Rockstar- Almost perfect musical-Biopic.

Ranbir Kapoor as Jordan in Rockstar has to be one of the most amazing performances in recent times. For a non-musical person, his portrayal as the rebellious, soul-searching Rockstar deserves an ovation.

This is one movie, which is subtle in expressing and profound in emotions. Emotions doesn't restrict to the overworking of the lacrimal duct but actually is a feeling restrained to the heart and mind. 

Emotions are genuine and more deep when the ability to convey it becomes a painful task. Rockstar is a landmark film in terms of the editing and the complexities of characters. It is not a flawless movie, but is close to being one. Imtiaz Ali has got to be one of the most gifted story tellers of our generation. He doesn't believe in traditions nor mainstream category of film  making. He takes the road less traveled with elan. 

Rockstar is a movie that has the guts and Imtiaz leaves no stone unturned to depict what he perceived. It takes enormous audacity to adhere to such a structure of story telling. At no point does the movie switch course to the usual Indian formulaic means where God mends all evils; where justice prevails; where all is happy and goes accordingly like a dream. Magic happens here too. Heer's (Nargis Fakhri) mother sums it up magnificently to the doctor - '' We think we know life, but we do not. Miracles have happened in life. '' Heer is your new age lass- capricious, wanting that last bit of fun before marriage; doesn't realize the consequences immediately; she is confused between what the mind desires and what she has in reality. When we think that it is going to be another usual Hindi film, Ali packs a punch when he beautifully shows Heer's state of coma, nearing death. Heer's sister Mandy was the one who calls Jordan to tell him about the condition that Heer was suffering from Bone Marrow Aplesia, and she doesn't think twice to accuse Jordan being responsible for her death. In actuality, the love was her disease. She was afflicted even before Jordan met her in Prague. She decides to go visit the shrink because of her sickness. The mental sickness, transforms into a physical one, when they make love. This was is shown with Mandy shouting Jordan is the disease. Harsh reality blatantly shown.Welcome to the real world.

If at all there exists a creation which can be described as multi layered, it is this. Music is shown as the out flow of emotions. His inner thoughts woven cleverly in the songs. In fact, the songs move the story forward and helps one understand the gamut of feelings the protagonists endure. The scene when he confesses/ tells Heer that he sets with her the best, with Kun Faya Kun at the backdrop has got to be one of the most excellent scenes in recent times. Heer who was totally unwell all along, gradually improves. But it is the mind that is affected and not her body. She doesn't realize that she misses him; she was depressed because of him and needed psychiatric counseling not because of any ailment, but she missed him (again shown when she cancels the appointment without hesitation and embarks on another trip with him in Prague).

Rockstar is by far the perfect movie when it comes to creating a musical biopic where the lyrics and music play an integral part, woven masterfully into the screenplay that contains scenes in Documentary and real picture mode. Haawa Haawa song just creates that poetic parallelism to the state which existed between Jordan and Heer. Kun Faaya Kun, a song which is the turning point in Janardhan's life, that takes him through a process of self realization and makes him understand that it is with God he finds inner peace with ( exactly when he sings Maulaaa...aa..looking up at the sky and the roof of the Dargah ) Jordan thought he had a perfect life, but he did not. It took a dangerous turn when he wanted to make it big with music. 

''Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’.
doesn’t make sense any more.''

The entire movie is Jordan's journey to that place ( the field again shown as the place where they exchange that first kiss. The kiss which changes everything..) Rockstar is all about breaking that moral code, which remains widely a relative term. The episode where she runs from Jordan's place afterspending it intimately only to stop at the middle of the bridge, with her marriage on one side of the bridge and Jordan on the other, she waits and lets Jordan come next to her.  This is symbolic representation at its very best. 

Shammi Kapoor (Shehanai legend in the movie) says to the Head at Platinum music, ''He is a different beast. He won't stay in your cage''. Shammi Kapoor rightly identifies Jordan when the latter sings '' Mujpe Karam Sarkaar tera..... mujh se hi riha'' which translates into - It should be (God's) generosity upon me, should you free from myself. I want to discover myself now; Pray free me from myself . Jordan defines the present and true state of life. It is neither white nor black. It is grey. He has the nerve to tell Shammi Kapoor he does not understand classical music; he creates his own music- metamorphosing the fact that he prefers to go by codes he has set himself in life. He can not sing to another person's tune. Jordan comes up with albums that totally reflect his state of life at that juncture. Sheher- when he is new, pop star-born, adhering to the routine way of life; Negative- the phase where he is put behind bars for trespassing to reach out what he believes is his (Heer) and his entire search starts. He begins questioning everything. Sets out to ask for where are the innocent birds of the forest, which was brought down to build a city. He gives a damn about fans and fame. Doesn't think twice to rise the middle finger. He does not bother to run in between shows to meet Heer, and at the same time does not realize it is Heer which is his destiny; the place where he finds God. 

Jordan admits he never took anything that was structured (classical ). The beauty of the whole characterization is that he never understood why he behaves that way. He doesn't realize the wrongness in singing to women working as you-know-what. He craves for freedom from fame, and the inner worms that are eating him. The metamorphosis is shown via his music- which was serene and simple like ''Jo Bhi Mein'' at the beginning to a transformation where, his music becomes more Hard-rock/ metal and rash as in '' Sadda Haq'' and '' Naadan Parindey''. A moment shown in ''Naadan Parindey'' where the guitar burns, before his eyes and water falls next to the guitar in flames- was sheer brilliance. When Jordan goes to meet Heer for a last time at the hospital; she is very well depicted as a vegetable but during Nadaan Parindey and before he feels her soul, there is a shot which features Nargis breathing and her frontal moving. These nuances and moments make the film what it is- Stunning.

A film that is bittersweet right from start, a rarity in Indian films where the soul of the film is kept intact throughout should not meander to an anti climax of sorts, and that is where Rockstar scores huge. No guy has gone to such heights to talk about relationships with such dexterity and uses different platforms to explain the same. Imtiaz Ali keeps the core of Janardhan alive at the same time he unwinds his layers which are distraught and painful. Music is his identity, but it is his adroitness that connects him. One has to live and experience Jordan; his angst and demons. 

The finale where he stares, half way through the performance, at the opening of the platform and sees Heer's image approaching him completes his search. It concludes his process of being free- The Nadaan Parindey- only problem is that he is completely alone and alienated. He began his transformation, shunning out people from his life. In the end, he sees the lighted entrance with Heer.  He is left with her memory and a deep abyss. He doesn't realize that he is searching for something that is long gone. He is a victim of fame and is caught under the spotlight where there is no escape from.  He can only think of that field in between what is right and what is wrong; the world sans fame, sans contracts, sans Heer's disease, sans her problems. A world that contains only them.