Rock On!!
| Rock On!! | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Rock On!! | |
| Directed by | Abhishek Kapoor |
| Written by | Abhishek Kapoor |
| Produced by | Farhan Akhtar Ritesh Sidhwani |
| Starring | Farhan Akhtar Arjun Rampal Prachi Desai Luke Kenny Purab Kohli Koel Purie Shahana Goswami Nicolette Bird |
| Cinematography | Jason West |
| Edited by | Deepa Bhatia |
| Music by | Shankar Ehsaan Loy |
| Distributed by | Excel Entertainment |
Release date | August 29 2008 |
| Country |  India |
| Language | Hindi |
Rock On!! is a Hindi film starring Arjun Rampal and debutantes Farhan Akhtar and Prachi Desai in the lead roles. It released on August 29, 2008.[1]
Synopsis
Rock On!! is the story of 4 friends who put together a rock band called Magik, but never make it. Years later fate conspires to bring them together again and set them on a journey back to where they left off... a soul-searching pilgrimage into their past.[1]
The Story begins with a rock concert, where 'Magik' is performing and after that concert the story jumps 10 years forward. Now Aditya Shroff (Farhan Akhtar), who was the lead singer of the band is an Investment banker and is married to Sakshi (Prachi Desai). Although he knows that something is missing in his life and he is devoting himself to work all the time to forget all his blues. Rob Nancy (Luke Kenny), the Keyboard artist of Magik is still composing music, but now it's for the commercials and jingles. While, Kedar Zaveri aka Killer Drummer aka K.D (Purab Kohli), who was the drummer of the band is dealing in diamonds and is making a fortune now. Joe Mascarenhas (Arjun Rampal), the lead guitarist of the band is now facing financial issues as he doesn't have any work to do and he feels that playing his guitar in wedding parties and clubs is not what he was made for. Joe's wife Debbie (Shahana Goswami), who wanted to be a fashion designer is now handling Joe's family business of fish market to make ends meet. The only thing common in these 4 friends now is that they all still have the same feeling to the music.
One day Sakshi and her friend Devika (Koel Purie) meet KD, when they were buying some diamonds. KD comes to know that Sakshi's husband's shares the same birthday like Aditya (the lead singer of Magik), he asks Sakshi and Devika if it was just a co-incidence. Sakshi comes home and asks Aditya if he knows someone named KD aka the 'KILLER DRUMMER' and Aditya refuses. One day while cleaning the closet, Sakshi finds a box full of pictures of Magik members together along with a few photographs and a DV Tape named the 'Rehearsal Pad'. Sakshi watches the tape and comes to know that Aditya used to have an affair with a girl named Tanya (Nicolette Bird) when he was in the band. She plans to plan a surprise party for Aditya's upcoming birthday along with a Reunion of his band members and than to tell him about her pregnancy. Sakshi meets KD and tells him about her plan that she wants all of the Magik members to come on Aditya's surprise party. KD takes it as an opportunity for the reunion of the band and finds Rob and Joe to invite them for Aditya's birthday party. On one hand when Rob accepts the invitation happily, Joe on the other hand keeps mum as Debbie asked KD and Rob that why have they come with the invitation of Aditya's party even when they know that what happened between them while in the band. KD and Rob leaves Joe's place still insisting that Joe should come. Joe tries to talk to Debbie about this but Debbie didn't permit him.
Aditya's birthday comes and he meets only KD and Rob their from his band. While Sakshi tried to make him feel comfortable with KD and Rob, she notices that Aditya was ignoring his friends. KD and Rob invites Aditya to come for a reunion the next day on their usual place, where they used to jam. Rob invites Joe for the same reunion. Aditya wakes up the next day and finds that Sakshi is gone to her mother's house as they had a little tiff last night, over Sakshi calling Aditya's friends for his birthday. On the decided day Rob reaches the place first and than meets Joe, joined by KD later and they leave for the basement, which they used to call their studio. They gave up hopes on Aditya when Aditya suddenly arrives and they all four again starts jamming like they used to. They remember their moments of how they played in a Dandiya Raas as they needed money to buy new equipments to enter a Battle of the Bands. The story runs in a flashback when Magik is about to perform for the Battle and how they won the competition, acquiring a contract for a music album from a music company and a music video. But after winning the competition Joe gets into a brawl with the lead singer of the opponent band 'Chakravyuh'. They all prepared for the album and Joe comes up with a soulful song 'Tum Ho To', which he composed for his love Debbie. The band liked the song and decided that this would be in the album while the music company asked them to put a Remixed Item number in their album as it would be a hot cake and for that they had to kick 'Tum Ho To' out of the album as it sounds too romantic. The band was in dilemma when Aditya initialized and signs on the contract, following to which all the other members also signed the contract. The band was called to shoot the music video of one of their songs and all the other members of the band were disappointed when only Aditya was getting the whole exposure and they were treated badly. Joe tries to tell Aditya about the same but Aditya dismisses his point by saying that they are stragglers as of now and so they have to compromise on a few things. But the situation goes out of control when the music company executive misbehaves with Joe and Joe headbutts him followed by punching Aditya in the face when he tried to stop Joe. The story comes to the present time and we see all of the friends sitting in the basement remembering the old days. All of them realizes that the band is still the part of their lives and that how much they could try they can never run away from it. Aditya realizes the same too and invites the band to his place to jam in. They all started it back again like the old days using Aditya's apartment and Sakshi also comes back after knowing this. Joe didn't tell all this to Debbie but make his son Andrew know about his jam in sessions. When Debbie finds about Joe's band reunion, she gets furious and asks Joe that he has to drop the band and have to go to the cruise for his new job. Joe unwillingly agrees to follow Debbie's words. Debbie than goes to meet Aditya and asks him to leave Joe alone as what he did in the past has devastated Joe's future and she doesn't want to happen anything to Joe now. Debbie leaves and Aditya remembers the moment after Joe hit the music company executive and punched Aditya in the face. He remembers that he left the studio furiously, packing his stuff along with a few pictures of the band together and leaves a note for Tanya that he thinks he ll never see her again.
