Imperfect Love of Perfect Lovers

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2011)

I have to say that watching this movie ALONE in an empty movie theatre added several dimensions to the whole experience of watching ROCKSTAR.
My first comment is to Imtiaz Ali-- What were you thinking, bro? To actually have the gumption to create a love story around the idea of ethereal and eternal love as envisioned by the great Sufi Master Rumi in the land of DABANGG and BODYGUARD? Did you really think that audiences (read THE COMMON MAN) would throng cinemas and multiplexes to get a taste of sublime love?
For sublime love is the thread that binds this beautiful bitter sweet tale together. It is a love story written in the idiom of NorthIndian/Kashmiri/Sufi culture, of dargahs, of spirituality, of Delhi University Campus insider jokes, of the topography of North India, especially Kashmir and I fear the film could be condemned with the "E" word--elitism.
The starting point of the story is a young ordinary low middle class callow youth who is a wannabe singer, strumming his guitar to ordinary lyrics hoping to make it big. He is accused of being shallow by his mentor and advised to seek out "PAIN" in order to light the creative spark, that divine glow that accompanies great art. Unbeknownst to him, his casual and frivolous flirtation with this search for angst leads him into the deep end where he has to come face to face first with true love and then with the inevitable pain that comes with it.
The dialogues are fabulous. So is the cinematography. The snow clad mountains of Kashmir and the misty mornings of New Delhi, the green fields full of flowers in Prague place the story in the here and now when in truth the story could belong to any era, any century, any epoch. The universality of love, the self realisation that comes with it, the realisation that this life is but a dream is what the movie is really about. The essence of the story is not in the physicality of love but love beyond the here and now, beyond right and wrong and love for the Creator who was there when there was nothing else.
See what I mean when I ask Imtiaz--what were you thinking, bro?
And now for the piece de resistance-the music, the lyrics, the singer.
If there were any doubts being expressed by the hoi polloi about A R Rehman's diminishing creativity well then, here is his rebuttal.
The music is earthy, rooted in our traditions and culture, and designed to rock. It's astonishing how Rehman is able to dive into the musical traditions of the Punjab to create the "Saada Haq" and "Katiyaan Karoon". Irshad Kamil's lyrics, if you take the time to listen to the songs and understand the words, are beyond compare. Mohit Chauhan's voice is eminently suitable for all the songs. My favorite is "Naadaan parinde, ghar aajaa" Listen to the lyrics and cry.
We have been enjoying a lot of junk food lately. Now it's time for some haute cuisine.