Well I hope I got the innovatively [numerologically?] framed title right with the 2 "bangs" at the end. Right from the opening scenes of the movie to the very end, I had this weird feeling of deja-vu. The writer-director, Abhishek Kapoor is definitely one from our generation, heavily "inspired" by that cult classic of our times, Dil Chahta Hai. The feeling only gets stronger what with the lead protagonist-singer-producer being the creator of DCH.
The film unfurls at its own pace[again very DCH-esque]. The storyline is predictable. But its treatment is interesting. Farhan Akhtar does act, albeit in patches. Arjun Rampal is in better form than some of his recent duds. Luke Kenny is passable, so is Prachi Desai. But the real scene-stealers are Purab Kohli[why don't we get to see him more often??] and newcomer Shahana. Purab is bang on with his comic timing. The scene, where he gloats on being complimented by his prospective girl-friend, is hilarious. Now how many times haven't we gone through that moment in real life?? :-D
But the real star of the show for me is the music. The movie declares at its ending credits,"Do not download the music, Buy the CD!!". And I agree. If at all there was an album worth buying in 2008, this is it. The lyrics by Javed Akhtar are absolutely "rock"ing. I've been drooling over its music for 3 weeks now.
The film has its nice moments, some truly hilarious, some very sentimental, some very crisp. It does have its bad moments as well. Mr.Rampal please, You only had to act like playing the guitar. And haven't we had enough of death bed scenes? Few of the story lines are incomplete like Farhan's break-up with his girl-friend. I would have loved to see the story dwell more on the ego clashes between the lead singer and the "genius" guitarist.
Nevertheless, I'm going with 4 stars for "Rock On!!". Watch it, its a refreshing change in Bollywood.
Oh BTW, the band in the film is called MAGIK. Yes with that 'K'. :P
