Rockstar

Director: Imtiaz Ali

With a title like Rockstar, it is elementary to expect a movie on rock music. But, similar to the remark that a character gives to Jordon, ‘tum gaane baja rahe ho, ya gaane pe baja rahe ho?’ (Are you playing music or playing on music?), Imitiaz has used Rockstar only as one of the many layers (a wonderful layer at that) to wrap his painful, soul stirring love story. His concentrations are more towards the relationship that his lead pair share, which will still be strong, even if this movie were to have a software professional as lead, instead of a musician.

Like the character of Jordon (Ranbir), Rockstar is a film which never submits itself to be understood; instead it treads a path that brings out joy mainly by what it shows as an aftermath of the events that cause the characters to behave that way. It doesn’t care about the character’s whereabouts or how a character ends up bedridden. In other words, it has immense disregard for any and every background information which film-makers use to connect with the audience and to justify, under the realms of conceited rationality, the events that sprawl the length of the film.  Instead, these details are pushed to the background – a dense background in that, so that the film can concentrate on the emotional game that plays as a result of the twists that come about, throughout the film. On the flipside though, the film with its disregard for making it explainable, tends to get submerged in its own world at times – which again is what the film is trying to convey.

In a scene, Heer (Nargis) waking up, finds herself in compromising position with her lover Jordan in his bed. Shell shocked, she sprints to the outer world, away from the love trap of Jordon, only to be chased by him to the streets. Maybe because she was gone too far or was he tired of chasing her or was he that confident in getting her back, Jordan stops short of running behind her. But, immediately after he does that, Heer turns back, only to be back in his arms. This fiery yet painful love that takes control of their actions and conscience, akin to Rumi’s quote: ‘away – beyond the worldly rules of right and wrong, there is a field; I will meet you there’, based on which the film is based, could probably define Rockstar.