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Rock On - Review

29th August 2008 | posted in Hindi Movies, Reviews, meetu |

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Alternate Names: Rock On!!!

Rating: Watch for sure - preferably in theatre (Rating Scale)

Movie Info, Detailed ratings, To each his own, Parental Guidance

Friends are forever…

Quick Review

Who hasn’t had a row with a friend? Time to make that call and hug the friend you didn’t patch-up with ages ago. That’s the warmth you feel while watching Rock On!!. In the end, you connect and that’s what counts!

Rating: Watch for sure - preferably in theatre (Rating Scale)

It’s youthful yet elegant. It’s contemporary yet identifiable with, by anyone who’s had a tiff with a close one. Yes, the layers of love for rock music and issues related to urban life need to be peeled off. But at the core it’s a very simple story told with compassion and sophistication.

That doesn’t mean all your questions are answered. The details of the main conflict are left to your imagination. But, the manner in which you are drawn into the story shows that smart people have been involved in its making. So, I submitted myself, albeit grudgingly, to the fact that their heart was in bringing us the resolution and not the clash. I’d suggest you do the same.

Whenever I complain about a cliché or predictability in movies/stories, I question myself, is it such a bad thing? How could they have avoided it in this situation? But, I end up with just one answer - it depends on how it is done. Is it natural, does it flow? Is the nature and flow convincing? The obvious call of events in Rock on!! worked for me because I found myself getting attached to the characters and their relatively ordinary lives. (Even though the characters were being followed by spotlights on half their faces!)

Each character in the foursome is representative of the kind of people any group of friends has. The idealist whose self-respect does not resign to compromise (Arjun Rampal), the slightly self-centered one who can’t see when he falters (Farhan Akhtar), the easy-go-lucky-cum-jackass who doesn’t let anything bother him too much (Purab Kohli) and the one who’s more emotionally attached to the ‘group’ sentiment than the rest (Luke Kenny).

The slight shiver in Farhan’s hands when confronted by his past, made me gape in awe of not just the actor but also the director, Abhishek Kapoor. Unbelievable that the man’s last effort was the appalling Aryan. Same goes for Arjun who looked like he was holding back the dialogues to keep his moustache from falling. Even so, I found myself cheering for him when he came to take his final bow. Purab and Luke too didn’t necessarily have the greatest body language yet, you felt bad for how things were shaping up for them when the going was tough.

With male-bonding as the central theme, it’s refreshing to see women with well thought out characters who influence the direction of the story. Prachi Desai is the strong yet vulnerable Sakshi. You feel like shaking her man to consciousness when he’s ignoring her despite the anxiety her eyes convey. You sympathize with Debbie’s frustration which Shahana Goswami so strongly brings across.

We see ourselves getting pulled into the narrative because the writer, Abhishek Kapoor, has given each of these characters detailed attention. Together, they mature smoothly from adolescent “we can conquer the world” enthusiasm to learning to live life the hard way. And yet, even the two less important roles (Purab and Luke) have defining qualities and are not restricted to being the protagonists’ “inner voice”. Moreover, this is all done in good humor.

Writer, Abhishek has also shown some imaginative strokes. The onscreen performances of the actors mirror the status of their characters in the band throughout the movie. Almost as if the rock band’s chemistry is shared by the four actors. Also, despite parallel narration of two time-spans, very rarely does any event seem out of place.
A plausible complaint could be made against the run-time and pace of the movie. I would argue that any tampering with that would take away from the poise and charm of the experience.

* * *

Note on music: My exposure to rock music is negligible. I was recently educated by a rock-enthusiast that lyrics are very plain and factual in rock music. The focus is on the music. This conversation obviously came about when I was complaining about the lyrics of Rock On!! while appreciating how different the music was.

I’m still not convinced the lyrics should be highlighted by loud and clear pronunciation, if they are not the focus, especially when they are more or less lame.

“aasmaan kyon neela, paani kyon geela geela” would sound great in a kids’ song like “bum bum bhole“, but didn’t work for me here. (Why’s the sky blue, and water all wet? It’d have been alright if the lines at the very least sounded poetic like “Why’s the sky blue, and the water full of dew?”) Songs from “Zindaggi Rocks” had awesome lyrics; does that not qualify as rock, then?

