Rocket Singh
Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:58 pm
Rocket Singh
“Pocket mein rocket hai pocket mein”. I have found my self-humming this tune many a time since the last 2 weeks or so. From the time that I saw the first promo I was indeed hooked; Ranbir Kapoor standing against a table and doing a piece to camera about why he is doing a piece to camera. I thought it was the greatest marketing idea since women (trust me I’m not being chauvinistic). There was a certain honesty with which he (ranbir) stood in front of the camera and said ‘I’m here to sell you my film, please buy it’. It instantly brought a smile to my face. The next one with the 39% passing percentage was one step further, this time I laughed out aloud. Come on now you have to give it points for being honest and as it turns out honesty is rather funny to encounter in these times, how else would you explain the audience laughing at H.S. Bedi’s (ranbir’s character) predicament of being honest.
Getting down to the film, ladies and gentlemen here we finally have a film that delivers what it promises. The film manages to keep the audiences’ interest alive throughout the film, which bay the way is not an easy thing to do in a two and a half hour long film that has mostly been shot indoors. The office spaces have shown very well the camera work is in sync with the film at every point in-fact nowhere do the technical aspects of filmmaking become bigger than the film, every technician seems to have played his part very well and it shows on screen.
The film seems to be well written and conceived; the writing is its soul. Even long dialogue by Ranbir about the merits of honesty do not seem cheesy, I would attribute this to good writing, fantastic performance by H.S. Bedi and of course the director’s inputs. The background score adds a layer to the film that has been missing from a lot of Hindi films for quite sometime. The music is also good, all in all there is not much that is wrong with this film, what I would also like to say at this point is that Ranbir really knows how to pick his projects. He has had a great year with all his films doing quite well but nothing beats this one.
Reading this review one might be led to believe that the film is all Ranbir but nothing could be farther from the truth and I hope Ranbir will be the first one to acknowledge this. All the ancillary characters in the film are superb. His two bosses have played their part to perfection. Mishra ji, Koena and Giri are all very good, it is very heartening to see that the maker have not been inclined to ignoring the characters’ around HSB as it is these characters that make HSB the likable character that he is. Another aspect that I must mention here is the performances of the lesser characters such as Wajahat who in his two small scenes seemed as committed to the cause of the film as any of the other cast members. All actors across the board have played their parts with a natural ease that I would like to see more often in Indian films instead of the regular fare of loud, slapstick and crass performances that we have come to call acting. Way to go guys.
Tech checks: not much is wrong with the film but if you hold a gun to my head the only thing that I would be willing to point a finger at is the focus puller. But in a good film that one is enjoying these things are easily ignorable.
My advice to those who don’t read the entire review and want it all in one line “do not miss this film it’s the most honest film I have seen in a long while”
P.S. – Three cheers for Jaideep Sahani, Shimit Ameen and have course Ranbir Kapoor,
“Pocket mein rocket hai pocket mein”. I have found my self-humming this tune many a time since the last 2 weeks or so. From the time that I saw the first promo I was indeed hooked; Ranbir Kapoor standing against a table and doing a piece to camera about why he is doing a piece to camera. I thought it was the greatest marketing idea since women (trust me I’m not being chauvinistic). There was a certain honesty with which he (ranbir) stood in front of the camera and said ‘I’m here to sell you my film, please buy it’. It instantly brought a smile to my face. The next one with the 39% passing percentage was one step further, this time I laughed out aloud. Come on now you have to give it points for being honest and as it turns out honesty is rather funny to encounter in these times, how else would you explain the audience laughing at H.S. Bedi’s (ranbir’s character) predicament of being honest.
Getting down to the film, ladies and gentlemen here we finally have a film that delivers what it promises. The film manages to keep the audiences’ interest alive throughout the film, which bay the way is not an easy thing to do in a two and a half hour long film that has mostly been shot indoors. The office spaces have shown very well the camera work is in sync with the film at every point in-fact nowhere do the technical aspects of filmmaking become bigger than the film, every technician seems to have played his part very well and it shows on screen.
The film seems to be well written and conceived; the writing is its soul. Even long dialogue by Ranbir about the merits of honesty do not seem cheesy, I would attribute this to good writing, fantastic performance by H.S. Bedi and of course the director’s inputs. The background score adds a layer to the film that has been missing from a lot of Hindi films for quite sometime. The music is also good, all in all there is not much that is wrong with this film, what I would also like to say at this point is that Ranbir really knows how to pick his projects. He has had a great year with all his films doing quite well but nothing beats this one.
Reading this review one might be led to believe that the film is all Ranbir but nothing could be farther from the truth and I hope Ranbir will be the first one to acknowledge this. All the ancillary characters in the film are superb. His two bosses have played their part to perfection. Mishra ji, Koena and Giri are all very good, it is very heartening to see that the maker have not been inclined to ignoring the characters’ around HSB as it is these characters that make HSB the likable character that he is. Another aspect that I must mention here is the performances of the lesser characters such as Wajahat who in his two small scenes seemed as committed to the cause of the film as any of the other cast members. All actors across the board have played their parts with a natural ease that I would like to see more often in Indian films instead of the regular fare of loud, slapstick and crass performances that we have come to call acting. Way to go guys.
Tech checks: not much is wrong with the film but if you hold a gun to my head the only thing that I would be willing to point a finger at is the focus puller. But in a good film that one is enjoying these things are easily ignorable.
My advice to those who don’t read the entire review and want it all in one line “do not miss this film it’s the most honest film I have seen in a long while”
P.S. – Three cheers for Jaideep Sahani, Shimit Ameen and have course Ranbir Kapoor,