Rock-On movie review

Two hours of live rock concert was the impression foremost on my mind as I came out of the movie hall. Never much into anything but antique melodies, Rock-On has created a new follower for rock in me. Mind-blowing music, youthful lyrics and energetic singing characterize the music of the film. The drums and the guitar left me ecstatic and lost to the music. While music formed the soul of the movie, the cast added flesh and blood to it.

Aditya (Farhan Akhtar), Joe (Arjun Rampal), KD (Purab Kohli) and Rob (Luke Kenny) feel comfortable in their skins as rock artists. Farhan rendering voice to all the songs picturized on his character adds an authentic touch. Arjun Rampal is steadily maturing as an actor. If he looked convincing in Om Shanti Om, he looks made for the role in Rock-On. The way he uses his body language to portray transformation from a go-get-it confident youngster to a beaten by life, unsuccessful middle-aged man is amazing and deserves notice. He may not be a versatile actor owing to his chiseled looks but characters chosen with care to suit his personality can take him places. The cool-as-cucumber characters of Purab and Luke do well to complement the intense characters of the other two.


The movie gives equal importance to all the emotions that the characters could go through given a situation as in the movie. Passion for music, bonding with friends, love, ego, fragility of mind, all have their own place and treated well too. Aditya just walks out on a life that makes him taste failure giving up even on his girlfriend. Joe, never a man of the world, thrives on emotions and sentiments. KD is the happy-go-lucky kind who can never be bogged down by anything while Rob wages his own war against life.


The female leads have been used to the optimum extent. This is not their film, they know it and don’t try to squeeze out anything more even as they do complete justice to their roles.
The icing on the cake is the way the rock concerts have been captured. Re-iterating my first statement, they seemed nothing less than live.


Concluding, one would be wise to watch Rock-On in a good theater with good sound systems if inflation has not burnt a hole in your pockets.

A flooded weekend

What would you have when you plan a sumptuous lunch, a week in advance? A damaged pan, a burnt carpet, a burnt gasket and an exchange of a few warm words. What would you have when you plan for a perfect vacation a couple of months in advance? Three times postponement and still-existent uncertainty of making it. What would you have when you plan for a perfect Sunday from Friday night? A flooded house!
I guess “failure of plans” is going to be our family tradition; it looks quite promising in the first months of our marriage at least. Planned to move into our newly constructed flat as soon as we got married; the builder refused to fit in the sanitary or get the elevator running. Have been planning a nice trekking expedition into the western ghats, so near to my husband’s town; the time doesn’t seem to be quite ripe yet. Planned a relaxing weekend for my parents in Bandipur; the first date saw us shifting our house, the second saw mother falling ill, the third will soon go by seeing another of the relatives ill and I cannot predict any further. Felt like pulling my hair, shouting out aloud and blaming someone for everything but do what I may, neither would the builder get the elevator and sanitary fitted up nor can the ill uncle recover in a flash. Hence, I decided not to pull my hair out instead, am trying the age-old formulae of laughing it off. The day my loving husband triumphantly placed the hot frying pan on the plastic carpet and got the designs off the carpet and onto the pan, I cooled down after the initial face-off and took a picture of the three-some (the carpet, the pan and my husband) for the family album. The weekend gone by, the experiment went a step further.
It was after a long time that we were having a quiet weekend, free of any pending work and all to ourselves. I was savoring it and planning for it from Friday night – a relaxed cup of coffee with the news paper, a nice game of badminton followed by a light breakfast, a prolonged warm shower and an elaborate lunch, a nap in the noon, a leisurely walk and a smug dinner with a movie before retiring for the day. A refreshed Monday would ensue I dreamt. Behold, arrives Sunday morning and in my excitement to get to the badminton court and get work out of the way simultaneously, I switch on the washing machine and rush off. A couple of hours later, I enter the house, exhausted and dreaming of a nice warm bath. Surprise, surprise! I do not get to walk into the house but wade through it; I had forgotten to let the outlet pipe into the bathroom. My heart slumped, but only for a moment. The experiment continued, I smiled, took a picture of the house, welcomed my ever-patient husband in and together, we drew up a “plan” to drain the water. Three hours of backbreaking work ensued.
It is Monday morning and I feel quite refreshed!