Anyway, I’m going to buy the CD for the music to grow on me. Oh yeah, do stick around till the last title card shows up.

Parental Guidance:

  • Violence: A couple fist fights.
  • Sexual content: A couple of tiny make-out scenes.
  • Concept: Friendship, bonding, forgiving and forgetting. While real little ones might not get it, a child above 10 might be able to grasp the concepts.
  • General Look and Feel: It doesn’t have bright color tones. But, the kids might enjoy the songs and the overall feel might be appealing.

Click here to read what I scribbled on my notepad while watching this movie (what worked and what didn’t for me). Might contain spoilers!

Click here to see what 31 other reviewers/viewers think. Average rating 4.6 / 5.0: 26 thumbs up, 5 so-so, 0 thumbs down.
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- Meetu, a part of the audience

Rating: Watch for sure - preferably in theatre (Rating Scale)

Detailed Ratings (out of 5):

Direction: 4 Story: 3.5
Lead Actors: 3.5 Supporting Cast: 3.5
Dialogues: 4 Screenplay: 4.5
Music: 3.5 Lyrics: 2

Rock On - Details

Director, Story: Abhishek Kapoor
Supporting Cast: Koel Puri, Nicholette Bird
Dialogues: Farhan Akhtar
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Genre: Relationships
Official Website: Rock On
Duration: 2:25 hrs (approx.)

37 comments

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  1. Anonymous
  1. 1 On August 29th, 2008, Karthik said:

    Great movie!!! great music!!!! Rock On simply Rocks….

  2. 2 On August 29th, 2008, ADI said:

    Hi guys i watched Rock-on here r my views gonna be long..but plz read it patiently….

    When i entered the theater, i wasn’t at all expecting such a huge crowd.It was nearly houseful..kasam se…The film is Simply fabulous..when the film finished i didn’t wanted it to finish..i was so enjoying myself that i didn’t even realise when the film got over..Prachi’s role wasnt a big one (DAMM MAN I WISHED IT WAS) but really significant role..after all it is better to have important role than a big lenthy insignificant role
    Arjun is fantastic..the punches he gives are really mindblowig…n he has done a good work..Purab is the surprise package ..he says his dialouge with the cute smile really well…Luke was good…the short hair suits him really well…n he is a good actor too…the other actors have done a good work.

    The next is about the music…It is the soul fo the film..its MAGIK….The songs are good..i am a romantic type person so my favourite the slow space songs..YE TUMHARI MERI BAATEIN AND TUM HO TOH..the other songs like Socha hai and Rock-on are also good…I remember when i was in the theatre when there was any song then people would shout and sing the song aloud..the audience were really enjoying the songs…I really liked Prachi’s song…the way she sung is what i liked.. it was nice..Farhan the singer is gonna be busy in recording studios for any rock or romantic song..Shankar Eshaan Loy has proved again that they are the Best..The music is vey appealing and youthful as everyone must have noticed…So the music is as the name Rock-on

    Now the director,Abhisekh kapoor..OK i am not a technical person so i dont really know about the technical things about the film..But the one thing i know about the director is that he is a good gift to the Film industry..He is gonna go far and have a good career.

    Now the styling,The band members have two different looks…they carry both of them really well..n Prachi’s hairstyle is my latest favourite…So STYLE MAIN REHNE KAA….purab with the beard was looking really unique..and ARJUN WITH THE long hair and moustaches looked really convincing for an adult age look..I request Farhan to grow his hair long again(please somebody pass him my request)..he looks really cool…and as i have already memtioned Luke looks nice in the short hair…Everything was EKDUM in ESTYLE…

    Now a special section foe Prachi:

    1st thing i was really afraid that hope that Bani wont overshadow Sakshi and believe me it didn’t…its was the actor Prachi desai doing a character called Sakshi…I think there was more confidence in her dialouge delivery n she did complete justice to her role…the one thing i m sure about is whenever people will talk about Rock-on they will never miss Prachi out…Prachi is there and will always be there…her role was a important one…She s the oone beoz of whom the story goes on to a next level…if she gets free time from her busy acting schedule(which is gonna be completely FULL) then do think about singing too..I really liked the song as its my favourite too…

    So my Appeal to everyone is to go out for rock on..its acomplete paisa wasool…Hope u all will go out for Rock-on

