For long, for ages, our mainstream commercial cinema has made us believe that Aal Izz Well with the world.
Or at least, that it will all be well in the end.
And that the entire universe conspires to bring you what you want if you want it real bad.
It probably does but not always the way you want it to happen. As the saying goes: Beware of what you wish for, because it might come true.
Dreams came true as the fantasies of our society played out on screen decade after decade as characters went from rags to riches or from lost to found or from falling in love to happily everafter.
Our films taught us to believe. That there is a system or a God or a hero that makes everything all right or at least delivers poetic justice even in the darkest of tragedies. If we do the right thing.
Our films made us feel good.
But you know what, the world sucks and there is no right thing.
There is no God to make your dream come true.
There is no hero who will save you.
There is a system, of course. But one that tells us how we should lead our lives. That defines the rights and wrongs and judges us on the basis of our behaviour. We are rewarded for conforming and punished for straying out of line.
The more developed our societies got, the more civilized we became, conforming and learning to live orderly in groups.
It’s fascinating how issues in our cinema reflected issues in our society as they trickled down from as big as land (fifties), nation (sixties), society (seventies) to family (eighties) and to identity (nineties when the hero at least temporarily became a non-resident Indian).
But in love stories over decades, there was always a faux morality, a set of rules in the society that kept lovers away – from Devdas to Mughal E Azam to Pyaasa to Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
Real life lovers went to the movies to see their fantasies played out and wept when they didn’t work out.
Soon, three young second generation filmmakers Sooraj Barjatya, Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar started negotiating with the family structure. Romance in films started becoming about manufacturing consent from the family system or the head of it – the patriarch who slowly changed from a villain type (Dalip Tahil, Amrish Puri) to a father figure (Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher) type.
And by the end of the nineties, our youth had a mind of their own. It was no longer about land, nation, society, family or even their identity. It was about the self. About what they wanted. About what the heart wanted. Dil Chahta Hai. Parents didn’t stand between lovers anymore.
In spite of all these changes, one thing didn’t quite change. The girl always had to be pure and virginal unless she was playing the other woman, usually a prostitute with a heart of gold pining for a lost hero.
If Kashyap’s Dev D for a first time in ages finally let out all the pent up repressed sexuality from between the scenes, Imtiaz Ali does one better – he makes his hero romance a “neat and clean, hi-fi” married woman, one who is certainly NOT a virgin. Of course, a boy and a girl can be friends. Till they kiss. And it’s never the same after that.
In Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, the kiss happens right at the halfway point in the film, two full years after the girl has been married, even if not happily.
But let’s rewind a bit to how they got to that point.
She was doing what Simran did in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, having one last blast of fun before her wedding. And he was a happy-go-lucky slacker trying to make it big, just starting his journey from boy to man, being comfortably cocooned in the nest of his family.
She knew when she should take off her leather jacket and ready up for mehndi and He knew that she was off-limits as great as she was. He had to find pain but he was simply incapable of heavy-duty emotions.
He was, as his mentor called him, a “halka aadmi.” A light-hearted dork, a stranger to pain. His life was just perfect. Or so he thought. Just like any of us.
We think our lives are perfect because we conform to a system. Because we have jobs that pay well. Or a loving family. Or at least basic education. We don’t live in the seventies. We aren’t part of any hippie generation either.
What do we have? We have nothing but the boring middle class family values. Janardhan knows that. He probably does not even like the way his name sounds. But when she calls him Jordan out of the blue because she likes how cool it sounds, he’s found a new identity – of a man being somewhere he shouldn’t be doing something he shouldn’t be.
He had to be at an audition for Platinum records and here he was in Kashmir. He had to be chasing his dream of being a pop star and here he was with a girl he liked to spend time with.
Rockstar is about being in that place – where you are not supposed to be, doing what you are not supposed to be. The forbidden.
This was the domain of porn films that slowly crept into the adult films over the last decade as Mallika Sherawat kissed away to fame. And the forbidden has finally found its way into a mainstream film for all audiences.
Indian cinema through Imtiaz Ali’s film has finally found an outlet for all that has been repressed. Romance, sex but most of all, choice. And freedom to do what is best for the self, not family, not society, not nation.
Rock music is not just about drugs or sex. It’s always been about the freedom to express. The rage against the machine. The system.
It’s interesting how Imtiaz Ali ducks the clichés associated with rockstars. Jordan is no Devdas who takes to the bottle nor is he sleeping around with other women.
He hates the taste of alcohol. He finds his moment of truth at the dargah of Hazrat Nizammuddin. Heer is not his muse. God is. He finds God in him during his journey (if you listen to the lyrics of Kun Faya carefully) and heads back home to channel that God through his music. He completely surrenders to it and where it takes him. He settles down and tries to conform to the way of single life in the big city, pretending to get drunk and dance away his blues.
He’s almost made his peace with his situation of being estranged from his parents and the girl he strangely misses when he finds an opportunity to go to Prague. But he’s already pissed off the system by laughing at it. It just came to him naturally. He didn’t want to laugh at it. And the only way he can go Prague is by selling his soul to the Devil. The Special Contract. He just does not care. He wants her.
Raj in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge went from Europe to the bride’s home in India to get his girl. Here, Jordan goes from India to Europe to another man’s wife’s home to get her. Together, they tick off everything that’s forbidden there – the underbelly of Prague, the seedy strip clubs, gay bars and discos with neon lights. More importantly, they kiss.
Aditya Chopra was manufacturing parental consent. Imtiaz Ali is violating moral codes.
It’s a kiss that triggers off years of pent up repressed emotion and sexuality. Not just in Rockstar but in all of Hindi cinema.
Raj and Simran stayed all night in a hotel room (DDLJ) and he didn’t even kiss her because he’s Hindustani and a Hindustani boy will NEVER do that to a Hindustani girl, we are told. But here, they talk about it first. He kisses her. She resists, scolds him and then changes her mind and kisses him passionately. Beautifully done.
This is that halfway point where our hero and heroine stop being the typical hero and heroine because they “cross the line”. They go all the way and do it. (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna had the perfect opportunity for this moment when he makes love to another man’s wife but squandered it by making it look like they were killing an infant – with that much guilt writ on their faces, it seemed like Rani and SRK were undergoing punishment than having sex there!)
Here, as much as Heer tries to run back to her city (the leitmotif in the film for orderly life), her home, she finds herself stopping halfway on the bridge between home and her lover.
The moment he breaks into her house, he’s crossed a threshold, a point of no return from the law, the system and the society. And the musician becomes a rockstar craving for freedom to do what he really wants to do.
From a pop talent behind an album poetically called Sheher (City, the leitmotif and metaphor for the phase of his life where he conformed to the way of life) to a criminal behind bars during the launch of his album Negative (He stops in between Sadda Haq to tell us that he is searching for those wild pigeons that used to be where the City today is) to a true-blue rockstar who has given the society the finger, signed on by a bigger evil foreign company, endorsing a perfume called Noir (the name once again serving as a metaphor for that phase of his life where he has sold his soul), Ranbir delivers the performance of a lifetime, always uncomfortable with structures as Jordan, even before he knew he was. He’s winning every single Best Actor award next year.
