So, who’s the RockStar?


Though I did not understand what the whole deal with ‘Socha Na Tha’ was, and think that ‘Jab We Met’ was a nice movie and that it didn’t blow me away, and that ‘Love Aaj Kal’ was a decent movie, I agree that Imtiaz Ali is a good director, there are no doubts in that. And a good dialogue writer too.
 
So where did he go wrong with Rockstar?
In my honest opinion, what is wrong with the movie is the plot. Its just not present. Or let’s just say, its too weak. So weak that if it were to try to stand on its feet, it would make a big hole in the earth beneath it and fall down. You get the point , right? Heavy, but weak. Its like he planned to fit in all elements into the same story and make one movie out of this all. Well, this had material for atleast two movies – one love story, and one story on how a boy turned into a rock star. Both would’ve sucked big time, but nonetheless, it would’ve been two stories. You get the point again , right?
 
No? Imagine this - Glimpses of a wannabe-Jim-Morrison and in-love-and-hence-will-do-things-to-piss-off-lover-and-media-Salman-Khan in a very good-looking, extremely well-dressed-in-its-own-new-way Ranbir Kapoor romancing a just-about-okay-looking-really-big-unnatural-looking-pout-just-cannot-act-for-nuts-Nargis-Fakhri, killing himself out of frustration at not getting to sleep with her, and hence writing and singing great songs composed by AR Rehman.
Well, this is the movie in a nutshell. Now add a cheating-on-the-husband-angle, one could’ve-been-dealt-with-better-divine-intervention angle, police-chasing-Jordan-for-no-apparent-reason angle and a very weak, discontinuous editing job. You have RockStar!
 
Don’t get me wrong. Its not a bad movie. This movie had the potential to be a good one, had it not been for the whining Nargis Fakhri and her pout, the cheap antics of the Platinum music company head, the whole extremely-ridiculous you-should-have-pain-to-be-a-great-artist(Everyone in the story team totally forgot the great musicians who have had sober lives – Bono and ARR himself for example!) and the various angry outbursts by Ranbir Kapoor for no logical reason.
And why the whole cheating angle? Why should Heer chose to cheat on her husband? And if she felt guilty about it, why should she be doing it with Jordan? No, am not against people cheating on each other and all, but the illogical cheating is what I don’t get. In this day and age when people are free to be with whom they want to be, and without anything binding Heer to her husband, why didn’t she just dump her husband and go with Jordan if she loved him that much?
 
And getting the cancerous-about-to-die-Heer pregnant with Jordan’s baby is just, well… cheap. There was no need for this angle in the movie, and Jordan would’ve been pining for Heer even if she wasn’t pregnant with his baby. Also, the Free Tibet concert with Tibet being blurred out. Cheap again. The mention of the forest being cut to make way for the city and the absence of the parinde , well, not required. What is the character doing to substantiate his interest in these causes apart from just fighting with the police?
And what were they trying to show when Shammi Kapoor’s character shakes his head sadly at seeing Jordan’s poster for the album ‘Noir’? That he is going the wrong way? Well, didn’t he already know that Jordan was never the ordinary guy. And he wasn’t on the roads begging after a big fall from grace. So why the whole sad look?
 
And why on earth was Jordan running away from the cops in Prague or Verona or whatever awesome-looking-place it is? And if he was indeed performing in that place, why would the cops not know him?
 
This and many more such plot gaffes killed the movie for me.
What it should’ve been is just a guy’s angst at not being able to be with the woman he loved and hence transforms that pain into music. It could’ve been an honest attempt to show a love story.
 
Not a love-cum-musician-story. Not a sorry mish-mash of all the bad-boys we know in the media. Not how Jordan has an affair with Heer and tries to break into her house or pines to sleep with her or kiss her. Not how he became a Rockstar, coz being a Rockstar is not about being a bad-boy. Not how Jordan uses his pain to gain an image and show his attitude to audience.
The only things I liked in the movie – the music and the clothes. Though many say that this isn’t certainly one of ARR’s, I loved the songs. I enjoyed all the songs and the way they were shot. I loved both Heer’s and Jordan’s costumes. Brilliant work at building a separate style for them both. I loved the locales, and cinematography.
 
But if you ask me who the Rockstar in the movie is, I’d say Mohit Chauhan. Period.

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