Leave it to Imtiaz Ali to take a love story and present it in a manner that's completely different from run-of-the-mill Bollywood. Romance, under his creative vision, becomes a multi-layered, sensitively nuanced, monumental experience which has more to do with serenading your soulmate rather than a stereotypical marriage partner. With intelligent entertainers like Jab We Met, Love Aaj Kal and now Rockstar, he is evolving as a new age Yash Chopra. Love literally smoulders under his narrative, albeit in a completely modern idiom.
The highpoint of Rockstar is it's high tension, high-on-passion romance between two unlikely people: the completely low brow JJ who doesn't like his girls nice and clean and Heer (Nargis Fakhri), the uptown Stephenian who is all set to get married and settle down to sweet domesticity like all sweet girls do. Their relationship begins when both of them display a yen for the wicked and wild side of life and ignite the bohemian lifestyle by watching a show of Junglee Jawani in a seedy Delhi theatre. Before she gets nice and clean, Heer wants to play real dirty and JJ is more than willing to play the rule-breaker rogue with her. Great bonding, which gets even greater when the two realise it's time to kiss.... It is a love that transcends all social barriers, decimates all conventions and ends with a spiritual promise to meet in the field that exists beyond the concept of right and wrong (Rumi).
The fact that this romance unfolds on screen in the form of an explosive musical, capturing JJ's transmutation into Jordan, the edgy artist, makes the film an absolutely engaging affair. The vocals by Mohit Chauhan, the lyrics by Irshad Kamil and the music by AR Rahman are stuff classics are made of. Of course, Sadda Haq is the youth anthem by now, but there are so many beautiful tracks in the film, you get heady and stirred. Ranbir Kapoor displays an amazing growth chart as a performer as he gradually changes from a two-sizes-too-tight jean-clad upstart to a musical genius seared by a love that threatens to scorch his very soul. Nargis Fakhri too stands tall as the delectable Heer who sizzles on screen with her unconventional ways. But eventually, the film is a milestone in Ranbir Kapoor's career as an actor and a classic cut from the AR Rahman and Mohit Chauhan combo. Shammi Kapoor's presence as the classical artist enhances the gravitas of the film.
Savour a beautiful experience. Watch Rockstar and wait for Imtiaz Ali's next from his compendium of love.
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