At an audition earlier, we see Jordan unable to get in tune with someone else’s composition. “He is a different jaanwar (beast). He won’t stay in your cage,” as Shammi Kapoor (RIP, God bless Hindi cinema’s original rockstar) tells the head of the label despite the boy admitting to the shehnaii maestro that he really didn’t understand classical music. Here was a boy who didn’t like anything rigid or structured. He was naturally drawn towards the improvisational, free-flowing riffs of the guitar.
The beauty of it is that Jordan has no idea why he does things he does. He is not doing it to be a bad boy. He just finds himself at home jamming “Dum Maaro Dum” with prostitutes (He sings the ‘Duniya Ne Hum Ko Diya Kya’ bit) than an evening with his old friends. When his mentor screams at him in the middle of the road for his rash unpredictable behaviour, he confesses that he does not know why. He says he’s burning from within and he feels like worms are eating him from inside. His angst grew stronger every day and he felt more and more alienated from society.
She didn’t know it either. Heer is such a triumph of characterization that I will totally forgive Imtiaz for casting Nargis Fakhri, the only jarring note in this soulful rock opera.
Heer didn’t plan to fall in love with him. She didn’t plan to sleep him with. She didn’t even know that she was depressed and needed psychiatric counseling because she missed him. From being mentally unwell, she was becoming physically sick because she was infected by his presence in her life. She needed his touch to feel better and the longer the doses, the more dependent she became. They needed each other but it was forbidden. She had become Satine from Moulin Rouge.
But here again, it takes two-thirds of the film and about four and a half years for him to understand the connection they shared. “Main Sirf Tere Saath Hi Set Hoon, Yaar.” That one line sums up Imtiaz Ali’s brand of romance perfectly. A late realisation of love, a sense of settlement, with an old friend.
This is the feeling he has been fighting throughout the film.
On returning from Kashmir, he tries to find escape in videogames.
After being thrown out of home, he tries to find his peace through God.
After coming back from Prague, he tries to find his soul through his music.
He doesn’t care about Tibet. He cares about freedom when he’s singing Sadda Haq. All those cribbing about Imtiaz Ali blurring Free Tibet, if you knew enough about Tibet, you would recognise the Free Tibet flag shown in pretty much every frame of the concert shots throughout the film. It’s a part of his costume. Good thing the idiots censoring it couldn’t recognise the flag in half the film.
Very rarely has an Indian film succeeded in crafting a cohesive musical narrative where the lyrics are an integral part of the storytelling. Why is it that we have lost the ability to listen to the words and soak in the meaning? They tell us everything we need to know about the characters, their conflicts, their state of mind and the angst.
A film mounted on a scale as big as Rockstar needed the music that would make it wholly believable that a stadium in Europe would go crazy for an Indian musician. And who better than the man with two Oscars and a worldwide cult following to provide music that is not just credible but also a soul-stirring quality. If you have to buy one audio CD this year, go pick this one up.
Ranbir’s powerhouse presence, Mohit Chauhan’s vocals, Rahman’s music, Irshad Kamil’s lyrics, Anil Mehta’s cinematography, Aarti Bajaj’s editing and Imtiaz Ali’s vision make Rockstar a compelling biopic of a fictitious rebel without a cause. Loved how it unfolds as a jigsaw puzzle with bits of documentary footage of an enigmatic persona as we piece together his story in an effort to understand him and his pain.
The angst here is the driving force, the engine and the heartbeat of Rockstar and is something you will appreciate more if you’ve been an artist yourself. If you’ve experienced unrelenting pain, prolonged frustration and pounding heartaches, and channeled that choking feeling into a creative process as a cathartic outlet for your emotions.
Rockstar is the journey of every artist who has refused to conform to a system, to a structure, to a society, to a set-path or process not because he thought it was cool but because that’s who he is. It’s a journey of a never-ending search of that elusive peace, truth, happiness and freedom.
Art is all about the depth of that journey of self-discovery and Rockstar does full justice to that. It’s not about “Oh look, she’s walking, she’s cured! What a Bollywood film!”
She’s never cured completely. When the mother rejoices that her daughter was able to get out of bed, the doctor quickly acts as the reality check and tells her: Woh Aisi Hi Hai (She is just as she was.) When the mother is later ecstatic that her blood count has increased, the doctor is still skeptical (He’s not saying: Wow, it’s a medical miracle!) and tells her: Be logical.
And the answer she gives the Dr. Animesh should shut every critic up.
“We think we know life. But it surprises us. Stranger things have happened.”
I was in Auroville a few weeks ago for a film festival when I met this man with a hole at the bottom of his neck. He had lost all his hair, had no eyebrows and had lined up his eyes with kohl. I instantly knew he was a cancer patient. But here, he was dancing around, blowing bubbles for children and giving flowers to women. The doctors had given him three weeks to live. He got sick of chemotherapy, told them he wanted to die in peace and left for home. That was over two years ago. He healed himself. Or maybe he will die next week, we don’t know! That is life but the only truth is that he is alive today.
Even after that explanation about the mysteries of life, Imtiaz does what he must – pulls the plug on the happy ending and proves beyond doubt that Jordan’s “magic touch” was not her cure. It was her disease.
Imtiaz had to leave the artist with all the fame in the world and yet experience an empty void of nothingness. That was the point of it all.
“Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye Toh Kya Hai” (as the lines from Pyaasa go). Rockstar is also the exact antithesis to Pyaasa in the sense that there Vijay renounces the world, his identity and disappears into anonymity, frustrated with the society but no such happy ending for Jordan here. He does not find himself at the doorway of the auditorium where no one recognises him. He finds himself on the stage under the spotlight where there is no escape from all that he once wanted as he looks away at the doorway – the common motif in endings of both films.
Nothing is private anymore. Not even his emotions. His screams of pain had become art. Part of the music they were swaying to.
He’s an empty man feeling nothing looking at the sea of people cheering for him. He’s just standing there wishing he was under that bed-sheet with the girl he loved and there’s no one around. His process of alienation is complete. Jordan has to live like that because he had sold his soul to the devil, to the system, to a company.
There is nothing more tragic than a man still in search of what is long gone.
And once you’ve seen life through his eyes, you will just laugh at the next person who tells you: Aal izz Well.
Yes, the world sucks. So does this business of art, music and entertainment manufacturing feel good, faux morality and happy endings.
Good to see someone showed it the finger.
Imtiaz Ali, A.R. Rahman and Ranbir Kapoor have given us that rare film that’s true to everything rock music once stood for. The angst. The pain. The rage.
Rock is not dead. And all’s not well with the world.
Your post just sums up every feeling i had after watching that film yesterday! Esp the thing about lyrics! Even the Haawa Haawa song just creates that beautiful parallelism to the state which existed between Jordan and Heer!
For a Tamil Noob like me seeing that film in Escape with subtitles was a blessing! 🙂
Seeing that movie yesterday and reading you review (and ticking within myself all the things i thought worked) are the two best things that happened to me in a long time! 🙂
Good review man! Keep up the good work! 🙂
While I liked a lot of things about ROCKSTAR including many of the nuances you have discussed, the final third failed to grab me and go somewhere. If it was about Jordan being set free, I wasn’t convinced he was even after Heer’s possible death. Or perhaps she never did die because of which he remained trapped. Either way, the open end didn’t work for me.
