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, along with Luke Kenny, Purab Kohli, Koel Purie, Shahana Goswami and Nicolette Bird. It released on August 29, 2008. It has been written and directed by Abhishek Kapoor^[1] and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani.

Synopsis

Rock On!! is the story of 4 friends who put together a rock band called Magik but never make it to a commercial release. 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]

Plot

The Story begins when 'Magik' is first shown jamming and then performing the song Socha Hai at a live rock concert.

The story then jumps 10 years forward. Now Aditya Shroff (Farhan Akhtar), who was the lead singer and secondary guitarist of the band is an Investment Banker and is married to Sakshi (Prachi Desai) who feels very lonely due to Aditya's aloofness towards her. Although he knows that something is missing in his life, he devotes himself to work all the time to forget all his blues. Joe Mascarenhas (Arjun Rampal), the lead guitarist of the band is now facing financial problems as he doesn't have any work to do besides the measly job of teaching kids the guitar, and he feels that playing his guitar in wedding parties and clubs is not what he has been made for. Joe's wife Debbie (Shahana Goswami), who wanted to be a fashion designer is now handling Joe's family business of trading/selling fish to make both ends meet. Rob Nancy (Luke Kenny), the keyboardist of Magik is still composing music, but for commercials and jingles, and is shown working with a noted composer Anu Malik. Kedar Zaveri aka Killer Drummer aka K.D (Purab Kohli), who was the drummer of the band is now assisting his father in his jewellery business. The only thing common with these 4 friends now, is that they still have the same feeling towards music.

One day Sakshi and her friend Devika (Koel Purie) meet KD while they were buying a watch for Aditya for his birthday at KD's store. KD comes to know that Sakshi's husband's shares the same birthday as Aditya's (the lead singer of Magik), he asks Sakshi and Devika if it was just a coincidence. Sakshi comes home and asks Aditya if he knows someone named KD aka the 'KILLER DRUMMER' and Aditya says he doesn't. One day while cleaning the closet, Sakshi finds a box full of pictures of the 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 a surprise party for Aditya's upcoming birthday along with a reunion of his band members, and to tell him about her pregnancy. Sakshi meets KD and tells him about her plan and that she wants all of Magik's members to be present for Aditya's surprise party. KD takes it as an opportunity for the reunion of the band and finds Rob to invite him for Aditya's birthday party. Rob accepts the invitation, and KD together with Rob go to find Joe at his Guitar Store. Joe, though initially happy to see them, keeps mum as Debbie comes into the store around the same time. She confronts KD and Rob and tells them not to ask Joe to join the band again, because of what had transpired earlier with the band. KD and Rob leave Joe's place still insisting that Joe should come. Joe talks to Debbie about this, Debbie eventually doesn't permit him.

Aditya's birthday comes and he meets only KD and Rob from his band. While Sakshi tries to make him feel comfortable with KD and Rob, she notices that Aditya is avoiding his friends. KD and Rob invite Aditya to come for a band reunion the next day at their usual place, in a Tea Shop, where they used to hangout and then later proceed to their jam room. Aditya initially declines, sounding pessimistic and giving the impression that life has changed and that he has moved on. Rob later invites Joe for the same reunion. Later in the night, Sakshi has an argument with Aditya about his secretive nature, telling him that she just knows him because he exists and doesn't seem to know him completely. Aditya also loses his cool, and in the heat of the moment, Sakshi tells Aditya that she's pregnant, and that she wants Aditya's happiness and peace more than anything else. She also tells him that to get Aditya reunited with his band, would help him gain both peace and happiness. Aditya wakes up the next day and finds that Sakshi has gone to live at her mother's house for a while.

On the day of the jam, Rob reaches the Coffee Shop first, Joe arrives second, joined by KD later. Hope seems to disappear as Aditya still hadn't arrived at the Coffee Shop. They leave for the jam room. They try jamming a little and had given up all hopes about Aditya joining, when Aditya suddenly arrives and they start jamming, realizing in the process that they are still as good as they used to be. They remember their moments of how they played Bollywood songs with rock instruments in Dandiya Raas as they needed money to buy new equipment to enter a competition organized by Channel [V].

The story runs in a flashback when Magik is shown at the competitipon. They perform the song Pichle Saat Dinon Mein in true blue rock concert style. They win the competition, acquiring a contract for a music album from a music company as well as a music video. After winning the competition Joe gets into a brawl with Ajay, the lead singer of a competing heavy metal band called 'Chakravyuh', after the latter insults Aditya.

They are all prepared for the album and Joe comes up with a soulful song 'Tum Ho To', which he composed for his girlfriend Debbie. The band likes the song and decided that this would be in the album. The music company later tells them to put a Remixed Item number in their album as it would be popular in the market and for that they kick 'Tum Ho To' out of the album as it lacks "tempo". The band's dilemma about the compromising offer is put to rest when Aditya signs on the contract, following which all the other members also sign 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 strugglers 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. ^[2]

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 realize that the band is still a part of their lives and that how much ever they try, they can never run away from it. Aditya realizes the same too and invites the band to his place to jam. Magik starts jamming again like the old days using Aditya's apartment and Sakshi also comes back after knowing this.

Joe keeps this from Debbie but lets his son Andrew know about his jamming sessions. When Debbie finds out about Joe's band reunion, she gets furious and tells Joe that he has to drop the band and perform on a cruise ship for his new job, to make things financially much better for his family. Joe unwillingly agrees to follow Debbie's words. Debbie then 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 anything to happen 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 fu

Cast

• Farhan Akhtar - Aditya Shroff
• Prachi Desai - Sakshi Shroff
• Arjun Rampal - Joseph 'Joe' Mascarenhas
• Purab Kohli - Killer Drummer(KD)
• Luke Kenny - Rob
• 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 ^[3] and features the actor Farhan Akhtar as vocalist on six out of the nine tracks. It is one of the few bollywood soundtracks in which the lyrics (Javed Akhtar) were written before the music was composed.

Critical Reception

The film has been critically acclaimed across India and around the world, with several leading reviewing rating the storyline and the actors' performances highly.^[4] Apunkachoice.com stated in its review, "Rock On!! leaves you to feel nostalgic about your young age. And ends in a feel-good note, to follow your dreams."^[5]

Its music has also received positive reviews and was recognized as Bollywood's brilliant first experiment with real rock music. It was especially noted for the unusual lyrics (Javed Akhtar) in the rock songs and the balancing effect of the slow songs among the rock.

Promotion

In order to promote the film, a series of live concerts took place in Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata.. The concerts primarily had Farhan Akhtar performing along with Shankar Ehsaan Loy. The rest of the cast also made appearances.^[6]

The "Rock On!! Band" members appeared on the cover of the September 2008 issue of the Rolling Stone (India edition).

References

External links

• [1]
• Official website
• Rock on !! at IMDb