    Rock-on guys…

  3. 3 On August 30th, 2008, FAN OF ROCKS ON said:

    IT IS JUST SUPERB MOVIE…BELIEVE ME…NEW ACTORS ARE BORN NOW…..AND THAT ARE FARHAN AAM AND BANI….ARUJAN RAMPAL IS NOW PERFACT MATURED ACTOR…

  4. 4 On August 30th, 2008, prabhat ranjan said:

    this movie really rocks.sooo sooooo ROCK ON

  5. 5 On August 30th, 2008, budkalra said:

    Rock on completely Rockssssssssssssssssssssssssss
    after a long time beauty of direction with SEL Music with nice touch of Farhan Voice

    this movie rocks guys
    but only njoy at theather not at home with pirated movie

    so spends some bucks and go nd get rock

  6. 6 On August 31st, 2008, Tarun said:

    I haven’t watched the movie as yet. I am watching it today.
    About the music. I think it takes time for anyone to get used to rock music. You just need time to appriciate this form of music. Because its very different from typical bollywood music, which is centred around lyrics and vocals. Where as rock music is about music and feel of the overall song. Vocals are not always straight forward but this time they are.
    Whatever you might feel about music but all of us should appreciate the freshness this music brings to more often monotonous bollywood music. Rock On \m/

  7. 7 On August 31st, 2008, akansha said:

    Rock On is a good, smooth and soothing movie.. talks about four different characters, coming together for one purpose, sharing one goal in their life, one thing that they really love, but all from different background… Four pals, sharing the same interest, passion, different talents.. but same skills to put the talent together and create “MAGIK” - the so called Rock Band… the most Rock On part of the movie is, the last stage show performance… overall the movie is amazing… and worth a watch… so RoCk oN

  8. 8 On September 1st, 2008, Matanet said:

    Good luck Dear Arjun

  9. 9 On September 3rd, 2008, Gaurav Suryavanshi said:

    Thats an interesting take. You’re definitely a movie lover. Here’s my take on the movie. regards.

    http://www.gauravs.com/movie-review/rock-on

  10. 10 On September 3rd, 2008, Mayur said:

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    I was recently educated by a rock-enthusiast that lyrics are very plain and factual in rock music.
    <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

    Not really true, rock is a very broad category of music. Rock music has given this world very insightful,philosophical and sometimes path braking lyrics. Rock is so vast and mangled at the same time thats its difficult to attach tags. I am glad this movie tries to cover different genres of rock.

    About movie, movie scenes take their own sweet time to develop characters, situations. I am glad to see that new age directors’ patience has grown up to show scenes like these. I hope even audience ll start to appreciate this.

  11. 11 On September 8th, 2008, meetu said:

    Oh, is that so, Mayur? I guess people who liked the songs, were okay with lyrics too,

  12. 12 On September 9th, 2008, silvan said:

    a g8 film, the film starts off very well and no time is wasted on shitt scenes
    the entire dandya bit is funny
    the characters are well defined and handled
    barring a few flaws the film is handled brilliantly by abhishek kapur
    amongst actors
    farhan shows he can be the next g8 actor, arjun too shows his talent fully
    purab is g8 and also luke
    prachi too does well but the real find is arjun’s wife in the film

  13. 13 On September 9th, 2008, cine freak said:

    what a pretentious film! the first half is really bad, the second slightly better, maybe because everybody is happy including the audience!
    Farhan cannot sing at all, with a voice that sounds like a cross between a hoarse saw and a smooth sandpaper, his dialogue delivery is the funniest ever! Yes, many rock singers have been besur, but farhan is beyond that he just does not have a voice! The miracles of technology are limitless!
    The music well, the composers seem to have put together a mix of all the stray licks from the 70′ and the 80’s that were discarded by the original bands and used them here, ha ha. The riffs are so funny that you just wonder, oh my god, he is used that! that!
    college bands in this country are not that bad, come on!
    Dominique Cerejo’s singing is the saving grace, do not know the name of the song, but that song which plays in the back ground as Sakshi lovingly watches her husband and pals jam up.
    The script well, am a bleeding heart and I love a feel good film as much as anyone else, but the conflicts set up in the first half are so pretentious and contrived!
    Come on just because you are bad musicians, does not mean you would be bad salesmen of jewellery or would not help your wife in the fish business!
    Look at Farhan’s character for a change! He is doing so well, but his wife walks out because he would not tell her about his college mates and the band, any sensible wife would stick to what he was doing right, the money, the apartment and the other goodies, ha ha.
    Arjun Ramphal is the surprise so is Purab Kohli, they have done a good job. so has the actress who plays debbie.
    so was this a dig at anu malik, or the “hindi music industry” or was it just an expensive way to indulge one’s buddies?
    am still trying to decide with lots of aspirin to help me.
    Cool dudes, ritzy hairstyles and deodorised extras, and that music will get you the good life, that is what the film seems to be about, and of course about not compromising, repeated at least four times in case we forget!
    Do see “Almost Famous” sometime.