I think it’s important for a character-driven narrative to show the character getting somewhere. And like plot-driven narratives, even if the character fails in attaining his goal, the audience must be told whether he did or not. Not telling them doesn’t seem to have a specific purpose in the case of ROCKSTAR. Almost seemed like a gimmick to force the audience to leave, talking about the film. I’m not sure it was the right direction to take. A parallel I’d draw is the tragic end of VENNILA KABADDI KUZHU which had no purpose or necessity, but to provoke the audience to talk about it.
And for this reason, while the film worked for me in its breakup of scenes (I absolutely loved the first half), I didn’t leave with that feeling that goes, “Damn! I need to watch that movie again!”
A superb write-up that highlights everything that Imtiaz Ali does right, and there’s so much of it.
Vijay, it was not an open end. His process of alienation was complete. He was shunning people little by little throughout the film and by the end, he is completely alienated. He does not see the crowd, he does not see the world. He sees her. The memory is all he’s left with. And a void in his life. There’s nothing more tragic than a man in search of something that’s long gone. He had sold his soul and he was trapped under the spotlight. It’s a beautiful ending.
When you explain it like that, I see it now. But for a guy with my sensibilities, I’m not surprised I never saw it that way. Oh well, wrong guy watching the wrong kind of film.
Sudhish, I’d like to correct you JUST A BIT there :P. While it might not have been an open end, it was shot for the viewer to take home his or her version with them – possibly because Ali might haven’t wanted to break the hearts of those people who would have actually been as heartbroken as me in the final scene you just so aptly described (yah I was sobbing, so what?).
Also, the fact that there was no audible or visual significance of the fact that she hit the lights on life forever (she was still in the hospital bed, and there was still a lot of sign of life) – but of course the fact that – according to me – they depicted the scene makes me want to feel they’re still oddly connected to each other. Plese do read my blog for my take on Rockstar! It would be an honour – we can even discuss it further!
In fact i don’t know but a lot of people seem to have missed this point…When Ranbir goes to meet Nargis for a last time at the hospital; she is very well depicted as a vegetable but during Nadaan Parindey and before he feels her soul, there is a shot which features Nargis breathing and her chest thumping…These moments make the film it is…Stunning…
A good article.
what a brilliant review…. awesome writing!!!
i was already finding it tough to write my review and now after reading this, i dont think i can manage to be NOT Inspired by this one.
Superb review. No. Don’t want autograph on any of my boobs. But, would surely like to meet you someday 🙂
Hope, your GN|GM gets such praise. I do really hope so
I guess we can call you the Rockstar now. Chuck the movie for the moment; I am reading this again and again to assimilate the insights you have given, the parallels drawn. More reason for me to watch Pyaasa at least now. *Take a bow for this write up*
I *like* previous comment.
hii.. 3 things that receives special mention in your review is
your sum up of, what film thought us, how this film has run over all the Cliche’s in present films.
Every time when he tries to find peace, soul , its through practical way and not cinematic.
Its a film finely scripted and presented truly, but the way climax ended, it was true to the story, they way his heart getting stuck to what he wanted and how you cant connect to other things when you get stuck in love is true!
and the way this film has made u write a review this much big, shows how much grt this film is !
I am simply overjoyed reading this .. that what I took from the movie did resonate in other hearts too … Loved the article !
Absolutely brilliant article!!! Loved the movie…
well, i dont know if imtiaz failed in screen play or i failed to understand …i never identified any of these mentioned above…not sure if all the reviewers are ecstatic about boldness of the movie and forgetting about how much it connected to the audience
Brilliant review! This was a beautiful movie indeed! 🙂
Great writing man… I had liked the film a lot but couldn’t put my finger on why exactly. This piece has helped solve this personal mystery.
Your article makes me want to see the movie for a third time. First-rate analysis of a first-rate film.
Loved the line ‘Why is it that we have lost the ability to listen to the words and soak in the meaning? ‘
Great writing, the movie wasn’t flawless but Ranbir acting was pretty close to it.
It’s 3am here and I just came back home after seeing Rockstar. Being an ARR fan and having heard mixed reviews of movie, I had very less expectations. After a tiring day I even thought I would doze off. But I never really felt asleep. My friend who happened to join me for the show at the last moment said he felt as if he had just finished an really good novel. Expectations reduce happiness. Surprises bring joy 🙂 your review made the film even more beautiful to me. Being abroad, there were English subtitles which were especially very effective during the songs which actually told us more about what’s going on !! Felt really good to see a perfect musical – songs that which just lets you enjoy the movie without distracting you away from it.
Awesome review Mr. Kamath!!
I’m so glad that you wrote this. As a Critic, sometimes you have to be objective, almost ticking off from a list, acting- good, cinematography great, production values..blah blah.. actually, when I see these points in a review, I wonder if it were a film or a product in the market? The whole idea of “art” is ruined in many a cases by the film maker himself (or herself).
Here when you see the movie as what it was and how it was created, it really pleases me no end. Its not a product, its a piece of art and art may not be perfect but it touches the soul. It does…everything from the characters to the situations to the depth in the language of telling a story…the music (heavenly) and lyrics (So appropriate!)….everything just falls into place.
Though I would never term myself a fan of Ranbir’s, I always enjoyed his performances but this time I can safely say, over any other actor I like, I would chose this performance as one of the best I have seen.
As a die-hard fan of ARR’s what can I say, when I listen to his songs, I’m transported to another level.. its unbelievably spiritual and mind you, I’m not remotely spiritual, but the word makes sense to me when I listen to the songs..as does the beautiful lyrics..
Having loved all his 3 earlier movies( I have watched socha na tha in the theatre 3 times!!) Imtiaz Ali had a lot of expectations set on him, by me and boy, did he deliver. Not by doing a one up on his earlier movie, but by seeking a completely different path, one more brave!
I get worried for people who call the movie amoral on the basis of the fact that the girl is married. FU people, if you think its great to live a life of misery with someone you dont love is better over choosing someone you love. Hardly a choice, ask your heart!
Thank you sudhish, this piece was straight from your heart, so it went straight into ours!
the emptiness, the pain,the loneliness were things i could relate to, lot of ppl could and jordan could show it to the world. imtiaz ali shows love like no1 in hindi cinema does. like in “jab we met” he showed us dat geet ws undr da delusion dat she ws in love with her bf bt it did fade away once anurag kashyap entered her life…………like in ” love aaj kal” he showed us u never get over da 1 u love ….u jst move on with a feeling of emptiness…………bt rockstar gives us da whole evening 2 sulk coz v did nt fight enuf 2 b wid dat person coz u thot it ws nt goin 2 affect u…………in my case its been 8 ys since i found love nd countless number of beak ups wid dat same person …………..nw wen v hv finally called it quits i see evry movie nd think of him………….i wnt da guy i flirt wid 2 b like him………it hs come 2 a point wer i dnt like 2 b wid a guy coz its nt him………….nd i cnt tell dis 2 da guy i love coz i dnt wnt 2 put him in an awkward position nd b reminded dat its over………seriosly life sucks nd all izz not well in this world
finally a true tribute to the heavy metal \m/ teri waah tu hi rakh sadaa haq aithe rakh
great writing that shows simplicity still has value, concise sentences and wel paced mood. Loved it.
