Dec 12, 2009 02:27 PM
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Rocket Singh is the story of Harpreet Singh Bedi, a graduate of Mumbai University with less than average marks who is aware of his limitations, financial and intellectual, and goes about finding a job right after college.
The only skill he has is his ability to persuade a person which makes sales an obvious and seemingly right choice for career as well.
Bedi finds a job as a salesman with At Your Service Computers (AYS Computers) as a sales man and from day one his journey which anybody who has ever faced any office politics could predict is going to be shaky.
Bedi is an uncomplicated, happy-go-lucky, honest and helpful by nature person played almost to perfection by Ranbir Kapur. There are some flaws in the way Bedi looks at world and does some things but perhaps because he is too pure inside or perhaps there is still a debate raging inside him – whether it is okay to break a few rules to get a few things done because no body is watching and no body cares anyway? Well, the God is watching and I am watching while I do it.
These are tough philosophical questions but the answers are plain. Bedi knows the answers – ends do not justify means, means justify ends. One wrong cannot be corrected by other wrongs. And if we want things to be better in society, if we want people to stop doing wrong things, we must first ourselves stop committing them.
Technically it is well made and well directed movie. The screenplay seems to get a tad loose somewhere close to the intermission and a bit after that, the story seems drag just a bit that can be ignored. It is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. If you seek pure entertainment I am sure you would get it but if you seek an intellectual stimulation, the movie will provide you the same in simple moments and simple dialogue between simple people. Only the meaning of those moments will not be simple and would depend on your interpretation.
However, apart from the obvious entertainment value of this film, upon which the critics and other reviewers would talk, there is something deep in the core of the story. This is one story that is capable of various interpretations, and almost all of those interpretations has youth in the centre.
A sardar getting unconditional and unending support from Mumbaikars at the time when he most needed it; leading his folks through thick and think and signing a contract that virtually destroys his career before it ever started to protect his fellow men and women is a straight satire on recent buffoonery by MNS and their cronies trying to get local Marathi Manoos* to hate the guy living next door because he talks a little different or is from another state.
The failed marriage between AYS and Rocket Sales would as AYS only purchased the brand name of Rocket and not the values.
The constant pressures of highly competitive world of sales and the constant stress that is a result of unachieved targets and office politics and the consequent insecurities.
The constant battle to achieve sales targets and the constant sacrifice of sales and business ethics that are made at the altar of achieving targets. And then branding anyone who decides to play by those ethics as someone incompetent of doing business.
There may be many interpretations of this movie. Almost all of those interpretations seem to intersect with each other at some point or the other.
Rocket Singh hails the spirit of the youth. It is one movie that must be seen.
Ranbir Kapur it seems is going on a string of movies that seem to be connected in message. Apart from his image and age that gives him the flexibility of playing romantic roles, his acting in ‘Wake up Sid’ and now in ‘Rocket Singh’ are highly recommended. The way he acts lost as a youth, mesmerized and fascinated by the complexities of the real world, at times, quite accurately in my opinion, depict the confused state of mind of the youth that comes out of their colleges and schools with a great bit of idealism and resolve to work to improve the society but as their career progresses those ideas either get destroyed or get buried never to be resurrected again.
Rocket Singh Rocks.
