Rock On...........

Writer, fighter, producer, director, singer, actor……camera man, every man..... FLOP…. Went the title song of Jaspal Bhatti’s FLOP SHOW but in this case it’s a big hit. No I’m not talking about Flop show’s success though it was a huge hit too. Here I’m talking of something else, something that has taken Bollywood to the next level. Can one man do all the things mentioned above (give and take one or two). Well, 2 months ago I would have said no way hose but I would have been made to eat my own words because there is a star on the horizon ladies and gentleman. We knew he is a good director, but a singer, actor, fighter (one punch only but he has a toned body J ) this we didn’t know and we saw all of it and more in ‘Rock On’.
Yes I’m talking about the charismatic ‘Farhan Akhtar’. Two months ago, I would have termed his entry as an actor as just keeping up with fad of becoming a Bollywood actor/actress. What with Himesh Reshammiya and the slew of models making their debuts alongside Emraan Hashmi. It was good that prior to watching the movie I had not seen any promos or heard any songs either which helped me take the movie as it was without any preconceived notions. I was skeptical to say the least of the star cast of the film. A film about music and no established face (including poor old Arjun Rampal). But not only were the performances great but also the music.
A Bollywood movie on rock music is very hard to come by. But it would create such a buzz was beyond my wildest dreams. Arjun Rampal has acted now in what about 20-30 movies, maybe more and done few good roles too but he fades in and out of the movie. Agreed his character was a slow, chill type guy but if you are performing on stage you got to move your fingers on the guitar even though you’re not actually playing it…. What he was doing is beyond me. After OSO this was a big step down for him I would say. Purab on the other hand showed a lot of character in the small role that he played.
But the star who took everyone by surprise ‘Farhan Akhtar’. He has taken Bollywood to a different level with this role. Nowhere in the movie does he make you feel that this is his first film as an actor. Such intensity and finesse is hard to see in the current crop of young actors. His performance literally blows you away. He gets so involved in the character he is essaying that it is mind boggling. Whether in a business suit as an asset manager or a rock star performing on stage, he fills both the roles completely and you are left wondering is he the same guy that we saw earlier. Much like what must be going on in Prachi Desai’s mind in the movie.
But all accolades fall on Farhan more so because this is not his usual cup of tea. To come up with such a brilliant performance on debut is truly amazing. Apart from acting, his voice too is quite good and you again tend to think that it’s a professional singer but surprise it is Farhan Akhtar. And what a dear old friend of mine would say,”Tumhare alfazon ka sahi hona lazmi hai kyunki tumhari maa Shabana Azmi hai.” All in all an electrifying performance in a very entertaining movie. Farhan has made a lot of fans and now I am one of them. From ‘Socha hai..’ to ‘Rock On’ to ‘Sinbad the sailor..’ the music has simply left me speechless. Wish to see more such movies with more such performances in the future. But tonight its all about one man, the star ‘Farhan Akhtar’.

Aur Bataa

It’s a bright sunny day and you are feeling good at office, at college or even relaxing at home. Suddenly breaking the silence around you, your phone rings. The ring tone is your favorite obviously. You know the caller, a good friend at that. You start chatting nips and bits. Small talk – how’s life, how’s work/college. Nothing major or substantial. Then you (or the caller) utter the words. If you do say/hear them, then congratulations you too have been affected by the deadly virus doing the rounds. People call it by different names but I like to call it the ‘Aur Bataa’ virus.
This is that phase of the conversation when actually you have nothing important to talk about with the other person. You can pretend to support various topics to prolong the talk, but in reality you have no idea about what you are doing. You are drifting. You called up the person just for the heck of it. After all what did you expect? He will break down in front of you with all his problems looking for comfort in return or rather start blabbering about every small thing they did or saw in the day right from brushing teeth to getting to bed.
In today’s time people keep so much to themselves it would be foolhardy to accept a very meaningful talk with someone who is not amongst your closest group. Even then there is the chance of upsetting a closed one and hence opinions and views are further curtailed. Coming back to point, we’ve grown accustomed to using this phrase that I’ve started to wonder that have we actually run out of things to talk about. I can’t remember one conversation with my friends (phone/mail) where under 5-10 minutes I hadn’t used ‘Aur Bataa’, ditto for others too.
This epidemic has brought up another question to my mind that has the new way of life of this generation led to a mass disinterest in the art of talking? Although tit seems highly unlikely, what with the subscription nos. for telecom companies hitting the roof. So what is it that is spreading this virus? A question that is more of a mystery than the most mysterious question of them al. Hell, even writing about it here has left me with very little things to talk about. I can’t seem to think up of anything new to add to what I’ve already written and I can see myself saying the same two words – “Aur Bataa.”