Rock On 2 (2016) Review!!!

Synopsis – The band, Magik reunites with some new members.

My Take – Can you believe it has been eight years since the multi talented Farhan Akhtar made his awesome debut on the big screen as an actor along with his raspy singing talent? Yup, its been that long since director Abhishek Kapoor (Kai Po Che, Fitoor) made a likable film about a rock band of four members called Magik. This band was made up of coolness and the talent for rendering distinctly Western sounding music in Hindi. The music, sociability, the beautifully-crafted emotional scenes – all ensured that we carve a special place in our hearts for Rock On!!. So in a time where unnecessary sequels are a trend why not capitalize on the goodwill of the brand and burden us instead with a rather unnecessary and watered down version of the 1^st film. While director Abhishek Kapoor has thankfully stayed away (even though he wrote the film), ad film director Shujaat Saudagar is marked with making his debut feature which seemed doomed from the start. While keeping an open mind, I do think this sequel doesn’t disappoint as much as we were dreading thanks to its lackluster trailers. It has its heart in the right place but the storyline is far too convoluted to make an impact. Seriously, why make a sequel if you have nothing better to say! More importantly, for a film revolving around music, unlike its predecessor, the songs are average at best. The actors try their best, but who can overcome the short comings of weak script, well I meant other than Salman Bhai Khan?

The story follows the disbanded Magik five years after the death of Rob (Luke Kenny). Although still close, the remaining three have chose to pursue their own different paths. Joseph Mascarenhas aka Joe (Arjun Rampal) is no more living the lower side of life. Running a successful night club with his designer wife Debbie (Shahana Goswami) and judging one of the singing reality shows, Joe seems to have it all. Aditiya Shroff aka Adi (Farhan Akhtar) has left behind his wife Sakshi (Prachi Desai) and son and has moved to one of the most gorgeous parts of Meghalaya. Haunted by the suicide of a young singer, who would keep badgering him to sample his music, Adi has retired to a village, where he helps run a local school and a farmers’ cooperative. Meanwhile, Kedar Zaveri aka KD (Purab Kohli) is composing jingles for a living. It’s not quite the music career he’d dreamed of, but he remains cheery and upbeat presumably because he’s living off a fat inheritance and keeps hoping that one day Magik would be back again. Upon hearing the sample work of struggling musician Uday (Shashank Arora), the guys ring him up to perform in Joe’s night club along with his partner Jiah Sharma (Shraddha Kapoor), a pretty young singer whose in depression oppressive classical musician Pandit Bibhuti (Kumud Mishra) has an allergy to modern music. Witnessing the tortured soul of Jia, Adi in hopes of making emends of his past mistakes decides to seek redemption through helping her. What connection does Jia have to Adi’s past? Does Joe help them out? What events lead to the return of Magik? As a film about bromance, the story puts the spotlight on a girl rocker and how Magik hones her talent to create a superstar. The film reveals the source of her trauma very slowly, though an educated guess should get you there about an hour in advance. There’s some potential in the film’s conception of Jiah—a shy woman who makes field recordings and writes tunes she doesn’t want people to hear—but there’s little that unfamiliar about the disapproving-father-dutiful-daughter route her story takes. Like the earlier film, the storytelling is straightforward, and just in case anyone’s having the slightest difficulty understanding what’s going on, there’s KD’s voice-over. But the noble ideas on paper do not translate into a fun film. Taking off from a coming-of-age space, the boys-now-men find themselves in other soupy spaces. Ill-conceived and incompetently executed, the film never manages to justify its existence. The sequel, directed by Shujaat Saudagar, makes the mistake of treating the first film as a cinematic masterpiece rather than a well-narrated and competently performed three-act story about loss and redemption. The Meghalaya tourism department will be thrilled with the way the state has been showcased in the movie, but they might not like the suggestion that Aditya, and Aditya alone, is the hero they so badly need. While the first film equally distributed the arc and the screen time among the characters, here the film focuses solely on Adi’s inhibitions and demons, followed by the travails of Jia, the result the wives (Desai and Goswami) are forced into limited screen time.

Like Akhtar, Kapoor sings her own songs in the movie, and although she is a marginally better singer, she still cannot command the screen or summon up a convincing performance. Her character comes off as petulant rather than angry, but she does fulfill one of Magik’s requirements: if you look good, you can pass yourself off as a rocker. The other big problem is that for a film with music at its heart, the songs are mediocre at best. The earlier film had hummable ditties like Sinbad the Sailor and Tum Ho Toh that stayed on in memory, but the sequel has no such songs. There was a time, not too long ago, that Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy were making such terrific music, you’d think they could churn out chartbusters with their eyes closed. It’s such an underwhelming score, to be honest, that the only time you find yourself tapping your feet is when you hear snatches of the hit tracks from the earlier film. Which this sequel dips into quite frequently. The only song which barely stands out is You Know What I Mean. However the film does have its minute positives, for example, in spite of using the music as the backdrop of the film, what rules the film is the concept that music needs to be set free for it to flow freely. Music can create wonders by uniting people. The film does talk about how a veteran who has mastered and worshipped Classical music may feel that contemporary music is absolutely out of place and just full of noise. This mismatch between Frames of Reference and Territory can give births to tragedies in life. There is a beautiful scene where living legend Usha Uthup along with singers Kit Shangpliang and Pynsuklin Syiemiong from Summersalt Band come together to sing Hoi Kie /Chalo Chalo which depicts the tremendous power of music and the magic it can create. The film also talks about how one needs to move on and make ‘one self’ free from the shackles of past / self-blame and look within for powers. Another powerful scene where Shraddha Kapoor steals the show is Jiah’s conversation with her father. Among the performances, as always Farhan Akhtar is practically on the top of his game. He falters on many counts in the film, but must win only laurels for his acting. He is effortlessly chameleon-ish, he jumps years within minutes, luring us with his passion and intensity effectively in both cases. Purab Kohli injects some much needed fun to his role. Shraddha Kapoor is very good. She emotes her fear, pain and anger very well. Shashank Arora makes his presence felt. Prachi Desai, who had also made her debut with the earlier film, is cutesy but never mind the raw deal she was handed out. Kumud Mishra excels as a man of less words in the film and one can feel the pain of his character – a veteran musician’s frustrations, pain of loss and as a purist his denying the fusion music. It’s a shame that Arjun Rampal, who won a National award for his supporting turn in the 1^st film, ends up drawing the shortest straw. Even though it seems he is trying, his character and look has no resemblance to the earlier film. On the whole, ‘Rock On 2’ has some vibrant and emotional moments yet falters due to its contrived narrative and missing infectious tunes.