  14. 14 On September 9th, 2008, meetu said:

    Hey cine freak!

    Are you saying you liked Farhan’s voice or not? If you think technology did wonders then that would mean you liked the voice only you think its been synthetically edited.

    “just because you are bad musicians, does not mean you would be bad salesmen of jewellery or would not help your wife in the fish business!”

    sure! but whether or not you are bad or good musicians, you could be bad jewellery salesmen and might not be passionate about selling fish.

    No cine freak, wives do need more than a husband who’s ‘doing well’! Many of us do need a husband who connects, who talks, who tells us about his past and passions.

    You are the second person who recommended “almost famous” to me. The other guy, though loved “Rock on!!” too. Anyway, surely goes on my ‘to watch’ list.

  15. 15 On September 9th, 2008, cinefreak said:

    @Meetu, that is exactly the point, the first half of the script tries desperately to establish linkages which do not exist!
    And about Farhan’s voice, technology has produced it, it is not worth discussing!
    Am not a wife so would not know, though am a person who understands music to some extent and have tried my hand at bands and singing, so would say that if Farhan was passionate about music, he would have stuck to it rather than run away as he did. So found the motivations rather confusing! Ten years is a long time you know, and you get all sorts of opportunities, especially if you have the money, unless of course, the rest of your band were John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and John Bonham,(ordinary Brit boys otherwise), in short Led Zeppelin who refused to play after Bonham’s death in 1980 till this year for a very special reunion concert, where 20 million fans applied for 20 000 tickets! Ha.
    Of course, one can argue that it could be possible, I agree no doubt, it is possible, though highly improbable!
    And in “Almost Famous” the band the lead character tours with is ostensibly Led Zeppelin.
    All that aside, the script really lets the film down. It could have been shortened by 30 minutes or so, and could have tackled the themes of their daily lives in the present and how that affects their coming together even though they have fond memories and of course hurts. That would have been very very interesting.
    After all as someone said in the film I think it was Debbie “are you going to be a rock star at this age?”
    As Tull sang, Too young to die and too old to rock and roll!
    I have friends who are 35 plus and who play concerts of rock music too with young 20 year old band members, and you should check the reaction of the crowd when they see that one “old” man- in one instance some of them said that he must be the music teacher for the band! Ha, ha.

  16. 16 On September 10th, 2008, meetu said:

    Hmmm…Cinefreak. To me the movie was certainly more about relationships rather than the music, let alone the rock scene in Bombay 10 years ago. There’s hardly any mention of the technicalities. It might as well have been football, a theater group, or any other group passion.

    Maybe I’m treading dangerous waters here, but Amadeus didn’t get too technical on us either. It was a story that the makers thought we needed to watch. Granted, Rock on worked for some of us and didn’t for others, which is true for any thing/person/issue that is judged, right?

  17. 17 On September 10th, 2008, cinefreak said:

    @meetu, so what exactly does the movie show about relationships, in any depth?
    the first half establishes how all of them are in some way frustrated, and then the second half has them coming back together.
    so what is it about their relationship, were they rich kids having a good time, or they were there for the music?
    What makes them tick? What hidden issues, agendas lurk beneath the surface?
    It is all so cloyingly sweet and superficial as shown.
    To plumb the depths of relationships you need a script with some insight, and understanding where characters are reasonably well delineated. Not gloss and floss.

