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Rock On 2 Movie Review: Magik meh! Farhan-Shraddha take you for a ride down a rocky road
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Rock On sequel doesn’t disappoint as much as we were dreading. It has its heart in the right place but the storyline is far too convoluted to make an impact. This time it doesn’t have the label of classic rock film or follows the footprints of the genre. As an attempt, let’s call it bold. As a film about bromance, the story puts the spotlight on a girl rocker and how Magik hones her talent to create a superstar. 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. Farhan Akhtar’s Aditya Shroff takes a detour and settles in Meghalaya after an unfortunate incident leaves him guilt-stricken. Of course, the writers Abhishek Kapoor and Pubali Chaudhuri don’t dig deeper into his psyche. To even out their glitches, Farhan 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.
This time around, Joe has become Aditya Shroff 2.0 – judging a reality show, minting money like a boss, running a club. Like it must be, he imbibes the arrogance that comes as a package with that stature as well. Arjun Rampal explores the dynamics of that role with elan. But the film was in true sense an ensemble, where each character, no matter how small or big was significant. You end up missing Shahana Goswami, who was a spirited, opinionated phataka. The female energy must solely come from Shraddha Kapoor, torn between her classical music fanatic of a father and pop music loving heart. The benevolent Magikmen give her direction. Shraddha is adequate, trying her best to up the game but cannot do full justice. Her meek innocence adds to the role but the passion and rage doesn’t come out looking enough.
The usual questions pop up again. How does Magik recreate the power of their rusty-dusty spells? Well, certainly with little help from their story, the guys and their new gal embark on this journey, and allow the audience some glaring logic slips. Now don’t ask how do these guys keep their fan following and clout intact after years of no solid work in an industry as fast changing as theirs. Utopia? Well, okay. Cinematic liberty excused! They were never the country’s most reigning band and so their presence and absence should ideally be inconsequential to people.
This film should’ve been called Vanity Fair. What is Bollywood trying to prove by vain sequels like these? Not only is our memory of the earlier film marred, heartbreakingly so; it also shows a serious lack of fresh thought. For a rock film, the music is underwhelming. They call it niche, we call it grating noise. No amount of auto-tuning can salvage it. That’s that.
Purab Kohli is wasted and after the first few episodes of his web series based on Homeland, this looks even worse. Prachi Desai is cutesy but nevermind the raw deal she was handed out. The supporting actors were rendered irrelevant and that just doesn’t go with the spirit of the film. Kapoor created a slightly amateurish, largely predictable but nevertheless, a good movie. Shujaat Saudagar with his questionable skill set could only manage a well intended, misfire.
It is not terrible but when you go for this movie, despite the ample warning from its boring trailers, you ought to have expected what the film has proven – THE MAGIK HAS RUN OUT!
Watch a rerun of Gattu’s movie instead; this one is a limp show.
We rate the film a 40% on the Pinkvilla Movie Meter.
