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| (courtesy-breezemasti.com) |
Adding to what Anupama Chopra just said a few days back that Ranbir Kapoor is one of the most exhilarating actors today, may I say that he is one of the best actors of my generation, who through every film reinvents himself (even with bad ones like anjaana anjaani) and takes it a notch higher. He does the same with Rockstar, effortlessly.I hope that he always remains an actor and never becomes superstar to just fulfill the part of being an image, where the actor gets lost. Something that seems to be the case with Shahrukh Khan.I am a fan of his. Ra.one is one of his worst. I hope he does something radically different the next time round, which happens to be Don 2.I really have no hopes on it either.
Rockstar like all of Imtiaz Ali's previous films (Socha na tha, Jab we met and Love aaj kal) is heavily flawed, but all of it sort of comes together and in the end the picture is likable.He always has this knack of writing characters that might seem very exotic on the exterior, but are eventually people whom you can relate to on different levels.Like all his previous films the story is pretty simple, in this case I thought it was too simplistic.It tries to be a love story and then suddenly seems like the story of the rise and fall of a Rockstar; its too hotch-potch and all over the place. I'm quite sure that film was edited(Aarti Bajaj) in a way that it wasn't written and that's why it really works in my view. The past, the present, the future all stitched together to form a collage with parts that are overwhelmingly good while with other parts you wish you could use something else to hide it. Just like ARR's music where Kun Faya kun has a completely different effect with the way it plays out on screen and transports you into another sphere one second and with Aur ho I wanted it to end fast and just move forward.
Nargis Fakhri looks like a dream, but she seems like a 1-2-3 actress, who will always deliver on cue, stressing on the fact that she's actually delivering a dialogue. That sort of takes away from the moment making it look like some school play. But you warm up to her by the second half. Same is the case with most of the ensemble, Moufid Aziz who plays Nargis' husband looks like he's a part of some suiting-shirting advert. I really wish Aditi Rao Hydari had something more to do, but all her attempts to rise above a poorly written character fail. Same with Shernaz Patel- why did she choose to do the film in the first place is beyond comprehension.I really hope he casts well with his next.
Parts of the film are really good (I credit that to Ranbir Kapoor, who throughout the film gives a consistent performance) but fails when it tries to be great (I credit that to Imtiaz Ali).But there's a lot of earnestness in the way the film is made and that's what is likable and overshadows all its shortcomings.
Here's the link to Grzegorz Domaradzki's work - the guy who designed the cool posters of the film and illustrated that beautiful sketch of Shammi Kapoor, which appears at the beginning of the film..
