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Partly inspired by Medha Dutt’s piece and partly by the fact that I don’t remember the last time I saw two back-to-back “big” Hindi film productions that I enjoyed so much, I am unable to resist writing this post.

Neither Mumbai Meri Jaan nor Rock On!! are great films in an overall sense (just as TZP wasn’t), but within the cinema milieu it comes from, both are very significant (just as TZP was). If mainstream Indian cinema can find the guts to tell such stories on a regular basis, and perhaps generate even more guts to get beyond the filmi hangovers, then we’re talking serious business (in the true sense of the word too).

MMJ has 3 of India’s finest ever actors (Irrfan, Paresh Rawal, KK) along with several other powerhouse performers and 5 interesting stories it could have fully exploited to make it one of the most important and memorable mainstream films to ever come out of India. But a compulsive heavy-handedness with a compelling itch to get preachy is sadly not resisted, but even then the film’s undeniable power, memorability and as far as I’m concerned - entertainment value, lifts it to be a sure contender for the best Hindi film of the year. Everybody would have their own suggestions of what could have been different – for me, if the Paresh Rawal story was less preachy, if the Madhavan story was not as repetitive (and definitely without that US 9/11 track), if in the KK story the Muslim man’s mother and he had got along on a human level purely (instead of getting the common deity angle with her son later), if the Irrfan Khan character had not given the rose to the old man but just got him the taxi…so on and so forth, all small things, but so much of that determines the overall tone you’re left with. Was this heavy-handedness a nod to commercial viability or was it a personal creative choice?

I went to see Rock On!! hoping (and perhaps expecting) to hate it. My own (non fiction) music film has still not released after more than 2 years (the Indian Ocean film) and has been going through excruciating rights and agreement issues, which has been very frustrating. So, there was a fair amount of sour grapes that I went in with. Also, the “cool” upper class vibe of the film had put me off, and I hadn’t particularly enjoyed the songs in the promos. But a few minutes into the film, and I was hooked. It is the heart in the film that got me, and despite all the highly avoidable filmi clichés, I enjoyed it. When the brain kicked in after the closing credits rolled, I found myself shaking my head at the terribly filmi brain tumour angle, the ad film look of the film, just the overall synthetic feel of the film and the huge number of simplistic solutions in it. Also, I don’t believe it is easy for a man who gives up his creative dreams and become a corporate dude to come back to it so effortlessly; in fact it is probably not possible to come back at all - the psychic price is way too high for that; isn’t it evident in lives lived around us? Why is there so much unfulfillment and unhappiness around? But sadly, the film wasn’t about being real, and that is its biggest failing and will prevent it from being the classic it could have been. I also thought the female vocals diluted the heart of the film – that moment when the wife comes back home to see the band assembled in her drawing room was a great moment for a band song, even if they did it ineptly. The song from the wife’s point of view made zero sense there and considerably lessened the energy that had built up.

But the positives in the film have worked big time. The cinematography, especially of the concerts, rocked (though the look was overdone, Pink Floyd would have been proud of the production values – again not real at all in this context). The music worked for me in the film; Indian Rock (and it IS Rock, not Pop, as some people have been ignorantly saying) would have been in a different place today if there had been bands writing original catchy songs like these. Farhan’s vocals worked in the film, though they hadn’t for me in the promotional TV shows. I also thought Farhan’s performance in the film was quite superb – the ability to consistently charge the moment, but in a restrained manner, this is not a talent we see in our mainstream cinema much. Perhaps appreciation has been somewhat muted because it is difficult to believe someone can be so multi-faceted – surely he can’t be so good at acting and signing also, seems to be an overall response. But he is; whether he played himself or not and whether he can do varied roles or not is not relevant here. He did a great job here, and it should be acknowledged. And in the film overall, though Shahana Goswami’s naturalness stood out, good casting choices did the trick too (like Arjun Rampal).

Again, it was the reluctance to be more real that stymied the possibilities of greatness for Rock On!! It makes you wonder if they had actually tried to veer towards more real situations and solutions in both MMJ and Rock On!!, would that necessarily have reduced their commercial viability? Personally, I actually don’t think so because the audience is showing considerable signs of evolution. At the end of the day, MMJ and Rock On!! have been accepted by a wider audience (though not the masses, but that is not necessary anyway anymore) and that is a very exciting thing to happen. Unlike TZP, there wasn’t even a huge mainstream actor inviting them in here.

It is exciting because if mainstream projects like these open up new milieus and new subjects like this, then the space between the big and small projects will reduce, thus enabling greater risks. This has serious commercial implications too. Right now, it is the people who creatively make the smaller films who take the risks (in terms of what it will do for their career), not their producers (it is bizarre to me that the creative team creates the film AND bears the risk whereas the producer is not really taking any risk, because at this budget he is assured of his money back even before the project is completed). So, if budgets for the smaller films go up, then the people working on them can perhaps make Maruti 800 livings at least (or Nano livings), a considerable improvement from the bicycle livings that they make now. That will reduce the pressure to sell out and that can only be a good thing.

It will be good for producers too because they will have far more choice in terms of projects. It is a win-win situation for the entire industry (except for those monopolizing the scene now with their regressive low IQ brand of cinema, but why give a shit for them).

So, all in all, let’s be thankful that MMJ and Rock On!! happened, and more power to the people behind them; they do deserve it.

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