film where protagonists hold their instruments but don’t know how to play them. Rock On is a film that’s as real as the situation that live musicians are facing in present day Bangalore.

The story of the film is as predictable as your average “strugglers get their chance in the spotlight” film. In fact, if you’ve been watching films in Hollywood that follow a similar storyline, then this movie might not surprise you very much. There are a few surprises
worth mentioning, but we’ll get to that later. So you have four friends, each bound to the other by their love for music. There’s Aditya Shroff (played by Farhan Akhtar) whose voice is as good as his poetry, Joe Mascarenhas (Arjun Rampal) who is a near-genius on the guitar, Rob Nancy (Luke Kenny) whose passion for music is reflected through his work on the keyboard and Kedar Zaveri or KD (Purab Kohli), an extremely enthusiastic drummer with a rich jeweler father (he is the Gujarati funny boy that’s almost become a staple in young Hindi films… Remember Jiggy of Jaane tu?).

They form a band called Magik (a name that almost ruins the effect of the rock music the main leads swear by), and are confident of their success as they have immense faith in each other’s talents. They do get their shot at fame, but due to reasons revealed later in the film, are not able to capitalize on the opportunity given to them. The impact of this event affects each one’s future more deeply than they’d think. Therefore, KD is now a jeweler himself who tries but never quite finds friends that he can connect with. Rob still makes music but in a way that doesn’t bring him any satisfaction. Joe becomes a guitar-teaching failure-brooding recluse who leaves it to his wife Debbie (Shahana Goswami) to run the family fish business and take care of his son and mother.

And Aditya or Adi, becomes a successful businessman, marries a good woman and has everything a man could want from life, but is never able to fully appreciate the good life he leads.

A series of discoveries by Adi’s wife Sakshi (Prachi Desai making her film debut, of Zee TV’s Kasamh Se fame) about his past life, motivates her to reunite the four. Whether they are able to look beyond their past mistakes and give their talent a chance to re-emerge forms the rest of the story.

Rock On, to put it simply, is an honest film. It manages, to a great extent, to portray the hardships faced by many musicians with a lot of talent but with little marketing skills and a limited knowledge of the business aspect of the music industry. Even though there are certain clichés in the film that exist to be able to make a connection with the average cinegoer who has little idea about rock music, they never bring the spirit of the film down and can be safely ignored. The film also successfully shows the way sincere talent is manipulated in order to suit the interest of the masses, thereby breaking the spirit of the musician.

A very important feature of this film is its music. And it doesn’t disappoint. Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy come up with good tunes that are a refreshing change from your conventional Bollywood music. There are a few portions of certain songs that might remind you of famous English songs (like the end note in the song Socha Hai that Farhan Akhtar drags in a manner
very much similar to the ending vocals of Axl Rose of Guns n Roses in songs like Sweet child o’ mine and Don’t cry), but overall, the music manages to keep the theme of the film alive and many of the tunes are sure to stay in your head for a while.

But something that turns what could have been a “set-in-themould” story into an honest adaptation of the lives of the talented yet deprived, are the performances. There isn’t one actor in the film who can be pulled up for a shoddy performance.
Farhan Akhtar makes a confident debut. Be it emoting or singing, he
slips into the character with ease.
The homework he has put in to impersonate Jim Morrison of The Doors shows, and he does a pretty good job. Luke Kenny plays the calm group member with a lovely charm, but gets his performance moments only post-interval. Purab Kohli as the lighthearted drummer who tries to ease tensions in the group is lively and zesty and adds the Bollywood element to the story. Prachi Desai isn’t given a very strong character graph although she is pivotal to the story, but she does a good job with what she’s given.

And now, the surprise I had mentioned earlier. There are two revelations in the film that connect with you instantly. One is Debbie played by Shahana, who brings depth to the role of a stressed and frustrated wife. She is natural, spontaneous and honest in her portrayal. The other revelation is Arjun Rampal. If this film has to be credited to anyone, it is him. He
essays the role of Joe with a neverbefore displayed finesse and breathes life into his character. You want to cheer his achievements, cry at his failures, and grind your teeth at the obstacles he faces. That’s how good he is. He has grown tremendously as an actor and delivers an eloquent performance.

All the onstage acts are brilliantly shot and each character’s body language does, to a large extent, remind you of the rock musicians that became legends: Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek etc. It is pleasantly surprising to note that actors have finally taken the trouble of getting
acquainted with the instruments they’re supposed to play.

All in all, Rock On is a must watch. The only negative thing I can think of is the title of the film,
which has become a horrible cliché, but was probably necessary to attract audiences. The film has been tailored to suit the Indian masses, but still keeps its basic essence alive. As a film, it depicts one section of reality and at the same time, also has the potential to rejuvenate despaired musicians towards hopefulness. Finally, go watch the film because, in its honesty and passion, it delivers a message to music producers and the youth, not to disgrace talent, but to support true music in all its forms. The Verdict: A film that is long overdue in Indian cinema.