I guess I would say I am lucky to not have watched promos and endless trailers of upcoming movies thanks to not having a television. This left something like Rockstar a complete unknown entity to me until I decided to go watch it. I wasn't expecting the usual small-town-guy-goes-big gig like a bunch of other Hollywood movies. But like the movie itself, it was that without being that.
A key thing here; the more I go to multiplexes the more I am disappointed with the auditorium like feel. I really really miss the "large" screen experience. In Bangalore, only Urvashi comes close to that definition. It would have been something to watch this in a theater filled with like 500 people with your head literally moving from one end of the screen to the other to catch details. Definitely going there next time!
Well Rockstar...someone who has already watched it, would understand the title of this post. It is such a layered film that it is hard to find a start and an end to even start talking about it, just like the way the movie is packaged.
The opening scene set the tone for me. The sheer presence of Ranbir Kapoor and the location in that instant is just overwhelming. Predictably going back to how it all started, Ranbir's Delhi guy act is phenomenal. It also stands out because the female lead is so pathetic that after just a few seconds you begin to wonder what is wrong with the Hindi Film Industry. I mean can't they see it? Katrina, Kareena, Nargis Fakhri, you name it. I really can't remember the last time I have liked a Hindi film female lead and please don't jump to Konkona Sen Sharma....I do not like her. What follows is a really hard to believe sequence of events in today's day and age. It's just a big eyewash until finally they both realise blah blah blah and the girl gets married. The honest desi act and the extremely likable Khatana Sahab in the first half is something that stayed with me long after the movie was over. "But it is also a reflection of today's youth", I start to think as I ride back home in the Bangalore winter. Call me old fashioned, but I quite like 1995, when a Shah Rukh Khan would not even dare to touch or think of getting married to a girl without the parents' consent and sticks to it till the end. And a Kajol for whom a Euro trip is all that she wants to do before getting married; unlike here where the girl has a predictable and as-lame-as-it-can-be list of doing things before she gets married. It is really surprising that the director chooses to omit some of the most primal and obvious things youth explore. You mean to tell me that they never think of getting physical? #Unbelievable really. When will we start avoiding this selective portrayal? 1995 was better then.
Besides this, Mohit and ARR create magic. Loved the way the music flows into the narrative and the visually rich and stimulating sequences are a treat. Also the transition from JJ to Jordan is not sudden and abrupt and smoothly evolves while drawing from his experiences at the dargah which is also a beautiful passage. Though I am not quite the right person to comment on costumes etc, I thought there was quite a range there, from exquisite to outrageous.
The second half is where Ranbir really sparkles, though the narration itself is really jagged. The outrage, the selfish behaviour, the troubled soul, he pulls it off in style and shows great potential as an actor, if someone didn't already know. The lady, well I almost felt like there were two directors here. A couple of scenes that left me with a "Oh yeah...we never think of that" was the one where Ranbir arrives with Nargis in Himachal and the media hound him without understanding the context and the other where he storms out of the hospital on to the street lost in the moment which eventually leads to a scuffle with the cops. A beautiful illustration of the state of mind.
Imtiaz Ali excels in some portions but loses out on most. He tries to do too many things at times. Like the Sadda Haq sequence. There are shades of concealed freedom struggle, other problems of the society all intertwined with the mind of Jordan. It could also be exactly what he intended like he quotes at the end in a few lines wrong-doings right-doings of society blah blah. It just leaves too many loose ends. And at the other end there is an extremely selfish guy who is madly after a woman who is apparently dying. Honestly there was no other way I can think of that the story could have ended :)
Apart from that, in a review I read late last night, the guy's family, the husband are all central characters conveniently murdered. Personally the gems were the massage scene, the one where a visibly disturbed Ranbir tears the contract and throws it on the producer, and the one where he walks out of the hospital. If Rockstar leaves you without having to think, then there is something wrong with you. If THIS blog post looks/sounds all mixed up, random, thoughtless, biased, confused and without a flow/sequence....it's exactly how I felt after watching it.
A key thing here; the more I go to multiplexes the more I am disappointed with the auditorium like feel. I really really miss the "large" screen experience. In Bangalore, only Urvashi comes close to that definition. It would have been something to watch this in a theater filled with like 500 people with your head literally moving from one end of the screen to the other to catch details. Definitely going there next time!
Well Rockstar...someone who has already watched it, would understand the title of this post. It is such a layered film that it is hard to find a start and an end to even start talking about it, just like the way the movie is packaged.
The opening scene set the tone for me. The sheer presence of Ranbir Kapoor and the location in that instant is just overwhelming. Predictably going back to how it all started, Ranbir's Delhi guy act is phenomenal. It also stands out because the female lead is so pathetic that after just a few seconds you begin to wonder what is wrong with the Hindi Film Industry. I mean can't they see it? Katrina, Kareena, Nargis Fakhri, you name it. I really can't remember the last time I have liked a Hindi film female lead and please don't jump to Konkona Sen Sharma....I do not like her. What follows is a really hard to believe sequence of events in today's day and age. It's just a big eyewash until finally they both realise blah blah blah and the girl gets married. The honest desi act and the extremely likable Khatana Sahab in the first half is something that stayed with me long after the movie was over. "But it is also a reflection of today's youth", I start to think as I ride back home in the Bangalore winter. Call me old fashioned, but I quite like 1995, when a Shah Rukh Khan would not even dare to touch or think of getting married to a girl without the parents' consent and sticks to it till the end. And a Kajol for whom a Euro trip is all that she wants to do before getting married; unlike here where the girl has a predictable and as-lame-as-it-can-be list of doing things before she gets married. It is really surprising that the director chooses to omit some of the most primal and obvious things youth explore. You mean to tell me that they never think of getting physical? #Unbelievable really. When will we start avoiding this selective portrayal? 1995 was better then.
Besides this, Mohit and ARR create magic. Loved the way the music flows into the narrative and the visually rich and stimulating sequences are a treat. Also the transition from JJ to Jordan is not sudden and abrupt and smoothly evolves while drawing from his experiences at the dargah which is also a beautiful passage. Though I am not quite the right person to comment on costumes etc, I thought there was quite a range there, from exquisite to outrageous.
The second half is where Ranbir really sparkles, though the narration itself is really jagged. The outrage, the selfish behaviour, the troubled soul, he pulls it off in style and shows great potential as an actor, if someone didn't already know. The lady, well I almost felt like there were two directors here. A couple of scenes that left me with a "Oh yeah...we never think of that" was the one where Ranbir arrives with Nargis in Himachal and the media hound him without understanding the context and the other where he storms out of the hospital on to the street lost in the moment which eventually leads to a scuffle with the cops. A beautiful illustration of the state of mind.
Imtiaz Ali excels in some portions but loses out on most. He tries to do too many things at times. Like the Sadda Haq sequence. There are shades of concealed freedom struggle, other problems of the society all intertwined with the mind of Jordan. It could also be exactly what he intended like he quotes at the end in a few lines wrong-doings right-doings of society blah blah. It just leaves too many loose ends. And at the other end there is an extremely selfish guy who is madly after a woman who is apparently dying. Honestly there was no other way I can think of that the story could have ended :)
Apart from that, in a review I read late last night, the guy's family, the husband are all central characters conveniently murdered. Personally the gems were the massage scene, the one where a visibly disturbed Ranbir tears the contract and throws it on the producer, and the one where he walks out of the hospital. If Rockstar leaves you without having to think, then there is something wrong with you. If THIS blog post looks/sounds all mixed up, random, thoughtless, biased, confused and without a flow/sequence....it's exactly how I felt after watching it.
