Rocket Singh isn't for everyone. It lacks those ingredients that are an integral part of most Bollywood blockbusters. Still keen? What are you waiting for, go watch it.
Like in "Wake Up Sid", Ranbir Kapoor plays a somewhat aimless guy who's just out of college wondering what to do next. That's the moment when we jump into the lives of Sid and Harpreet, so similar in their soporific world-view and yet so different in their journey from premature jadedness to premature wisdom.
Shimit Amin's earlier inspirational work "Chak De! India" was far more aggressive in its aspirations. "Rocket Singh" is a more gentle and non-cynical work. Its opinion on contemporary corruption is tinged with warmth, humour and a subtle regard for office politics seldom seen in our films.
Some may perceive "Rocket Singh" as a niche film on the politics of computer hardware. This is as shallow a reading of Shimit's cinema as looking at "Chak De!" as a hockey film.
People habituated to being spoon-fed emotions by filmmakers who think masala is what makes entertainment palatable, may find Shimit's approach to Harpreet's tale almost arrogant in its self regard and disdain for the qualities that make socially-purposeful cinema engaging to the man in the backseat.
Outwardly Shimit and his brilliant writer Jaideep Sahni, whose words move effortlessly from stinging social comment to conversational candour, don't seem to care whether the audience joins them in their scathing often frustrating sometimes humorous search for a centre to Rocket Singh's life.
But make no mistake. This film really cares about the environment of indolent debauchery that has crept into the working-class lifestyle. The office details are so dead-on in recreating the deceptive dynamism of an office-going entourage, you wonder if Ranbir, the writer and director spent quality time in a slothful hierarchy-motivated office.
Ranbir's journey from professional disgrace to redemption echoes Shah Rukh Khan's voyage from the damned to the extolled in "Chak De". Except that Ranbir's playing field is more in his mind and soul.
As the protagonist gathers together his dignity to pursue a path of honesty in his business transactions, we witness the portrait of a detoxicated working-class hero.
Ranbir brings to his part a lot of earnestness and heart. His natural and utterly contagious exuberance seen in "Wake Up Sid" and "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" is effortlessly curbed here. What we see on screen is a Sardar not quite like any of our movies have shown so far.
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