  18. 18 On September 10th, 2008, cinefreak said:

    and amadeus was in a completely different league, the script, the acting and the direction and it used music wonderfully to enhance the mood and story.
    Look at Amadeus as played by Tom Hulce, Salieri as played F Murray Abraham, my God, there is absolutely no way one can make any comparisons. The film is richly detailed as it is a period film but more than that the film is so evocative.
    No comparisons at all between Milos Forman who gave us One flew over a Cuckoo’s nest and Abhishek Kapoor, Ha ha.

  19. 19 On September 10th, 2008, cinefreak said:

    And just cannot resist since you brought up Amadeus,the screenplay was written by Peter Schaffer.
    Peter Schaffer is a writer’s writer and a playwright. You must watch his film adaptation of Equus with Richard Burton which premieried first as a play on Broadway.
    No comparison at all.

  20. 20 On September 10th, 2008, meetu said:

    @cinefreak - I concede on Amadeus. In general, I think two movies cannot be compared, even if they are remakes. Totally, my bad!

    About relationships and characters in Rock On!!
    Between Aditya and Sakshi - the strain in the relationship is obvious from their first scene together. They are superficially content. The housewife finds something amiss despite all the comforts being provided for. Aditya is not a fool, but he’s in denial that the break-up of the band made him vulnerable enough to give up music.
    How can someone give up something they are so passionate about? Like I mentioned, its not clarified here, and is dissatisfying. For some reason they denied us the conflict. To that a friend had a simple explanation. He said, to a man’s ego, one slap is enough, that too coming from a close friend. I’m still not completely convinced.

    The relationship between Aditya and Jo was glorified by actual words between KD and Rob. But, the subtleties were there too. The scene between Aditya and Jo when they reunite. The awkwardness melting with a hug. Good ol’ times taking over the bad experiences.

    The relationship between Jo and Debbie was the best. Jo’s constant reluctance to Debbie’s overbearing nagging but resistance to doing anything about it, because he knows she’s right. Debbie feels bad for Jo, but has to do the right thing, what she thinks is good for the family.

    There are many, many glitches here. But, when I get involved and want good things to happen between Aditya and Jo despite them being super-selfish, making me overlook all the flaws, the makers did something right.

    I’m not defending the flaws, I’m saying the overall impact made me ignore them. Not necessarily a good thing, but if a movie sucks me in, I can’t deny credit.

    I completely understand why it didn’t work for you. You are passionate about movies. You want the makers to think more than the rest of us. That can only be good for Hindi cinema. :) Us demanding more sense.

  21. 21 On September 10th, 2008, Dave said:

    I live to Rock…The reviews are good..But no disrespect to the director..He should have thought to design his own band logo..not to rip Aerosmith’s logo..Anyway musicians will love it coz it means a lot to them…ROCK ON ANYWAY!

  22. 22 On September 11th, 2008, cine freak said:

    @meetu, yes, I want the makers to think more and to work harder!
    Too often we as lazy audiences justify a film by saying that it is the first time that such a topic is being dealt with etc. That is not an excuse from a film maker’s point of view. He or she has a responsibility to put in his best and not just superficially package the film and rip it off from other language or other country cinema.
    Unless audiences are demanding, where will the films come about?
    Every director worth his or her salt has been held responsible for his or her successes/debacles by both critics and audiences. Regional cinema is in that sense far more rigourous, just look at malayalam or bengali cinema where directors are expected to put in their all and have a point of view, and not just pass of anything to the audience.
    To me the irony of Rock on is that the message is about not compromising, but the film is exactly the opposite!
    There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money by targetting a certain section of the audience; but then be honest enought to admit to it.
    And let us not then talk about “great cinema” though of course one can combine the two aims!

  23. 23 On September 11th, 2008, cine freak said:

    The audience, wonder why this aspect has never been explored in this country?
    The audience especially the multiplex audience is the worst in my opinion!
    They have no understanding of cinema and I do not mean in the technical sense, but they just have not watched films, good, bad or indifferent!
    They have just gone by ratings on websites or newspapers and watched the four star ones, and conceded to the popular opinion that the film was either good or bad.
    They have not read about cinema, they have not in the famous dialogue “eat cinema, drink cinema, and sleep cinema”!
    And I do not mean english vs hindi either; how many of the multiplex audience has followed hindi cinema or mainstream cinema either?
    When sometimes I talk about Mujhe Jeene Do, most people have not seen it.
    When I talk about Mithun’s Gunmaster G9 films a most interesting example of popular schlock, people have not watched that either.
    So what is it that they have seen? Am not talking about Ghatak or Ray or Kasaravalli either.
    And today is paradoxically the era of the DVD where almost any film is available.
    I would have loved to hear somebody talk about Mithun da’s films; as a legacy of popular culture and what it could mean for us.
    Will stop now, get too depressed thinking about this. Ha, ha.

