Disilussioned direction

Rating: 4/10 (24 December 2011)

A big let down from Imtiaz Ali. As a director of better movies like Socha na tha, Jab we met and Love aaj kal, I was expecting a very good film from him and even was quite excited on seeing the promos. But at the end Imtiaz made a caricature with neither any plot development and nor character development. Any sane person willn't be able to relate to the pain, agony and the anguish through which the protagonist traverses. Neither the love shown between the duo was worthy nor the passion of music inside Ranbir Kapoor was consistent. What baffled me most was the fact that each time the hero finds her love, he forgets everything about his music. This is pretty bullshit because one who adores music in such a way can never be a rockstar. For a rockstar, his music is his life..And even the eccentricities that are so prevalent in a genius are portrayed so absurdly. Even one doesn't understand about the genesis of his anguishes and to whom they are directed and why the hell he is angry.
Newcomer Nargis Fakri is adorable until she opens her mouth and acts. Her acting is just so cold and frigid. Ranbir excels but alas, the director makes a mess. A.R. Rehman is brilliant but the songs don't make any sense on screen, though when you listen it offscreen you will marvel at Rehman's creativity. Story and Direction sucks, I can't be more modest than this. The director presents an utter wrong impression of a rockstar and their oft followed path of self- destruction..Rather he confuses and amuses us with such a 'bang your head on the wall' type movie.
Many people have loved the film and that's very evident from IMDb ratings too, but any person who goes with a preconception of watching a movie on a rockstar's life, his priorities and eccentricities, his road to self-destruction and actualization etc etc will be severely disappointed. The only silver lining is Ranbir's acting and Rehman's music.
In a nutshell, the movie completely wasted a mindblowing concept and made a total shitty mess. Not at all expected from Imtiaz Ali. My heart pains to criticize Imtiaz but I can't give it more than 4 out of 10.