I have not watched the movie yet, and after hearing the mixed reviews, I thought it warranted only ‘a CD/DVD Sunday morning fast-forward the boring scenes’ watch, but now I am going to give it a try.
Seems you are totally in love with the movie and tried to explain few points from director’s view point as well . IMO this cant be called as a completed review since this is not balanced with what worked and what didnt work for you 🙂
rocking review – makes me watch the film again.
Sudhish,
I actually thought sometimes you are so biased towards certain filmmakers,
U tend to be soft with certain ppl..still I think no one could beat you as a critic. This one is really heartwarming. It opens up to a whole new level. You actually take the credit for improving the IQ of the viewers . Good job !
Rock on !
fianlly read a sensible review on this one…. i think u would be amongst the very few ones (off course after imtiaz ali) to understand the depth of the film….. i was actually tired explaining people it was beautifully made just didn’t have right kind of comparisons to make them understand… glad to know there are people like you in the country where bodyguard stands amongst the highest grocers…. 🙂
wonderfully written !!!!
Man!! I’m not able to decide…which one is better your review or the actual movie!!!
I saw the movie before reading this article and loved it den…..
But after reading your thoughts i want to see it again just to see how i missed so many thing in the first go!!!
Hats off to u too for writing such a brilliant review :))
Salut!
Totally loved the review. I feel what makes it beautiful is the blogger’s rendition of the movie. Each of us perceive the movie in different ways and this perception is beautiful for you have compared other movies which you thought suited in the league and although the blog is lengthy i was surprised to see my scroll bar just hit the bottom while i thoroughly enjoyed it.
Kudos! 🙂
And i would say, that your point of view is genuine and touches the heart irrespective of our perspectives and perceptions!
Vatsal shared this on Facebook and i am glad he did
Mr.Sudhish,
These days most of your reviews (so-called) dont actually seem to be one. Instead it goes around “discussing the other cinema you enjoyed” or “about the genre of films” or “preaching what actors and directors should be doing”. Not much is seen to be written about the actual film. Hightime to call this a discussion forum for the cinema you like.
And I dont understand why you just take up the hyped films (or the big-budget with stars) for reviewing. There are quite a lot of small films (small interms of budget) which strike the chord both in Hindi and Tamil.
Oh, this wasn’t a review really, it was my reading of the film and all that I liked about it. And why should I conform to your narrow minded definition of what a review is? But you have a point about writing about smaller films. I do that as well as much as possible. I was the biggest promoter of Aaranya Kaandam. Just that you don’t leave a comment there. 😉
Then better change your tags from “reviews” to “discussion” probably… would make much more sense… “Aaranya Kaandam” was one rare thingie… but still most of the films you write about are biggies… I guess wise-men accept criticisms and move forward… Its an irony that the criticizer isnt able to do so personally in your case 😉
Wow….Palangtod review/reading , just loved it 🙂
SuperAwesome work .
Loved your reading of the film – it was fantastic! 🙂 I liked the movie, but your article gave me whole new perspectives; than just the agony of Jordon, which was palpable!
I have always followed your reviews in Cinema plus but this one made me to write here since I was waiting for your review of Rockstar last sunday, and it wasn’t there and I had a strong feeling that you would have had something to say about a movie like this; and I hit jackpot here! 🙂
Aw..come on. True..the movie was good. U r giving it way too much credit.. interpreting it as if it were Lynchian cinema.
Nice write up. Was hoping you’d do the review for the paper, but this write up is one better.
The movies is class apart story telling, & this is class apart reading !!! Thanks.
The films has some flaws i agree, but it has something which makes those disappear…too good…can’t stop visiting theater to experience it again & again…..
Pls Dear bro., Do Not Compare Wid One of Greatest Movie of Worlds of Cinema is Pyaasa , Pls Read below msg ,
My Dear Imtiaz Ali Sir , Your Movie Can Be Become Great Great Blockbuster Movie of all Time In Indian Cinema Forver ! But Its Not True ! Bcoz Sir You Really Do not Show Real RockStar Life ! Its Biggest Fact of Your Movie ! And Script in Not Perfect any Ways of Rockstar ! I really Like to Made Rockstar Movie again Same Jordan Style Wid Same Song & Music By RahmanSir .. but all Scenes in Different Ways of Really Rockstar Life & Connecting Scenes with Song & Music , bcoz All Song & Music are Very Divine & Soulful wid Love & Respects to Beloved by A R RahmanSir ! Pls Its My Big Request to all Filmmaker in This Worlds ,Pls My A R RahmanSir Divine Song & Music Properly Used in Movie Scenes & Pictures well In Your Movie , That Really Made Movie More Divine & Soulful & Sure Its Will Be Greatest Movie In this Worlds !
For me, the movie is sort of ARR’s songs… at first listen, you won’t like it, but you will keep on humming them and then you will listen it once again and fall in love with it…
After watching it the first time on a FDFS thing, really didn’t liked the way it ended, felt a little bored during certain scenes in the second half and really didn’t get the whole point at all… BUT after reading the review and reading and recalling the scenes with your review, it all made sense… could clearly understand the movie better and feel like watching it all over again…
Yes, indeed, Imtiaz has given a different treatment here than his other movies…
It seldom that one gets excited so much to pursue the interests…a rarity..in life today.. your (and Big B and Anurag K’s comments) review on Rockstar just did that..I had to watch the movie nyway but now I have to live the experience of being jordan, his angst, demons, its in long time I felt this bloody excited to book that show…
the moment her soul appears on the stage where he has got the world under his feet…literally, I thought of the same phrase “be careful what you wish for”. it was tragic and amusing all at the same time. Once you even slightly push the house of cards they have to crumble down, and nothing can stop it. I felt that the family connection was shown less. But he actually did a very good job of establishing the big family and how detached and out of place he is among them. then the song sadda haq dint make complete sense to me, but after thinking into it and trying to understand why so much angst, I could actually feel the fury. It is not meant for public as people have their own agenda of rights and wrongs, what should be’s r should have been’s. In many ways rockstar is rebellious. It says, this is what I believe in. and many found the climax as a dissapointment, but the dialougues where he tells his mentor “kuch bhi karo. mera dil mat tutne do” and later on under the bedsheet where he answers “mai dusri duniya mein rehe he nahi paunga…”just paraphrasing, but these two lines sum up the whole climax and the way in which he has placed them in the movie….masterfully…this is a movie which will be seen by people for a long time, today it is criticized by quite a few…may be after half a century when they will check on the movies of our time, rockstar will be among them….sorry if you feel am overstating the fact….but its a strange and strong probability
Brilliant review mister. extremely deep insight that goes well beyond the movie itself.
If everyone watched cinema like this they might actually start to see the big picture and not crib so much about the technical pot holes (casting of nargis, which i think eventually did fit in to the larger picture) that really don’t matter in the end.
Its not the action but the intention that matter after all.
