Rock On

Playing the lead

Farhan Akhtar with his sincere performance has earned his spurs as an actor

Did you expect the movie to hit a high note?
I am feeling very relieved and excited that the movie has worked. We were, from the start quite optimistic because it had a strong emotional core about friendship and human relationships.

Rock enthusiasts say that the movie is hardly about rock music. Your comments.
Rock hasn’t yet come of age in India. It is, at best still a sub-culture in India where Hindi film music is still the most popular genre, so if we were to introduce people to a new form of music, the best way to do it would be to do it gradually.
A hardcore heavy metal sort of approach would have alienated the people we are trying to recognise as our audience. Getting a larger number of people to watch the movie made more sense than gratifying the puritans.

You get to co-produce, write dialogues, act and sing in the movie. Surely that’s enough reason to be nervous — so were you?
There was a certain amount of nerves but it helped me focus better. I started feeling a lot better when people whose opinion matter to me watched the film in previews and liked not just my performance but the film as a whole. That was reassuring.

Did you have any rock bands or some movies about them in mind when working on the film?
I am quite certain that the costume and hair department had certain looks and people in mind but in terms of performances, I watched a few live performances on DVD and stayed away from the larger-than-life concerts with the whole audio-visual thing around. I focussed instead on underground concerts with just the musicians and the crowds to study how they utilize their space and interact with their audience. It was important to get the energy right.

You also sing most of the songs, was that to lend authenticity to the scenes where the band Magik performs on screen?
Abhishek the director was clear that he wanted to create a band of actors. When he met me he wanted me to sing. We rehearsed a lot and everybody learnt their music-Purab the drums, Arjun played the guitar for his portions and Luke the keyboard. It was a real experience therefore lending realism to the performances.

And not donning the director’s hat, how was that?
Initially getting used to not being the director was tough. As the director of a film I am constantly used to being in the know but as an actor, you have a lot of time on hands so I used to get a little frustrated. It was difficult to overcome, but I did trust Abhishek very much and was very clear that this was his film. Everyone has directed a first film and I was very fortunate to have directed very popular actors like Aamir Khan in my first. They gave me a lot of freedom to show who I am. It is very important that the distinctive quality, the director’s identity be allowed to come across. I don’t want to take the approach where I am sitting on my director’s shoulder to look into everything.

After five films, what would you say is the hallmark of an Excel Entertainment film?
I would think it is our endeavour to tell good stories. I don’t believe in the mindless genre that says leave your brains behind to watch the movie. The movies we make would have to be those that are beyond bottom line entertainment. Entertainment should not only be associated with mindless banter or laughing. It’s important that the viewers leave with a random thought. Rock On draws a lot of parallels with Dil Chahta Hai and yes there are common threads-like the importance of friendships and also how fragile it is, how easily the balance between friends can be upset. That it is important to respect each other’s space. There is also a bit about the fulfillment of your personal ambitions to be a complete person. The creative compromise they make in the movie to launch their music career is the very thing that drives them apart and haunts them.