Rockstar Movie Reviews

Leave it to Imtiaz Ali to take a love story and present it in a manner that's completely different from run-of-the-mill Bollywood. Romance, under his creative vision, becomes a multi-layered, sensitively nuanced, monumental experience which has more to do with serenading your soulmate rather than a stereotypical marriage partner. With intelligent entertainers like Jab We Met, Love Aaj Kal and now Rockstar, he is evolving as a new age Yash Chopra

When The Doors had their first ever professional photographs taken, to go with their incendiary 1967 debut, frontman James Douglas Morrison consciously chose to leave the smiling out of it. The others occasionally smirked affably enough but Morrison, yearning to showcase his searing intensity as a poet ("a word man, better than a bird man") stared solemnly into the lens, and thus at all us onlookers, his piercing gaze shoving us toward attention

Rockstar rocks you but only partially thanks to the star called Ranbir Kapoor.

While good acting is always an incentive, it’s a director’s vision that makes a film truly watchable, and Imtiaz makes Rockstar stand out from what the mainstream churns out every week.

Rockstar is one of those films that surpass the regular fare offered at the cinema each week, as each performer here has given their all and have come up with a grand and operatic film that proves a risky gamble for winning people over but it just works here. The movie is that game-changer for Imtiaz Ali and Ranbir Kapoor, who attempt to scale the artistic highs and prove to the world what they can achieve within the commercial love story genre by pushing all the boundaries. A must watch!

‘Rockstar’ is one of the best performances by Ranbir Kapoor and as for Imtiaz Ali, it’s his artistry which infuses soul in the film and makes it a truly watchable film.

Yeh bada jaanwar hai. Yeh chhote pinjre mein nahi samayega.' Indeed, Ranbir Kapoor is not an everyday occurrence. He's proved himself to be more than a portfolio and a surname with his absolutely marvelous ability to connect with the audience in a brand new skin each and every time. And that he's accomplished this in merely four years and 9 films is no mean feat. Therefore, even though, the above-mentioned prediction, coming in the astute words of Shammi Kapoor

From its start, to the way it progresses, you can tell, the film’s been through various stages of editing and several second thoughts. Sometimes the patchiness shows. It’s a stretch. Anything that’s 18 reels long (close to three hours) in a flickering world of low attention spans would be. Something fizzles out towards the end. You still don’t begrudge a movie that’s been this engaging, entertaining thus far.

Imtiaz Ali's 'Rockstar' is a far-from-perfect film, but it has honesty and depth, which is mostly missing in Hindi movies today. Ranbir Kapoor is Janardan Jakhar, a middle-class kid from Delhi's Pitampura, who sets himself up to get his heart broken when he's told he can't be a great musician until he's suffered great pain. Janardhan goes from a desperate struggler strumming his guitar at campus hangout spots, to an angsty star, now rechristened Jordan

Rock based movies are revered and admired in Hollywood, but Bollywood hasn't been too kind to this genre. Vipul Shah's LONDON DREAMS failed to cut ice, despite the presence of top notch names, but ROCK ON! was a moderate success, with the urban audiences giving the film a second and third dekho. The film couldn't penetrate into the heartland, though Imtiaz Ali has always managed to strike the right balance between the hoi polloi and the gentry

Imtiaz Ali does a MAUSAM with ROCKSTAR. Doing a Mausam simply means loving your work so much to the point of getting obsessed and losing objectivity. It happened with Pankaj Kapur. This does not mean that ROCKSTAR will be a MAUSAM. Far from it. If an actor can have you riveted to your seat for the entire length of the movie and you see nothing else but just sheer brilliance in every twist in his character; that's 'paisa vasool, time respected, audience is baap' approach

In these times of instant gratification, here’s a film that makes you think. Not a perfect film, but one that stays with you long after the lights have come back on.

On the whole, ROCKSTAR does not live up to the confidence and expectations from the otherwise very skilled and accomplished film-maker Imtiaz Ali. The film suffers immensely due to a disorderly screenplay, especially in its post-interval portions. However, the silver lining or the comforting prospect is the virtuoso performance by Ranbir Kapoor and the captivating score by A.R. Rahman, which justify that one extra star.

Rockstar is an oxymoron of a motion picture. It merges two movies which do not melt together. In its title character it mixes two personalities which cannot be the same person. Ranbir Kapoor’s Jordan is projected — and spelt out many times — as a Jim Morrisonesque figure who takes great pleasure in showing his middle finger to the world. He is also the same Jordan whose mere presence can revive a dying girl back to the pink of her health

Director Imtiaz Ali's new film Rockstar has two heroes: Ranbir Kapoor, and A R Rahman. Kapoor, who many believe is Bollywood's next big Kapoor, delivers an impressive performance, portraying with aplomb the buffoonish Janardhan Jhakar, who no one takes seriously, and the grim 'rock star' Jordan who Janardhan becomes. And Rahman goes on overdrive with a background score that lifts the film with every dive bomb (presumably by woman shred guitar star Orianthi

Gangly Haryanvi lad from Pitampura wants to be a present-day Jim Morrison. So he strums his guitar and sings to waiting commuters at a Delhi bus stand. The result: he is abused and slapped by a cop for his temerity. Back in his college canteen, the wannabe rockstar wonders aloud why merely belting out an innocuous song at a bus stand should be such an offence when JM not only got away with a defiant middle-finger salute but was also feted for the act

‘Rockstar’ looks as if there may be something in it, despite the familiar post-teen love tropes that Ali sets up. We’re still trying on new girl Fakhri for size, just as her hero is, and keeping an open mind.

Rockstar review by Komal Nahta Biz rating: 2.5/5 stars. What's Good: The performances; the music; the look of the ...