A brilliant review is all I can say….the way you have summed up the intense emotions and nuances of the movie is just out of this world…wish the other so called ‘critics’ learnt how it should be done as you have actually seen and felt the movie from Jordan’s character…yes its so right…we suppress our feelings to conform to the ‘rules’ laid down by ‘society’…n how things just change if 2 friends who care abt each other kiss?! And about the cancer patient…its true…miracles do exist and I completely and absolutely second that! 🙂
Not sure if Indian cinema will witness another movie like this one but hoping it does and also hoping to read the review from your perspective….
Cheers!
very very well summed up!
Nice review Sudhish!
Ordinarily, I don’t watch Hindi films in the theater because of the language barrier and wait instead for DVDs with decent subtitles but I allowed myself to be persuaded to watch Rockstar. And I must say walking out of the theater, it felt like an honor to have watched the flick on the big screen.
Ranbir Kapoor is without doubt the lifeblood of the film and I have seldom seen a performance more powerful in this part of the world. Imtiaz Ali despite running a strong race, dropped the baton once or twice and depends on RK and ARR to carry the movie to the finish line.
Loved how the director did not feel the need to portray Heer’s husband as a sadistic wife beater or a cheater to justify her relationship with Ranbir but was content to leave him as the attractive but cold guy who can lay the first claim to her affections (as per the dictates of a rigid society). Jordan and Heer’s love story is so beautiful that not even the stigma of adultery can tarnish it (morals be damned). It also brings out the best in him as a musician since the pain of not being the man who watches her brush her hair at night eats away at him and drives him into a frenzy of bruising creativity that is great for his legacy if not his personal well being. Like u say it is insanely tragic to long desperately for something that is long gone and Ali and RK bring that out beautifully but there is a jarring note and that is not Fakhri’s performance (backed as it is by textbook characterization) but the fact that Heer suddenly is stricken down by disease and coincidentally on the same night that Jordan picks to act out in front of her family after breaking in. It was a rude shock and I felt the enchantment woven by RK lift marginally as I was thrust rudely and without warning into what felt like a Sanjay Leela Bhansali melodrama. Alive or dead Heer was always lost to him and one cannot help thinking that in real life Heer would have chosen to leave him and barely made it through the rest of her long life with the help of her shrink and his prescription pills and the occasional cold embrace from her husband. Jordan of course would have continued to tear himself apart with his self – destructive ways and overdosed or something similar and died a spectacular death.
Ali’s ending is not as cliched and after some Bhansali movements the film finds its footing again and sails to a suitably moving climax. And what is remarkable about Ali, RK and ARR is that they made me feel so connected to Rockstar (despite my frustrating inability to follow the dialogue) and I laughed and wept my way through a glorious coupla hours. Ranbir deserves all the awards he has coming his way and as for me I am waiting for the DVD release and my faithful guide to help me plod my across a Hindi film – subtitles!
Anuja, Her disease is a metaphor for his love. She was afflicted long before that night. We see her after years and she’s talking about visiting a shrink because she’s not been well for the last two years. The mental sickness just becomes physical once they get physical as well. This is actually spelt out after she dies when Mandy screams You killed her. You were her disease.
Wow! That’s a brilliant review i must admit. I definitely loved every aspect of Rockstar but after reading this review i have respect for the movie and Imtiaz Ali for capturing and portraying such beautiful dimensions. And yes your review throws light on little yet important nuances that goes unnoticed usually. Too good. Keep up the good work 🙂
I should first say that I enjoyed watching Rockstar very much, albeit in parts. But all I’ll talk about here is what I didn’t like about it.
I think it’s the relative-boldness of Rockstar’s premise that’s brought out such love for this film in several people, especially artists. But it is far from being a great work of art. Indian cinema suffers heavily from being overly pretentious. That’s what makes our films less appealing to the world audience who are more exposed to quality cinema. While Rockstar aims to deal with higher and purer ideals compared to the regular Bollywood fare, the depiction of the characters in it shows a dearth of quality several times throughout the film.
The beginning episode of Janardhan trying to get himself hurt by proposing to Heer and later walking funny into canteen got plenty of laughs in the theater. But, to me, such protrayal of Janardhan is pure escapism intended for the masses since that naievity of his could’ve been portrayed in a more sensible and yet funny way if Imtiaz intended to stay true to the character. Those scenes may seem well fit in a regular bollywood film where the filmmaker consciously tries to reap laughter from audience but Rockstar could have been made much better than that. Such escapism simply shouldn’t have room in a film aiming so high.
Despite many people considering the film’s boldness a welcome departure from the rules of Bollywood, I don’t think the departure is any where close to being enough to make this film an instant classic. In fact, the boldness was kept way below radar that I did not even feel its effect in either of my two viewings of this film. Though Heer gets married, there’s not even one scene of her interaction with her husband or parents that makes us feel the risk of her going out with Jordan. Contrary to that, she being sick and walking like a zombie on the street when Jordan greets her would make us think that her going out with him as the most natural thing to happen. Not even once was I convinced that her marriage/family should be a threat to them. There simply isn’t any story/drama about her family that’s shown to hold her back. If anything, it must be in the minds of overly conservative audience and/or Heer.
The dialogue under the covers where Heer had to create a world for Jordan to make love (off screen) or the showoff of Jordan to Heer’s mom that he’s going to make her well (and mom’s unanswerable question of how Heer could get on her feet) or the mom’s glorified justification about Heer’s increasing blood count… all this would have had a positive effect on me if I felt like watching The Wizard of Oz. But scenes such as these let me down especially in contrast to the brilliant montages, acting and music portraying Jordan’s evolution as a rockstar starting with his days at Dargah.
If you ask me if I can recommend this film to someone who has seen the best of world cinema, ‘no’ would be my answer for the above said reasons. But I will readily recommend most of Anurag’s films and a few of RGV’s films (from pre 2007) to anyone. Rockstar simply cannot speak to the world in it’s entirety. It’s just another wasted opportunity to make a world class cinema. It’s destined to live and die in India. Do you recommend Rockstar to someone who has seen Walk the Line or The Soloist? The latter two are not even the best movies on musicians out there.
Thank you so much for that Vallabh. I enjoyed your comments and am so glad you said all that. I was begining to wonder if I’m just a cynic.
In the review Sudhish said artists can relate to the pain the protagonist feels. I’m an artist too and after a point (fairly early in the movie) there was nothing true about the artistic process left in the film.
Instead i felt annoyed that this film managed to furthur mystify the process of creation of art. Grab a guitar, scream in the mike, flaunt a care a dam attitude (add long hair and whacky clothes) and you’re done! you a ‘super cool’ ‘rockstar’.
I like what you said about the Janardhan character. i too was begining to wonder, ‘were they just making fun of him’?
I loved the dargah part of the film and the song set the bar very high. Thats where we had started to get a real feel of the path…and his journey began…. and suddenly it was over! he cracked it soon after and became a global sensation. end of musical journey.
…but its alright, its a love story. its not about music. it just has a misleading title. i have to give it film/filmmaker for making me wonder so much about how/why i liked/didn’t like it.
