Rockstar, not so rocking

Rockstar leaves one perplexed and disappointed. Another Bollywood offering that has failed to come good. Imtiaz Ali had a promising story on hand and he has frittered away the whole potential with wasteful gimmickry. Disparate flashbacks, poor characterization of the lead characters mar the proceedings completely, making the viewer wonder what the director was actually getting at. After the hype and expectation that Rockstar generated, one would have expected better from Ali.

Janardhan Jakhar (Ranbir Kapoor), scion of a lower middle class business family, and an aspiring singer, pursues pain in order to make his music more 'meaningful'. Nice thought. But what does he do? Chases the most sought after girl in Stephen's, Heer Kaul(Nargis Fakhri)and follows her through the lush locales of Prague, where she lives post marriage. An affair of sorts, that blossoms into love, followed by the inevitable separation for two years (stilted scenes depicting the time)...during which time our protagonist rises to 'in'fame and stardom as Jordan, the rockstar...pain has indeed worked its magic on the music he makes:). Success is followed by destructive, erratic behavior, cancelled shoots, all dutifully reported by the media.

Reunion happens when an ailing Heer is back in India to live with her parents. A visibly dying Heer -so ineptly played by pretty Fakhri- recovers a little too fast when Jordan sails back into her life.....the movie was tailor made to become a Love Story, or some version of Guzarish...but Rockstar doesnt manage to touch the surface of our minds, leave alone our hearts.

Okay, to give Ali his due, the first half seems like the movie is heading towards poignance, and maybe even towards a small, modern classic. But, the second half just peters into nothing, nothing at all.Fakhri, will at best, remain a pretty face, a country cousin of Katrina Kaif, unless she s bitten by lady luck, oh yeah, the same one that bit Ms Kaif:. There was this expectation of seeing the making of the star, exploring his psyche, the deconstruction of stardom and the man behind it, and sadly, Ali did not do justice to any of these. A more realistic period setting would have helped too; Ali sadly missed the point that the movie should have been more about rock and the rock star (so much for vague references to Jim Morrison). A R Rehman s score is good, but not superlative and does nothing to elevate the movie to a true-blue rock musical extravaganza. So, what are we left with? Just two and half hours of grandeur, more in the Bhansali-eque mode. What s gotten into you, Ali? After Jab We Met, we really thought we saw a great maestro in you. You really need to buck up to make us forget this unimpressive fare, all other fixed rave reviews, and yes, young Kapoor's brave performance, notwithstanding.