The ‘Rockstar’ Kapoors: Shammi to Ranbir!
Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar is the story of how Janardhan, a middle-class lad from Delhi, transforms into a Jordan, the Rockstar. The film is being awaited with much eagerness as it gives Ranbir Kapoor to portray a character that every boy dreams of waking up to be!
Rockstar Poster
Janardhan is a simple college going guy in Delhi who believes he is Jim Morrison in some parallel universe. He wants his two different as chalk and cheese worlds to collide and in order to experience tragedy to make him a real artist he decides to woo the college dream girl. He hopes she’d break his heart and he will get torments enough for his rock star dreams to become reality. Okay the story sounds intriguing enough, sure there’d be lots more than just that synopsis to Rockstar but more than that it’s the Imtiaz Ali touch, which could make all the difference. 
Imtiaz Ali movies
Right from his debut with Socha Na Tha, Ali’s depiction of the ordinary isn’t what the eyes are used to. Like in Jab We Met he took the done-to-death boy-meets-girl theme and overhauled it to such an extent that nothing would be same again in the genre. The shortcomings and the criticism notwithstanding, Love Aaj Kal would always have been a tough act to follow Jab We Met, having said that the film did have its moments.
Love Aaj Kal
Rockstar Music
The film is already creating ripples thanks to its music and when you have a storyline such as Rockstar one doesn’t have to look beyond AR Rahman. Rumor has it that Ali went out of his way to wait for Rahman to compose the music and the result has been worth the wait. Be it the Commonwealth Games theme or Blue, his immediate release post his Oscar success, Rahman’s music has been receiving a lot of flak but with Rockstar; the Mozart of Madras seems to have found some of his groove back. True to the classic image of any rock icon the main instrument that drives the soundtrack is the guitar and Rahman even got Orianthi Panagaris, the Australian born lead guitarist of Alice Cooper, to play the instrument on Sadda Haq, which is almost like a youth anthem now. Apparently Ali wasn’t too happy with the initial version of Sadda Haq and Rahman went all out to raise the bar; the result is in the hearing!
Rahman the Mozart of Madras & Ranbir
The music of the film compliments the journey that Janardhan undertakes in order to become Jordan. The soundtrack sails from classic rock ballads to Indian folk and touches Sufi and when the protagonist is traveling in Prague there are unheard traditional Czech gypsy music!
Ranbir Kapoor Rockstar
The other song that stands out is the Rahman rendered Kun Faya Kun, an Arabic phrase that means ‘be and it is’.
Ali originally wanted to cast Kareena Kapoor as the muse but with cousin Ranbir playing a role that was tailor-made for him, Ali cast Nargis Fakhri in the lead.
Nargis Ranbir
Rockstar also happens to be the last time when the legendary Shammi Kapoor would be seen on the screen. The actor, who was perhaps Hindi cinema’s first rock star in the true sense of the word, plays the man who spots Janardhan’s talent and supports him. Here’s looking forward to one rock star’s last hurrah and the other’s one rise.
Shammi Kapoor in Rockstar
Rockstar release on 11.11.11
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