  24. 24 On September 11th, 2008, meetu said:

    Me too, cine freak. I’m sure you’ve heard this concept of enjoying a movie despite realizing that they are not good. Enjoyment is something that you have no control over, or rather you shouldn’t have control over. Acknowledging that what you’ve enjoyed is good cinema or not, however is something in your hands.

    These things are obviously as subjective as it can get. I love the analysis done by David Bordwell on this subject - http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=2315

    Seriously, there must be one movie that you enjoyed but knew it had its share of flaws…which one was it?

    “To me the irony of Rock on is that the message is about not compromising, but the film is exactly the opposite!”

    lol! Have you considered writing reviews?

    “The audience especially the multiplex audience is the worst in my opinion!”

    Now, that’s a bit too harsh. If it were not this audience, movies like Mithya, Bheja Fry, Summer 2007, Khuda Ke Liye, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. would not have happened. I hope you liked at least one of these to make sense of that sentence.

    Oh come on! I’m sure there are popular movies that these people have seen and you haven’t. As much as we would like people to “eat, drink, live cinema” they do have a life to live, right? Who’s going to run our groceries, manage our banks, teach our children if we most of us watched all popular movies.

    I agree people who tend to watch fewer movies tend to like whatever they see. But, that can hardly be held against them. In fact, its the film-makers burden to have the person who sees most movies like his/her work too.

    Btw, I’m loving this interaction!

  25. 25 On September 11th, 2008, cine freak said:

    I do not doubt that film like all
    art is subjective; but definitely if we look around I am sure we can arrive at a common understanding!
    I am totally against the concept of enjoyment; enjoying a film is different from enjoyment! I enjoy films which give insight into the human condition primarily and all good art does that, I do not think there would be too many divergences from this point of view.
    But these films can be dark and depressing, or light and funny, whatever!
    As for the films you mentioned in the multiplex, I have watched none of them.
    I have watched each and every film of Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra et al and would like to see them again, but unfortunately because of multiplexes will never be screened. In the good old days you had single screens which showed old hindi films repeatedly. That phenomena is gone now.
    I cursed the multiplex audience because they have no discipline, they are too busy answering calls, eating popcorn, chitchatting etc! Multiplexes have also changed the nature of cinema viewing by their very structure; earlier one went to see the film, one concentrated all of one’s energies on it, to day of course watching a film is one of the things you do at a multiplex.
    90 percent of the time I am highly irritated with the multiplex crowd, talking, smsing, chatting etc.
    Contrast that with a chap who goes to watch Shivaji; he has probably waited long hours, and watches the film with rapt attention not wanting to miss anything, in fact the film is the most important thing for him.
    The multiplex crowd wants something new, something cool, which is why if you look at the list of the above films they are all ultimately cheap copies of foreign language films and not just with respect to stories.
    Khuda ke liye was the only noteworthy film and it was not meant for the multiplex crowd, that sophisticated crowd at all.
    As for the multiplexes, because of them so many good movies do not get space, for eg December boys which ran for three days, and our very own Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi which just about managed to run for four days. It was a horrible experience watching this particular film in E square; the audience had come in only because they had failed to get tickets for other movies and because it was hindi they thought they would be able to sit through it and of course found the film difficult.
    I had to later watch the film on dvd because I had missed out on most of the dialogues thanks to the multiplex audience.
    As for writing reviews, are’nt there enough reviewers around?

  26. 26 On September 11th, 2008, cine freak said:

    And sorry, one of the films that I enjoyed the most was Aankhen starring Govinda and Chunky Pandey!
    And yes, I too have to eat and lead a life but then let me be clear that my writing comes from there. Because you cannot compromise you see!
    The best critics who eat, drink, and breathe the respective subject,because for them it is what gives them life!
    Eg Pauline Kael who was in that sense completely “illiterate” about film.

