A wintery hello, frEeky fellows!
For all its claims to be a professional and global industry, Bollywood is at the end of it, a mom and pop shop; with only the laadla star beta / betis that get launched every so often. One such privileged star kid was Ranbir Kapoor, who has probably turned out to be the surprise flavour of the year. With back to back successes such as "Wake Up Sid" and "Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani" Ranbir has found his groove as the simple/naive do-gooder whose charm prevails over all his obstacles; much like Ranbir seems to be winning over the audience these days! Ranbir returns yet again with Shimit Amin's "Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year!
What it is: Shimit Amin who gave us Bollywood's second best sport film "Chak De India"( I would rate Lagaan as the best) returns with another underdog tale featuring Ranbir as Harpreet Singh, a naive, yet simpleton (coincidence 1: Harpreet is then the same character that Ranbir has played in his previous films Sid and Ajab Prem...)who dreams of joining the big bad world of sales, upon graduation. Brimming with good worldy advice received from his grandpa played effortlessly by Prem Chopra (coincidence 2: Ranbir's character name in his last movie was, you guessed it : Prem Chopra!)
the Yaays: Ranbir, is effortless in his by now second nature performance as the kind hearted do-gooder. Disheartened by the unethical ways of his employer, he decides to start of his own little set-up in a manner which reminds one of Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire. Ranbir has great screen presence, and Shimit in recognising this, keeps the melodrama to a minimum and chooses instead to focus on the antics of his lead. Although there are some interesting ( and true to life) office characterisations, such as the overtly made up office receptionist and the techie who secretly surfs porn while in office, this is essentially Ranbir's tale; who to his credit delivers!
the Naays: For the cine-going crowd that expect foreign locales, melodrama and a Paresh Rawal as their dose of entertainment, this movie will be a letdown. Shahzan Padamsee is quite the looker, but she and the other newcomer Gauhar Khan make earnest, yet almost there attempts to impress. The story in itself is nothing new, with the tale of the underdog been well documented in Shimit's last film itself.
Verdict: Thoda Jerry + Thoda Raju = Rocket Singh!While in no ways a path breaking film, Rocket Singh, like it's title character is a simple film, and is told endearingly well by Shimit Amin. It is perhaps this millennium's version of Ranbir's grandfather Raj Kapoor's "Jis Desh Main Ganga Behti Hai" with a dash of Jerry Maguire thrown in for good measure. While one comes away satisfied with the end product, one really hopes that Ranbir would attempt to break away from the "do-gooder" image that he is fast heading towards being typecast in.
Rating:
a theek-theek 3 freEkies
