Rock On!!

About the film

Rock On!! is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film written and directed by Abhishek Kapoor and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under the banner Excel Entertainment. The film stars Akhtar (in his acting debut), Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, and Luke Kenny as members of the Mumbai-based rock band "Magik" formed in 1998 who reunited in 2008. Prachi Desai, Shahana Goswami, Koel Purie, and Nicolette Bird appear in supporting roles. Rock On!! received critical acclaim from critics, but performed averagely at the box-office. The film was archived at the Academy Film Archive library. It won seven awards at the 54th Filmfare Awards and two awards at the 57th National Film Awards.

A sequel, Rock On 2, was released eight years later in 2016.

Plot

Rock On!! begins in Mumbai, with the rock band Magik, in 1998. The band are best friends and enjoy a carefree, freewheeling life together. Aditya Shroff is the lead singer who rebelled against his well-to-do family to play music. Joseph (Joe) Mascarenhas is the lead guitarist who feels the necessity to prove his worth as a musician. Keyboardist Rob Nancy and drummer Kedar Zaveri a.k.a. KD/"Killer Drummer" comprise the remainder of the band. After a competition is announced by Channel V, they decide to enter, as the winner will be offered an album contract and at least one music video.

Magik win the competition but soon realise they will have to go through some sacrifices while signing the contract. Joe feels the most slighted when a song he wrote for his girlfriend, Debbie, which was the only slow track on the entire album, is excluded from the track list to make space for a remix song. Debbie is also rejected as the band's stylist without even being called for any demonstration. Later, when filming the music video, the band are forced to wear clothes they do not like, and the cameramen focus only on Aditya. Joe becomes furious at Aditya and the director, hitting them both before leaving with Debbie. Aditya, who failed to notice that anything was amiss, is shocked and as the band loses their contract, he reacts by abandoning music as well as his girlfriend Tanya. "Magik" thus disbands, and its members become estranged.

Ten years later, Aditya is a wealthy, high-powered investment banker with a beautiful wife, Sakshi, and they live in a luxury home, yet he is constantly unhappy. Hoping to relieve his habitual sullen mood, Sakshi decides to gift him a gold-chain wristwatch for his birthday. She meets her friend Devika at a jewellery shop, which by chance is owned by KD's father and where KD himself is working, albeit unenthusiastically. He overhears Sakshi talking about Aditya and introduces himself. Sakshi later conveys the meeting to Aditya who denies having ever known anyone called KD. Soon afterwards, while Aditya is away on a business trip, Sakshi finds a box containing old photos and videos of Magik. She takes them to show KD and asks him to come to a birthday party she is planning for Aditya, and to invite the rest of the band.

Reception

Despite critical acclaim, the film grossed only ₹ 27.46 crore ($4.1 million) in India; Box Office India labeled it as an "average grosser".

Rock On was well received by a number of critics. Subhash K. Jha gave Rock On a rave review. He states: "Seldom has a film blended the music of life into the fabric of a film with such seamless expertise. Rock On!! is that rarity where every component character and episode falls into place with fluent virility." Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave it four stars and argued, "if you really want to see how Bollywood has matured and come of age, then here's the perfect litmus test. For Rock On is a film that not only breaks new ground in terms of its subject matter – now when has desi movielore ever tackled something akin to Hollywood's That Thing You Do – it creates a whole new EQ (emotional quotient) for mainstream cinema." Khalid Mohamed, of the Hindustan Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars and describes it as "hard candy." He also states that "the performances are of the highest order". Manish Gajjar of the BBC gave Rock On!! four out of five stars and describes it as "an enthralling watch, with entertaining moments to make you smile. Predicted to be a cult movie for many years to come, it truly deserves the Bollywood awards this year! A must-see whether you are a rock fan or not!" Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave Rock On!! four out of five stars and states: "Put your hands together for one of the finest films of our times. Put your hands together f…

Other critics gave the film mixed reviews. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film three out of five stars and states: "With Rock On, director Abhishek Kapoor promises a true-blue band film, but ultimately delivers a masala Hindi film that just happens to be about a band [...] Yet, Rock On is rescued by some marvelous moments that stay with you until the end."

Soundtrack

The original score and songs were composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. The songs' lyrics were written by Javed Akhtar. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 12,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's thirteenth highest-selling.

Key details