Rock On Farhan

Maybe the reason why people look back so nostalgically at their days in college is that for most people those days represent what dreams are made of. Hanging around with friends, being crazy, being ruled by the head than the heart. Why did you give up those shreds of youth just because you became an employee or a spouse. So dream on and keep chasing your dreams. If you stopped singing, dancing, painting, writing, trekking or whatever gave you a high when you were growing up, just go back and discover it. Rediscover your passion.

Rock On, says the film. Hey this dude Farhan Akhtar is amazingly talented. This 34 year old (born 9 Jan 1974) made Dil Chahta Hai at age 27, Lakshya at age 30, the remake of Don at age 32, a short film on AIDS at age 33 called Positive and at 34 he made Rock On. Talk about a flamboyant seven years of making movies. Stylish, has a point of view, unafraid to experiment (yeah – why remake Don? Why not, says he) and successful. He now has added acting and singing and playing to the guitar to his repertoire. He does all this and does it well. I really admire this multi talented guy. You could blame it on the gene pool. After all Farhan is the son of Lyricist Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani. Jan Nisar Akhtar, the lyricist of yesteryears should be proud of what grandson Farhan has achieved. Farhan has showed that he certainly excels at direction. How many people can claim Dil Chahta Hai as a debut film.

The movie is about the story of four friends who used to have a rock band. When the ideals of youth scrape against reality, friends fall apart. A decade later, Aditya Shroff (Farhan Akhtar) is a successful Investment Banker. Has pretty wife Sakhshi (Prachi Desai) and BMW. The long haired rock guitarist that he used to be is a secret even his wife does not know. The erstwhile drummer KD (played by Purab Kohli, the real life VJ of Channel V) of that rock band called Magik is now running his father’s jeweller business. Just a point before I move on. Purab’s goatee looks blatantly false in the film. His comfort with the camera comes through so clearly. Rob (played by Luke Kenny, the long haired VJ of Channel V in real life) the keyboard player hangs around the recording studios looking for work. Arjun Rampal plays Joe Mascarenhas who is now runs a small music shop. Will they get together to recreate the Magik of the band after a gap of ten years? That is what Rock On is all about. Special mention: Sonali Goswami is an actress to watch out for. She plays Arjun Rampal’s wife in Rock On.

The music of the film is unabashed Bollywood rock. Some cool compositions by Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsan Noorani and Loy Mendosa. Loved their music. Javed Akhtar’s lyrics were average. I always tend to compare his commercial Bollywood lyrics with his more sensitive stuff from Tarkash (meaning a quiver of arrows).

To give the film and its characters authenticity, the actors underwent personalized training for their portrayal of the band members. Purab Kohli trained with Lindsay D’Mello on drums, Arjun Rampal trained with Chandresh from the band ‘Dream out Loud’, Luke Kenny worked with Loy and Farhan trained with Shankar for vocals and Ehsaan for rhythm guitar.

So rock on – the time is now, rock on – every moments calls, rock on – don’t just be a bystander, rock on – life does not give you a second chance. To quote the title track from the film…

“Rock on है यह वक़्त का इशारा

Rock on हर लम्हा पुकारा

Rock onयूँही देखता है क्या तू

Rock on ज़िन्दगी मिलेगी न दुबारा”

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