The most compelling aspect about Rockstar is that Imtiaz has shown that extraordinary stories need not have extraordinary overtly dramatic situations!!! Most ordinary events which could be very well be possible to anyone can make an impact!!! everything about the movie was so real… I have already seen it 3 times and i wouldn’t mind seeing it again!
Every conversation that is shown in the movie is there for a reason… be it a light chat between ranbir and the canteen guy… or between him and fakhri… everything has a reason… what goes behind that is never shown ‘coz it doesn’t matter… I read many reviews where they have called Rockstar has a shabby editing… but I strongly believe it has got a path breaking editing… and screenplay!
Every time I saw the movie I was so detached from the rest of the world… probably because this time the experience was real… Imtiaz’s film-making… Rahman’s Music… Ranbir’s performance… every single thing was just so real…! but at the same time it was a complete experience in its own extraordinary way! The only turn-off for me was Fakhri’s performance… she had got a role of a life time but she was bad at many scenes… but then again… some scenes were so powerful that even the shabbiest of acting couldn’t have hampered it!!!!
Imtiaz has made 4 movies and each has a simple straight linear back-story… but the way he has managed to treat each story exceedingly different from each other is what amazes me!!! I have found one of the greatest story teller in him in our industry!!!!
There were exactly two moments that captured my every sense… first when he says he has got a perfect life and wants to have some pain so that he can get what he wants…. and the second at the very end when he says he wants nothing of this pain and stardom but just her… he ends up having his first wish! that very scene sent shivers down my spine.. with all of this, anyone else would have dramatized this to an irreparable extent but Imtiaz knows better… he has excelled in keeping everything real!!!!
Imtiaz + Rahman + Ranbir…… wow… I am sure even they would find it very hard to come up with such a masterpiece again!
You have captured every little nerve of this movie at the right spot man… I loved the way you wrote… there were so many things which were exactly same as what I had inferred about this movie!!!!! You’ve got a fan in me now…
Awesome Review of Rockstar .. Must read for those failed to understand the movie 🙂
Hi sudhish,
i am so happy to read this article. Finally, Finally someone saw it the way it was meant to be. Trust me it was not an easy film to do and the feeling still continues! Well written.
This piece- Sudhish left me speechless. I cant emote after reading and feeling every bit of what you have written above. Brilliant- in one word !
And you know what? It aint just Imtiaz but film makers & theorists like you- who, eventually contribute to the real emancipation of Indian cinema and further its coming off age.
While the rest of the world could choose to laugh at the mantal bouys/ sexist balatakar & stan harangues- dominating the BOs; IT really is the candid & critical perspectives coming from your school of thought- that challenges the average indian mindset to look at films critically and creatively with an open mind. A mind that has the ability to craft multiple interpretations, simply and beautifully!
Hats off to this enthralling piece of cinematic rhetoric- something we dont come across in the Kazmi-Masand dominated world of selective movie critics, too often.
This piece- Sudhish left me speechless. I cant emote after reading and feeling every bit of what you have written above. Brilliant- in one word !
And you know what? It aint just Imtiaz but film makers & theorists like you- who, eventually contribute to the real emancipation of Indian cinema and further its coming off age.
While the rest of the world could choose to laugh at the mantal bouys/ sexist balatakar & stan harangues- dominating the BOs; IT really are the candid & critical perspectives like these- that challenge the average indian mindset to look at films critically and creatively with an open mind. A mind that has the ability to craft multiple interpretations, beautifully!
Hats off to this enthralling piece of cinematic rhetoric- something we dont come across in the Kazmi-Masand dominated world of selective movie critics.
Kayvid: This is a phenomenal piece of review. It sums up so well most of what I felt. I’m glad there are people who are looking at art(movies) this way and more importantly there are people who are creating such art(Imtiaz for one). The only thing in your review I disagree with is “Jordan has to live like that because he had sold his soul to the devil, to the system, to a company”
If you know his character, he doesn’t “have” to do anything, he is equally at ease breaking the rules and spending his time in jail (for breaking the contract)…the only reason he might not do it is because the reason for his aangst no longer exists, he is almost in a coma of an existence himself… (Also, it is good to see a parallel with Moulin Rouge, you’re the first person other than myself, who seems to have liked that artpiece)
An interesting look at the changing nature of the love story in Hindi cinema, thank you! I do take issue with your comments about Pyaasa though – in Pyaasa, the romantic lead IS a prostitute, wwho may have a heart of a gold, but who doesn’t just pine for the hero, she ends up with him, the movie does not “keep them apart, like the others you lump Pyaasa in with, DEvdas, M-e-A and QSQT.
Other than quibble, I really enjoyed your review, and appreciated it particularly for strengthening my conviction that I would very much dislike Rockstar if I were to make the mistake of watching it. Thanks!
What a terrific, terrific write up. As someone who loved the film and has already seen it 4 times, all I can say is you got the film in ways hardly any one has. It’s a beautiful film and I guess with time people will forget the audience frustrations and come to regard it as a masterpiece (happened with Swades and Dil Se,,,)
Wow, brilliant review of an epic movie..!!
Even though i liked it, I didn’t notice that much!!!
i think this film works on many levels- the first of a love story and it has a certain magic thats been missing from hindi films in its love stories, as a search for identity , and also as negation of an identity, of being trapped somewhere, of going beyond what appears at the surface – on the surface if i didnt know his love story or his pain, i would think jordan is just a regular rockstar who is badly behaved- which is what the media thinks of him in the film.
hindi films used to show shiny happy people earlier, then they started showing how you can escape and be happy, cut loose.
this is the kind of film we will marvel about to our children, buy dvds of and wonder how ranbir could play this character so early….
Awesome write up… you pointed out things i hadn’t noticed earlier.. a level to the film I hadn’t envisioned perhaps..
anyway, here’s my experience with the film http://perx.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/imtiaz-rockstar/
Sudhish. Excellent review. There’s a saying, “Either the review or the movie, one of them must be interesting.” In this case it’s your review. Your review is more beautiful than the movie.
There’s no doubt that Imtiaz Ali set out to make a movie about the journey of two soul-mates and how they evolve in the process. Alas! His journey in incoherent and there’s something lacking. To start with, the title Rockstar is a misnomer. The movie is about the timeless love of Heer and Ranjha (I mean, Jordan) and not so much about Jordan’s music. There’s hardly any scene that depicts Jordan’s involvement with the music — it’s just taken for granted that he KNOWS music intuitively. I agree there are many musicians and singers who have no formal training, but showing Jordan merely belting number after number makes it too dumb. And I’m sure you as a creative person yourself will agree with that. For instance, there is not one moment where we see Jordan composing a tune, or pondering about the lyrics he writes — why should he, he has AR Rahman and Irshad Kamil to do that, right? Again, so very Bollywood. Compare this to Rock On and you’ll see what I mean — the creative musical process is missing. There’s hardly a scene (except at the Dargah) where we see him “lost” in his music or that “ah” moment when he realizes that how beautiful his music is. So, coming back to my point, he is a “lover” and not really a “Rockstar” like the title proclaims.
