Movie Mush: ROCKSTAR: Not As Rocking As It Could Have Been!

Imitaz Ali's newest offering starring Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri has more stuff working for it than not. But the problem is that it tries too hard to be an epic, which unfortunately is visible!

The story revolves around the life of Janarthan alais Jordan (Ranbir) who aspires to be a rockstar. I have to admit: When I walked into the movie, if someone had said that there could be another contribution to the movie as good as Rahman's music, I would have laughed at it. But then, there was Ranbir playing the best role of his lifetime and by the end ofthe movie, I really had myself doubting, which of the two was better: Ranbir's performance or Rahman's music. Truly fabulous performance by Ranbir.

The subtle changes in body language that Jordan displays during the various phases of his life - the naive Jordan, the Jordan trying to impress Keer (Nargis Fakhri), the Jordan madly in love with Keer, the Jordan after Keer gets married to someone else, the Jordan after he is grounded from his home, the Jordan when he gets to meet Keer again, etc etc - are an absolute treat to watch.

Nargis Fakhri is drop dead gorgeous, yes, and she does extremely well for a newcomer, yes, but for a role of such huge scope, my personal opinion is that Imitaz should have played it safe by having a more versatile actor playing the role..! The biggest problem with the movie is that Nargis's performance - though good- is not convincing enough. She is much better than the many new stone-faced actors but still, her chemistry with Jordan is not as good as the Saif-Deepika chemistry was in "Love Aaj Kal" or the awesome Shahid-Kareena chemistry in "Jab We Met". Maybe that is where Imitaz Ali misses a trick or two..

Rahman's background score is an absolute value addition and along with the beautiful cinematography carries the first half through without an effort. Sometimes people walk out of theater during songs. In this movie, even those who had strayed outside now and then came rushing in when a song starts: the power of Rahman!

The cinematography - especially the scenes in Kashmir got me breathless. Fantastic work there!

The "love can cure any disease" segment in second half almost got me irritated. Eu tu, Imitaz! It is at certain sections in the second half that you almost get bored of what should have been highly emotional scenes (please note: those who loved "Twilight" could call these scenes the best scenes in Bollywood film history. I have no comments about that!). After a point, you just want to know what happens at the end.. The movies starts dragging, when Keer gets hospitalized. Even Jordan calls her and asks "Tum kab mar rahi ho?". You read my mind there, Jordan! :P

One should appreciate Imitaz Ali for venturing into uncharted territory - yes there was "Rock On", but it was a rock version of "Dil Chahta Hai" - and doing reasonably well in that.

Overall, its worth a watch for ARR's awesome awesome music and Ranbir's carrer best role.

I'd give it 3 out of 5.