The story comes back in the present and Aditya and Sakshi along with KD and Joe goes to a party hosted by Channel V for the contestants of an upcoming contest. There Aditya meets Tanya and comes to know that she had married Ajay, the lead singer of the band Chakravyuh. They both make an understanding and Aditya also introduces Tanya to Sakshi. Later that night when Aditya, Joe and KD go to see Rob, they found Rob unconscious and take him to the hospital where they were told that Rob is in the last stage of his Brain Tumor. Knowing this Aditya decided to back off the battle but Rob argues with him saying that this is his last chance to prove that he is not here to compose just jingles. The band decided that they have to participate in the battle for Rob's wish. Aditya didn't tell KD and Rob about Debbie and Joe's situation. On the battle's day KD, Rob and Aditya are waiting for Joe to come but he didn't. Aditya tells the band that Joe wouldn't come and he thinks that it's meaningless to perform without him. But KD and then Rob decide that Magik will perform again. They go on the stage and start performing. While Joe in on his way to the cruise along with Debbie and his son Andrew. Their cab is stuck in a jam and when Joe hears the concert on the radio he realizes that he should be there as the rest of the members were performing. The song that Magik chose to perform in the contest was Joe's song 'Tum Ho To' and then Joe decides not to leave his band and gets back with his band on the stage. Aditya and Joe complete the song together and then Joe dedicates the song to Debbie who was watching Magik performing from the backstage. The concert ends with Magik's victory.
In the end Rob dies of his tumor and KD starts a music company along with Joe as a partner and Aditya and Sakshi were blessed with a son who they name "Rob".
Members of Magik
Farhan Akhtar as Aditya Shroff (Lead Vocalist), a bohemian boy from Delhi who left the comforts of his parents' home to chase his dream of becoming a singer in a rock band. He has flare for unconventional poetry but at the same time with a message for today's youth makes him an instant hit with Generation X.
Arjun Rampal is Joe Mascarenhas (Lead Guitarist), an idealist. A man of few words who lets his guitar do the talking. His loyalty towards his girlfriend and his band makes him the hero. It seems like God filled him with all the talent in the world but forgot to give him an opening to share it.
Purab Kohli is Kedar Zaveri (Drummer), who prefers to be known as K.D. i.e. Killer Drummer is the scion of a successful family of jewelers. His father and he don't see eye to eye on most issues. If one had to see K D in his work environment, one would think that he would suffocate and die. On stage it may look like he is slamming those drums with a vengeance but actually, he's only breathing. He is the heart of Magik.
Luke Kenny as Rob Nancy (Keyboardist), the quiet, laidback, fence-sitter of the band. If ever a disagreement arises trust Rob to step in and resolve the issue. He was part of the band because he loved what it was really all about, the friendship and the bond. His keyboard is an extension of his mind.
Cast
- Farhan Akhtar - Aditya Shroff
- Prachi Desai - Sakshi
- Arjun Rampal - Joe Mascarenhas
- Purab Kohli - Kedar Zaveri aka Killer Drummer aka K.D
- Luke Kenny - Rob Nancy
- Koel Purie - Devika
- Shahana Goswami - Debbie
- Nicolette Bird - Tanya
Soundtrack
The music is composed by the composer-trio Shankar Ehsaan Loy in the style of 70's/80's-rock. It was recorded in five days from start to finish [2] and features the actor Farhan Akhtar as vocalist on six out of the nine tracks.
Critical Reception
The film has been critically acclaimed across India and around the world, with several of the nation's leading newspapers rating the storyline and the performances by the actors very highly indeed.[3] The Rock On Band members have recently appeared on the cover pages of the 'Rolling Stone' magazine. They are the only Indians who have appeared on the covers of the prestigious magazine apart from the Indian musical genius A.R. Rahman.
Music review
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Song | Singer(s) | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Socha Hai | Farhan Akhtar | 04:11 | |
| Pichle Saat Dinon Mein | Farhan Akhtar | 03:12 | |
| Rock On!! | Farhan Akhtar | 03:55 | |
| Ye Tumhari Meri baatein | Dominique Cerejo | 05:29 | |
| Zehreelay | Suraj Jaggan | 03:42 | |
| Tum Ho Toh | Farhan Akhtar | 04:15 | |
| Sinbad The Sailor | Farhan Akhtar & Raman Mahadevan | 06:32 | |
| Pichle Saat Dinon Mein (Live Version) | Farhan Akhtar | 06:35 | |
| Phir Dekhiye | Caralisa Monteiro | 03:27 |