Indian movies

Is ROCK ON!! DIL CHAHTA HAI 2, one is tempted to ask. DIL CHAHTA HAI was a trendsetter when you look back, paving way for storytellers who wanted a new story to tell. Now, the DIL CHAHTA HAI team of Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar with director Abhishek Kapoor deliver ROCK ON!!, a film that makes you understand the true meaning of friendship.

Put your hands together for one of the finest films of our times. Put your hands together for a director who pulls off a challenging subject with élan. Put your hands together for the actors who pitch in superlative performances.

ROCK ON!! is not just about music. It's about relationships. And relationships can get really complicated and messy as all of us would agree. ROCK ON!! captures it so beautifully, so sensitively, so effectively on celluloid.

Everything is in sync here, everything is just perfect. Flaws? Perhaps, the slow pacing. But come to think of it, you can't play with the edit in a film like this. ROCK ON!! also works because you can relate to the characters, you can relate to the moods, the egos, the highs and the lows...

In a nutshell, here's a film you just can't afford to miss. We've had our share of masala films week after week. Now have a look at a film that India can proudly showcase to the West. ROCK ON!! simply rocks!

ROCK ON!! is the story of four friends [Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny] who put together the greatest band this country has ever seen, Magic, 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.

ROCK ON!! bears some resemblance to the Hollywood film THAT THING YOU DO [Tom Hanks], but it could be a mere coincidence. Director Abhishek Kapoor sets it in the Indian milieu efficiently. Watch the bonding shatter into pieces for no fault of anyone in particular actually. It's the circumstances that play the villain here and Abhishek captures it on lens so beautifully. The fragile relationships, how piece after piece is put together and the journey to the climax… the narrative is so compelling, it makes you feel you're witnessing all of it first-hand.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music is perfect. It's completely in sync with the mood of the film. Connoisseurs of music have already showered the music with rave reviews and rightly so! Jason West's cinematography is fantastic. The screenplay and dialogues are commendable.

Every performance in the film deserves brownie points. Farhan Akhtar makes his debut as an actor and he displays rare maturity for a first-timer. Known as an accomplished director all along, Farhan will now be acknowledged as a mature actor as well. Arjun Rampal delivers his finest performance to date. Watch him emote those tough emotional moments and also as a failed person in the latter parts and you'd realize that he has only grown with the passage of time. Superb is the word!

Purab Kohli is tremendous and so is Luke Kenny. Purab has always delivered fine performances, but he's touched a new high this time. Luke is equally charged.

Prachi Desai scores in her very first feature. She has a challenging role and footage-wise too, it's substantial. Prachi brings in a lot of freshness and poise. Plus, she's a competent actor. Shahana Goswami is a talent to watch out for. Her performance is one of the most difficult ones for a newcomer and the confidence with which she carries it deserves to be lauded. Koel Purie has a brief role and she enacts it quite well.

On the whole, ROCK ON!! is an amazing experience. The highpoint is the emotional quotient, the skilful performances and the superb execution of the subject. At the box-office, this urban film holds tremendous appeal for metros and mini-metros. Business at multiplexes of Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and NCR, Kolkata and South in particular should be excellent. Very strongly recommended!

Each film has a twist in the tale. And with 12 writers, eight composers, six directors and 25 actors, this sure is one wholesome cinematic journey. Sunday MiDDAY tells you the who's who in each story and what it's all about


Rice Plate
Cast: Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah

A Hindu woman and a Muslim man's journey over a rice plate. It is about the challenge that the woman faces when a strange man claims her plate of rice. Will she place her hunger before her beliefs? A sensitive story with the most awaited performances; this is something everyone is waiting for.

Sex on the Beach
Cast: Dino Morea and Tareena Patel

Dino picks a worn out book on the beach and its character comes alive into a breathtaking woman. They have a great time together but suddenly everything changes. The mystery woman has some surprises in store for Dino. Dino has to pay a price for his dream coming true.


Love Dale
Cast: Anupam Kher, Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Oberoi

Neha meets an old woman in the train who is wearing only one earring. She finds that strange and that chance meeting strikes the change in her life. A story about fate, destiny at play and the notion that one moment can change your entire life.


Matrimony
Cast: Mandira Bedi, Arbaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey

Mrs. & Mr. Sarin are a happily married couple. Living in their paradise the devoted wife goes and meets her ailing aunt every Thursday. But is she really meeting her aunt? A story about betrayal and faith. It talks about how love makes a fool of all of us.


Gubbare
Cast: Anita Hasnandani, Nana Patekar and Rohit Roy

After an argument with her husband in the bus, Anita sits next to an intriguing man holding 14 red balloons. This story written by Gulzar unfolds a journey within a journey into this man's past uncovering the key to one of the most important lessons in life.


Pooranmashi
Cast: Amrita Singh, Minisha Lamba and Parmeet Sethi

Adapted from writer Kartar Singh Duggal's short story, Pooranmashi is about the mother-daughter bond. A mother's only daughter is about to get married and she would do anything to make her daughter happy. Pooranmashi is a story of women whose unconditional love makes for a tale of unforgettable emotional power.

Strangers in the night
Cast: Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjrekar

Every anniversary, they told the other a secret; this year it's the wife's turn. She begins narrating an interesting encounter with a stranger at the railway station waiting room. From there is revealed a secret that changes their lives. Maybe she should have never shared this secret.

High on the highway
Cast: Jimmy Shergill, Masumeh


The highway symbolised their companionship and their unspoken love. Its unpredictable and volatile turns define this story of two people who discover the boundaries of freedom and the recklessness of life.

Zahir
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Dia Mirza


This is a story about friendship, love and mystery. After discovering something startling about his lover, a writer is driven to madness. The one step he takes gives this story its required twist. The mysteries of love are explored and the consequences analysed. The trademark Sanjay Gupta style that will grip you in your seats.

Rise and fall
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty

This is a story of dreams and their bitterness on fulfillment. Two parallel stories run together to meet one end. It is a story about two gangsters, their friendship and subsequent betrayal. Rise and Fall is a story of two friends united as brothers but divided by power.