Rock On!! 2

About the film

Rock On 2 is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film. It was directed by Shujaat Saudagar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy.

The film is a sequel to the National Film Award winner Rock On!! (2008). The actors Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar, Purab Kohli and Prachi Desai reprise their roles from the original film, while Shraddha Kapoor and Shashank Arora appear in new roles.

Plot

Eight years since Magik the band won its comeback Channel V contest as a tribute to its late member Rob Nancy, its members are reintroduced to the audience through the lens of Kedar 'Killer "KD" Drummer' Zaveri, the band's lead drummer. Lead guitarist Joseph "Joe" Mascarenhas has finally found strong financial success as a judge on a successful reality show and is a working partner with KD at Club Bar & Blues. KD narrates how five years ago, Aditya Shroff, Magik's lead singer, left the city due to a painful experience, and has since been residing in a little town in Meghalaya.

Jiah Sharma, a young music programmer, is the daughter of once revered sarod player Pandit Vibhuti Sharma, better known as Guruji. Jiah is introduced to Uday Brijkishore Mishra, who has come to her father to learn music and the Sarod from him. Guruji reluctantly agrees, but has a hard time cooperating since Uday's effortless grasp on the sarod triggers haunting memories of his late son. Jiah plays her part in motivating Uday and soon they both come together to achieve common interests. Uday then plays a sarod composition of the song Jiah had recorded earlier. Against her will, Uday picks a CD containing Jiah's recording of the revised composition and takes it to the Club Bar & Blues Studio, little realizing it would bring about a huge twist of fate and also reunite band members of Magik in the process.

Meanwhile, on his birthday, Adi is visited by Joe and KD along with their families as well as his wife Sakshi and son Rob. As they later gather together, Joe and KD find Adi's poetry in his diary and ask him if he has a new tune they can play; he agrees. The next morning, a regular chat between the trio swiftly turns into a past-hunting argument which reveals that Adi is tormented by the failure of Magik's music label in Mumbai, which took away, along with the money invested, a young, aspiring artist's life. The trio blames each other for certain things that led to the label's downfall, but the argument soon ceases when Joe and Adi pacify each other. As the day ends, Adi bids goodbye to his friends and promises to return soon.

Production

Following the release of the first film, there were plans for a sequel. However, a follow-up went through prolonged development hell for almost 8 years. According to Rampal, this was because "it was important to figure out the story." The idea of the sequel was to have the same characters, but explore where they are now after 8 years. Pubali Chaudhuri spent 3 years writing the script. During the development phase, the film was initially intended to take place in Himachal Pradesh, but following the attacks of Manipuri students in Delhi, the producers decided to alter the film's setting. Saudagar was watching the incident on the news when Akhtar pinged him up where the two discussed on the issue. Neither him or Akhtar had been to the North East before, but Kohli who had visited many places there, so he suggested Meghalaya and Shillong, as Shillong is also called the "rock capital." Initially, the decision was met with some resistance. Saudagar remarked that the main intent was to bring the North East to Hindi cinema and also highlight the issues people face in the state.

The producers decided that there would be no romantic relationship or love story between the two leads. Saudagar stated, "Rock On 2 is not about an extramarital affair, it's a story of human bonds and is based on modern relationships."

Shujaat Saudagar, who had previously collaborated with Ritesh Sidhwani on Don 2 as an assistant, agreed to direct the sequel to Rock On after being impressed by the script. Saudagar admitted he is not in favour of sequels, but grew interested in this one after finding the completed story coherent with what he had observed of Rock On.

Soundtrack

The film's accompanying soundtrack on the film is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. Akhtar and Kapoor sang all parts of their respective songs. According to Saudagar, the soundtrack was as pivotal as the script to the development of the film. Shankar composed the music side by side when Chaudhuri was working on the script. The soundtrack also features music from Shillong-based band Somersault.

Marketing

While the film is predominantly aimed at younger demographics, Excel Entertainment carried out a marketing plan in order to appeal to a much wider audience. The film recouped ₹8–10 crore from various brand tie-ups alone. The first poster was released on 2 September. A live concert by the stars and music directors was held in National Sports Club of India in Mumbai on 23 September, for the album launch. Akhtar and Kapoor, along with members of the former's Farhan Live band embarked on a nationwide concert tour such as in Bangalore, Aurangabad, Maharashtra on 2 November and Hyderabad on 6 November. The first trailer was launched on 24 October in presence of the cast members. On 8 November, the band held a concert at one of University of Delhi's Ramjas College in New Delhi. The band was originally set to perform in one of the university's other college, Kirori Mal College, which is the alma-mater of Kapoor's father, Shakti Kapoor. However, permissions were not granted for performing there due to the staff council allowing concerts only during a specific school festival, and not any other event. Due to her commitments to the film, Kapoor decided to put her shooting schedule her upcoming film, Haseena, on hold until December 2016 in order for her to promote the sequel more robustly. She also delayed a flight to the United States in September 2016 for her Half Girlfriend shooting sch…

Key details