You say, “…He finds God in him during his journey (if you listen to the lyrics of Kun Faya carefully) and heads back home to channel that God through his music.” I completely agree about the lyrics of Kun Fayan Kun and until the point where Jordan returns back to his friend from the Dargah I was like “Whoa!” I could see an enlightened soul, someone who has found his peace. But then, that doesn’t happen. Throughout we see him losing his peace for Heer. Yes, I know that you will argue that Heer is his “God” and without his “God” how can he have his peace. Yet, we don’t see the “spiritual” Jordan or a Jordan who rises above his circumstances or a Jordan who turns inward for solace — the only thing he does again is SING what ARR and Irshad Kamil have written. The lyrics do complete justice to the characters and situations, but unfortunately that did not translate in the story or in the characterizations — they lack insight which the lyrics no doubt had. Raavan’s lyrics too were mesmerizing and uplifting but the movie wasn’t. Again, no explanation of the creative process and how it happens — just shove in a song Bollywood ishtyle. Again, the musical process and spiritual element is missing. Depicting spirituality (I don’t mean spirituality as in New Age meditation and yoga, but rather as the human ‘spirit’ to rise, evolve and understand his self) by just playing a song hardly conveys the point convincingly — it’s not even half-baked it’s probably just showing a glimpse of the ‘raw materials’ to cook a cake and then never baking it.
It’s not just about the Sadaa Haq song and Tibet link. It’s about the link between Jordan and his angst which was not fleshed out clearly. Ever heard of a Rockstar who cannot be with his lady love, taking up social issues and causes in one of his songs just to sound “cool” and then completely forget about it? It was too “Wannabe” and pretentious.
There are too many such things to point out here. The 2nd half drags along, I particularly hated the way they show Jordan as being completely irresponsible and impregnating a sick Heer. That wasn’t required. Imtiaz could have simply shown Heer die. But then, the Great Metaphor — impregnating here is symbolic, right? Well, for me it was more like a “wannabe” symbolism.
Coming to the climax, it was a bit out of place. From a creative and artistic perspective it was excellent. But considering that the movie in its entirety is not all that abstract, it’s a very straight-forward and linear story about characters. Yes, there is some abstractness in the form of metaphors and references to mysticism and the ‘self’, but the ending spoilt it all for me. The stage scene was fine, but Imtiaz could have explicitly stated what happens to Heer and Jordan. Like how Bala did in Sethu, where Vikram turns his back and walks away into the horizon. We don’t see any such thing here — again Imtiaz seemed to lack conviction and wasn’t clear what he really wanted.
But, but… having said all of this. I still do appreciate Imtiaz’s efforts. Half-baked they were, convincing they weren’t; it was more about the “love” than about the “music”; the “lyrics” did not translate into the story and characters, yet it did tell us a tale beyond the boundaries we are used to. But unlike Jordan, Imtiaz conforms a lot to Bollywood and did not completely break free to make the movie more realistic, more convincing, more spirit-ual. Your review in a way tells all that Imtiaz should improvise on — I really wish Rockstar was all that your review makes it to be. Sadly, it isn’t.
For all the points that you have raised, there are answers which will satisfyingly answer your questions, but I do not wish you go point by point counter arguing things. Yet, I could not hold myself back when in the end you say that “but Imtiaz could have explicitly stated what happens to Heer and Jordan.” Your question itself answers, why could you not understand this movie! If you listen carefully to the lyrics of Tum Ho, the song that plays along with the montage, clearly talks about their meeting place, Rumi’s poem is quoted here and the song is all about what rumi tried explaining in his poem. They meet in that place, which is beyond the notions of right and wrong! It sums up everything, their should meet!!!
perfect review…two thumbs up!!
Loved reading this! I like how you connected the pent-up sexuality in Rockstar with Dev D.
Regarding the presence of many ironies in the movie – I think the be-careful-what-you-wish-for irony was very apparent and perceivable, but many people seem to have missed this one: their love affair started out as a list-making exercise for socially tabooed things, and eventually, as their love matures, they end up breaking one of the most common of social customs – as they completely disregard the institution of marriage. Ali, however, tried to don a bullet from the conservatives by showing the ‘magical touch’ bit. She *needs* to hang out with the dude because she’s sick (as opposed to she should, because she *wants* to).
The best review , wonderfully written so far. You have made a parallel between cinema, society and most importantly ART and must say it is very well dealt with. And as for “all izz well” we all want everything to be well , we like to see every little matters of the heart or society or institution functioning to give us the best outcome, and quite interestingly we are conditioned to believe that the end is quite well .isnt it a miracle that people still co-exist in the streets , out of home , or money , or many other possible enjoyments, but they are not deprived of dream, that is still well. to dream is the natural privilege given to the human civilization , we make the most of it in some way or the other irrespective of the “class”. Echoing you , our generation does not have to fight to free from colonial rule, its a fight of the self, rather fight to just survive where all izz well means “all pain and bull shit welcome , we will still exist”.
I have seen the movie 5 times already and everytime I see it, I realise how much thought has gone into making the movie. Have no clue why the reviewers thrashed it so much. But guess its not a movie for the mass, its for those outliers out there, who crave to be themselves, though outside the system.
Will the Pigeons take Flight?
Dear Sudhish,
There are a few conceptual difficulties in your intensely passionate and well written critique that gives – perhaps involuntarily – an impression that Rockstar is a first of its kind cry against the system. We know it isn’t. The following piece is just in apprehension of such misunderstanding.
You begin well with a translation of SRK’s speech from Om-Shanti-Om which, is a lie the moment it is generalised. As for the All Ij Well, we know that for a long time the measure of quality of Hindi cinema was how many gallons you could get the audience to cry. When cinema was tragedy, Dilip Kumar was its king with his many on screen deaths. So there was no such phenomenon such as lived happily ever after.
More seriously, Amar Prem, Guide, Do Bigha Zameen, Dahej, Kagaz ke phool, Sahib, Biwi aur Ghulaam, Devdas, Bandini and Pyaasa are amongst countless mainstream Hindi films that carry seeds of realism, reform, resistance, rebellion and rejection of the society as it has evolved around us. They didn’t make us feel good and were literally a far cry from happily ever after.
I suspect Rockstar is in many ways a tribute to Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa as it is to Oliver Stone’s The Doors. At least that’s the impression I got. May be you can ask Imtiaz Ali when you meet him next and find out how much Pyaasa may have influenced his formative years. For if you look closely, I’d daresay your keen eye will not miss the parallels. The question is, in Imtiaz Ali’s rebellion where is the rejection of the our biggest myth: the super natural? For, if there is indeed God, the Dalits, the differently-abled, the women and the queer will ask, why then is the creator’s world so loaded against them? Dravidian movement and its cinematic offspring is far more rebellious than Rockstar is. Yet, to describe Jordan’s cry for freedom as “ best for the self, not family, not society, not nation” is – in my perception – to misread its politics rather overwhelmingly. This is not a journey of self-discovery. It is about discovering the world around us that is deeply hegemonic and what it does to our art and our life, and what such hegemonic art can do to life in return, where, the victims of hegemony turn perpetrators of the same hegemony in an endless cycle reinforcing dominance.
