huge hit . But one thing is that Metro songs were not purely Rock and can be called Indian Rock instead . But  again pure Rock songs would never work in India . We always want some Indian Flavour in the western dishes . Thus I am doing this review for people who are not die-hard Rock music fans because Die-Hard rock fans might love this album .

Rock On is a complete opposite case . Not only the tune is western but also the Lyrics are quite inspired from west in the sense that they have been kept pretty crude and simple . The singing style  is also being directly picked from them . The Album has Nine songs in total out of which Six are by Farhan Akhtar which according to me was the biggest mistake . Farhan is just about an average singer and he has not sung songs at a professional level . One Advice for him — “Dude , Acting in a rock oriented film is still OK but singing six songs in it is just too much and you cannot do everything , leave something for professionals “.  He could have tried KK , Shaan or probably Sonu or some new guy who is a professional singer and can Sing to any genre of Music . KK did an amazing job in Metro and there is no song in this album that can match “O Meri Jaan” from Metro .

Well , talking of album , the first song on the Album is Socha Hai by Farhan which is a good track but the tune is a typical one and there is nothing new about it . The lyrics are quite interesting and are pretty catchy . The strength of this track lies in its lyrics hence this song would get popular “only” because of its lyrics and not because of its tune or singer . The songs on the album are very youth oriented and so are the lyrics . Nice track , lacks a great tune .

Then comes “Pichle Saat Dino Mein” which is again a song that has a complete western touch to it in terms of both lyrics and music . These type of Lyrics are usually seen in songs by young boy bands in west just because they don’t have much experience in writing . These lyrics might suit an amateur rock band of high school but would not suit to a Grown up band . The song has a fun feel to it and might be liked by youth at large . But that liking would be only for short period of time and not evergreen. Here also I felt that the lyrics would be responsible for the popularity of the song more than the tune or singing .  It is a bit hard to believe that Jaaved sir can also come up with such lyrics .

Then comes the title track which is on air these days and getting quite popular . I don’t know how many of you remember this but the main Music of this song has been directly lifted from the Background score of Lakshya . If you remember there is a scene in Lakshya where Hrithik and his team climbs the Cliff and during that entire sequence a great background score is played . That background score is used in this song and a full fledged song has been made out of it . Though Music of Lakshya was also by SEL so we cannot say they stole it . Yet , the tune is a great one and hence the song is also “rocking” . By the time this track will arrive on the soundtrack you’ll get a hang of Farhan’s singing and realise his limitations as a singer . The lyrics are not made in Poetic fashion and are more oriented towards language that we use in daily life . Though the lyrics are by Jaaved Akhtar but I am sure here also Farhan would have given some inputs here and there . Overall , the song is the best on album and would be most popular one . This is the only song which impressed me in terms of music but here the lyrics were a bit weak .

Then comes Yeh Tumhari Meri Baatein by Dominque Cerejo which is a nice slow track that usually a girl singer sings at a lounge , restaurants etc . Simple lyrics and tune and nothing great about it . Dominique is great singer and probably can sing a better song than this . These type of tracks can be used in background in a film where they sound much better .

Then comes Zehreelay by Suraj Jaggan which again looks inspired from songs of west . The song has a tune like a Metallica song or a Greenday song . I know that Metallica and Greenday are from two different genre of Music but this song I feel doesn’t belong to either one . It is a mix of little bit of both .  Fast Rock song with excessive electric guitaring in it . A treat for Hardcore Rock Lovers and who like to play music at full volume . Again nothing new about it and would look good only in the film . One positive is that at least Suraj sings better than Farhan in terms of rock genre .

Then comes a slow track Tum Ho Toh which is a sad song and again has a western feel to it completely . Listen to it carefully and you can almost imagine an english track . At least they could have made this one better and little Indian . A sad and slow song yet it has a rock feeling to it . An average track again and didn’t impress me that much . Regular stuff . Farhan continues .

Then comes Sinbad The Sailor again by Farhan . I had once attended a rock concert where a local band played the title track of famous Duck Tales cartoon series and it got a great crowd support considering all of us have sung that song in our childhood . A bit of a similar concept has been tried over here where the track focuses on Sinbad The Sailor and tells his story . Again nothing new about it , same old tune that can be composed by any Local Band for sure .

The next track on the album is a “STUDIO” made Live version of Pichle Saat Dino Mein . The Live version is supposed to be live 100% but I don’t think this one is . It has been recorded in studio and Live effects have been inserted . In all , it is pretty much the same as the previous one .

The last track is Phir Dekhiye by Carlisa Monteiro who tries to sing the song like Celine Dion , slow and some parts at high pitch . I am tired of saying this but the tune has nothing new again and we have heard several English songs like these .

Overall , the album has use of typical tunes and nothing new about them . SEL have disappointed me very much as I was expecting much more from them . It almost felt that the Director had given SEL some of his favourite english songs and compose accordingly . The lyrics by Jaaved Akhtar were different from his usual stuff , in a good way or bad , I can’t judge . Personally , I wasn’t impressed that much .  Still , the songs are not that bad and can be listened once in a while . The album is more of an experiment which might or might not work . I think  it lacks creativity (considering big names like SEL , Jaaved and Farhan) and definitely some good singers .

Album Rating : Two and a Half out of Five Stars ; Good for one listening .