  27. 27 On September 11th, 2008, meetu said:

    I meant enjoying the film, cinefreak not the environment. Anyway, I still don’t feel you can name a particular type of cine-goer. Single screen theaters too, I’m pretty sure would’ve also had “kaantaa lagaaaaa” blasting from one corner during the most serene/serious cinematic moment. Do you visit single screens anymore?

    Would Hazaro Khawaishein Aisi have run for more than that span if there were no multiplexes? In fact it released just after E-square opened and E-square was only the 3rd if not 2nd multiplex in town. So, the audience there might have been the single screen audience a couple of months ago. See, my point is that, the quality of cinema is more the onus of the filmmaker than the larger audience.

    Yeah people like you and maybe me can raise our voices against the ‘Om Shanti Om’s and ‘Baghban’s

    I’m not compromising, I’m saying I liked something despite its flaws. To trash the movie despite enjoying it and having been involved for most of the 150 minutes - that would be compromise.

    Didn’t understand your Pauline Kael statement. I have read only a few of her articles.

  28. 28 On September 12th, 2008, cinefreak said:

    Yes, Rock On did have its moments, but they were too far and few inbetween. The track of Arjun Rampal’s character and his wife Debbie was the best of the lot. The rest, well…
    Pauline Kael was not technically trained in cinema is what I meant.
    No I do not visit single screen theatres anymore though I occasionally go to Alaka or to Neelayam, but that is very , very rare.

  29. 29 On September 15th, 2008, anshuman said:

    That your exposure to rock music is negligible is evident… however i am wondering how you came to be a film critic because i do think your exposure to that is more than pathetic. most of the places i thought farhan was trying hard to convince himself of the validation of his role.

  30. 30 On September 15th, 2008, meetu said:

    :) ok anshuman!

  31. 31 On September 20th, 2008, Vivek said:

    Okay, here goes.
    1) Rock music is not just lyrics, its about the spirit of rock, its about being yourself, its about beauty and its like a ripple on the soul. The movie was a complete failure in that sense, the music was so pathetic I would actually like to kill the music director for even having the guts to call that rock music, it had terrible, half assed uncut rough solos, loser lyrics, long dragged out vocals…..basically any hindi music with longer out of place solos, thats not rock, never ever from any angle can that be called rock music.
    2) Pathetic acting, has the director ever met any rock artist before?? He should ATLEAST do that much before making a movie like that. Is that how they are?? OH PUH-LEASE, bunch of emo kids? The dialogues? So terrible (the delivery AND the substance) , there is no spirit of rock at all, the most important thing of all. Ask any person who seriously likes rock music and he will tell you that!!! I mean wtf?
    3) The script, pretty cheesy but I would let it pass, I wouldnt have hated the script so much if not for the brutal murder of rock music and its true spirit.

    Well whatever, but seriously if anyone actually wants to listen to some good rock pick up something like led zep(focus on music), the doors(focus on lyrics), floyd(lyrics+innovation), grateful dead(lyrical beauty and improvisations), pearl jam(more recent band), dylan(sheer poetic beauty), Dire straits(amazing vocals and solos, smooth), Vai(guitar god) or any other sub genre or type of your liking….

  32. 32 On September 22nd, 2008, meetu said:

    Thanks for your observations, Vivek.

  33. 33 On September 25th, 2008, sekhar said:

    Rock On is really rocking n especially farhan akhtar is superb in his style.
    rock-on is a must watch movie….

  34. 34 On October 5th, 2008, kingsamrat said:

    “such movies r really good to creat view for life,so i like to continue ‘ROCK’…………

  35. 35 On October 11th, 2008, mahesh said:

    hi bus ab ek bar muje farhan se milna hi padega, he is my inspiration from today

  36. 36 On November 9th, 2008, u2s the great said:

    hi strangers
    i would like to say you friendly that this movie is realy great and shows how the friends together can fight all the storms and make all the dreams come true.
    i mistakely came to watch this movie and still i am found watching it at home again and again…i warn you dont watch this fucking movie as you will be addictedt to watch it atleast once a day like me………….its the choice of all the youth..so is mine and hope that it will be yours

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