Be that as it may, I find that the sensibility of Rockstar’s songs is not very different from those of Pyaasa although Rockstar’s songs –even if haunting – are far less poetic. But that’s understandable because the jouissance of the Hindi film song has shifted from the lyrical to the instrumental. What I found more interesting was the way the film alludes to Kashmir and Tibet. But as you said each review reacts to a film at a different and personal level and that is understandable. But you must give yourself more time to reflect on some of the films the way you did with Avatar. You may then find your Rockstar review equally deep.
The point is, has rebellion been a stranger or less layered in Hindi cinema? My view is that it is so ancient that I can only see its idiom change. It is also my case that cinema itself is an act of rebellion. From amongst our petty bourgeoisie conditioned by the comforts that self-denial and self-deceit bring, cinema allowed its victims namely, the young – particularly women – to live their dreams in the darkness of its halls . To a class that won’t allow its men and women to mix even today for the fear of them associating with those less than their equals, to be able to dream and to romance itself is to unleash and to rebel. It was this rebellion – fittingly a stand out act in colour – that raised the dagger of revolt in what can be called Hindi cinema’s most defining dance of defiance coming as it did from a lonely and vulnerable kaneez who suddenly seemed to mirror an entire multitude at the very epicentre of Mughal grandeur and authority; stirring a prince to raise his sword against his father, shaming an Emperor to lose his cool and, reducing an Empress to tears. The nation was waiting for such an epic set it n alight.
Here was a woman, here was a romance that empowered a lowly courtesan to declare her control over her own destiny imploring an emperor to bugger off! No wonder Mughal-e- Azam’s Pyaar kiya to darna kya became the battle cry for generations against authoritarianism cloaked in parental love. This very spirit of freedom long fought over was betrayed by Aditya Chopra’s gutless climax in DDLJ and Barjatya’s HAHK, who went hankering after larger family ratings at the box office instead.
Mughal-e–Azam’s romance was no ordinary one for it rebelled against an assortment of dominant behaviours that plagued the nation still struggling to give its freedom a new meaning.
I agree, much of Hindi cinema has been gibberish. But that’s how commodified cinema is, with so little to do with art and angst. Therefore, much of Hindi cinema does not count. But from Guide to Griha Pravesh to Rajnigandha those that count were willing to explore complex relationships that in retrospect could be considered avant garde. This cinema was deeply sophisticated and layered, many of them major hits as also classics. Rockstar, as your piece suggests, certainly belongs to this pantheon. But it may not be fully possible to put the pastiche of Hindi cinema into neat time lines and attribute or characterise them in a way that we can do with the Fordism of Hollywood. And there is perhaps a good reason why we can’t: Despite a thriving studio system, Hindi films have never really worked as an industry in India nor did they wield political power as Hollywood did. Even those who owned studios were wedded to socialist ethic. And while earlier cinema promoted intermixing, it did so when the society outside would do anything to prevent it.
Politically though, social reform was not taboo, there were no overseas audiences to please, no brand India to sell, no culture police to control what stories could be told or turned into films, or how? So the filmmakers were relatively free although it is the subsequent generations who experience greater sense of false consciousness, calling themselves free. Jordan cries to set their souls free. He cries aloud, makes a message of his own self just to chase the new generation out of their cages. He is often frustrated to find them responding to his medium instead of his angst. There is therefore an understandable outpouring of the invective and of violence from the repression he experiences.
In the end, perhaps it is the veneer of comfort long enjoyed by the post-liberalised generation that Rockstar tears out that makes it deeply progressive and disturbs the young.
To its advantage, there have been many recent assaults on the fettered psyche in Hindi cinema. The more direct ones have come from Taare Zameen par and Rang De Basanti while it was more layered in Delhi 6 and Aparna Sen’s 15th Park Avenue or a more successful one from Life in a Metro. All these films are little mutinies with different causes, yet subversive.
In the same company, however, we have also had Mahesh Manjrekar who makes films like Fashion and Page 3 that are deeply status quoist and conservative but are pretentiously rebellious. So although it is in the grip of market forces, even today, Hindi cinema is too vagrant, too autonomous a child to fit into our predetermined pigeon holes.
Rakesh S. Katarey is a Documentary Filmmaker & Professor of Film/TV Studies, Nitte University, Mangalore. He can be reached at rakeshfilm@yahoo.com
Dear Rakesh
I am quite amazed at the wide knowledge of Cinema you have! 🙂 I am a huge fan of Gurudatt sahab…. but it would be very unfair to compare the likes of Pyaasa with Rockstar…. Both have a similar undertone, but the times have changed!!! I wonder if anyone can pull of a Gurudatt at this day and age… Seems quite impossible…! I also agree with the writer’s review but again I would not generalize the cinema as he has!
There have always been some cinema over years that have shattered the pretentious barriers of human emotions through celluloid. But, the gaps between such cinema has been too wide. Rockstar, for me, is one such rare cinema.
I do not really agree with you when it comes to music. When we compare Pyaasa and Rockstar, it would again be unfair to take the era in which these movies were made. Again, I will be surprised if someone can bring back the kind of poetry Pyaasa had in today’s times; and be successful at doing that! Practically, are needs money! End of the day, financial success is what makes a creative guy come back and do something that he believes in!
If not Pyaasa or Mughal-e-Azam, I wouldn’t mind seeing more Rockstars come along!
Cheers!
Pls Ignore the typos ! 😛 I am sure you get the point…! 😉
It is Madhur Bhandarkar and not Mahesh Manjrekar who’s directed Fashion and Page 3!
I agree the times of Pyaasa and the times now are as different as they are similar. Perhaps why we are reacting to Rockstar as much as people were once swayed by the way Pyaasa articulated a similar disappointment with the new free India that had promised so much and yet delivered so little (Jinhey naaz hain Hind par woh kahaan hain?). I would never belittle what Rockstar has achieved in the manner that it has revisited rebellion. And it gladdens me that so many young people have written and debated the film on the blog.Hopefully, they are taking its values forward. Sudhish may have moved on. But so many like us remain stuck here after all this time still making sense of the film! That is the litmus test Rockstar has passed!
I absolutely agree with you ! 🙂
I had a wonderful Sanskrit teacher who probably understood Kalidasa’s (or other’s) poems more than perhaps they themselves actually meant them to be. There is no way to tell.
That’s all I would like to say about the review, excellent as it is.
PS: I had the same thought about KANK – lol @ killing an infant, but I kept wondering why they looked so guilty but still were doing it.
And couldn’t help but notice ‘the’ before the proper noun of “Dr Animesh” ?
A title is consumed by millions Only the wealth of interpretations can help the title transcend or extend its life span.
I watched the film after hearing a lot of criticism that Imtiaz had led down the expectations and this format won’t work on Indian screen. But the moment after I watched the film, I started laughing at all the words I heard before watching it. I had a feeling since my childhood that few movies are more sophisticated and intellectual than our peoples standards. Rockstar is one film which is lot higher than many peoples take on cinema. It has the potential to change your views on cinema, love, pain.
After reading this article and comments, I am happy that many had gone through the same feeling and thought process which I have been.
Long live Imtiaz Ali.
Great Mr.Kamath. Wonderfully written.
6 years (and probably 30 times of watching Rockstar) later, I read this, and my hairs rise. Quite comprehensive write-up, and importantly, not judgemental. Cheers.