A zero to hero journey worth watching

Film: Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Manish Chaudhary, Shazahn Padamsee, Gauhar Khan, Mukesh Bhatt, Prem Chopra

Director: Shimit Amin;

If cinema to you is just a vehicle to indulge in mindless diversion, then Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year is not your cup of tea. If cinema as a popular work of art is meant to make viewers reconsider the quality of their lives, then plunge into the mundane world of Punjabi munda Harpreet Singh.

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 sociallypurposeful 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 workingclass 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.

Harpreet, who later becomes Rocket Singh because his colleagues throw paper rockets at him, doesn’t become a largerthan-life figure of aggressive sales-pitch. Ranbir plays the loser who turns the zero on his life’s calling-card to his own advantage with the kind of unspoken wisdom that actors acquire after decades of experience.

The supporting cast of Mukesh Bhatt as the office peon, P. Santoshi as the lazy porn-addicted colleague, Gauhar Khan as the commodified office receptionist and Naveen Kaushik as the crucial link in Harpreet’s work place, boost Ranbir’s central presence with their ingrained sense of belonging to the world Shimit and Sahni have created.

Rocket Singh works on many levels beyond Ranbir’s astonishing performance. It is a momentous piece of cinema for its writing and its indifference to the dynamics of conventional storytelling.

Sahni’s words are often so laconic that they make their point without our being conscious of their importance to the given context of working-class inertia.

While urging the sexy office receptionist to join him in his audacious entrepreneurship, Harpreet warns Gauhar: “Otherwise I’ll remain the joker Sardarji and you the item girl.”

The film’s main conflict is between Harpreet and his unscrupulous boss played by the aptly over-the-top Manish Choudhary. The two finest sequences are written as muted acidic confrontations between Ranbir and Choudhary. The final encounter in a supermarket where the boss surrenders to Harpreet’s integrity is the trickiest part of the narration.

Rocket Singh stands tall despite its flaws. On the surface it has a uni-focussed sameness to its narration, as though the story was being told in one breath.

The lack of drama in a situation simmering with emotional dips and curves gets the audience fidgety. But soon we realise the absence of expendable energy is the narrative’s primary virtue.

You can’t miss the writer and director’s concern for a growing middle-class that worships wealth and success at the cost of more valuable assets. Most of all you can’t miss Ranbir as the understated Sardar riding his cherry-red scooter gifted by his grandfather (Prem Chopra) cringing at the red light when a swanky motorbike rides up alongside.

But Ranbir’s portrayal of the loser’s rise from shame to name is a journey we’d any day undertake even on a cherry-red scooter.

Subhash K Jha

So Amitabh Bachchan in the role of Auro, the progeria-stricken 13-year-old in Paa has taken cinema audiences by storm. But he may soon be taking the role global. Balki, the director has been considering an international version of the film, naturally keeping the basic plot intact, with the father-son relationship as crucial. According to sources, only the scenes of Abhishek Bachchan as a young politician will be edited to suit an international audience. Of course, very little in Bollywood is free of controversy, and some people feel that the movie makes fun of people with disabilities.

Perhaps it’s this stress that made the Big B doze of at a felicitation ceremony in Chennai recently. Extreme exhaustion was cited as the reason for his impromptu nap, after which the superstar woke up disoriented and uncertain of where he was. Director Balki who was with the Big B said, “He was fine. He finally had some sleep. You’ve to understand that this is no ordinary human being. Amitji is a miracle. He can continue working non-stop without sleep.” Those close to Amitabh feel he is again overdoing his work schedule and needs to slow down. Says a source, “Even after two major health scares recently, Amitji has refused to slacken his pace. Except for the break he took to be with Amar Singh in Singapore earlier this year, he has been working round the clock.”

Another feather in the Big B’s already overloaded cap was recently being conferred the Asian Film Cultural Award for completing 40 years in the entertainment industry. There’s no doubt that Amitabh Bachchan is a legend, to say the least!

Salman Mogambo hua…

Old Sallu will soon be seen in a role that’s close to his heart, and will probably excite his fans as well. Bolly Buzz has it that Salman is ready to play a completely negative character for the very first time. This historic role is that of the infamous ‘Mogambo’ a character in Shekhar Kapoor’s original Mr India, which starred Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Amrish Puri, who played the villain, Mogambo. The character became a legend after the 1980 superhit flick, and Sallu’s new look is bound to be enthralling. The new version is slated to

Lift Kara De

A photo of director Mudassar Aziz carrying Sushmita Sen on his shoulders during the Caribbean shoot of their film Dulha Mil Gaya has been splashed all over the internet, creating much buzz. Though it looks like a romantic episode, the reality is completely different. Apparently the specially created ramp and walkway that extended into the Caribbean Sea for the shoot got washed away in a storm. While the ramp was made again, recreating the walkway would have delayed the shoot due to which the cast and crew had to wade through waters till the ramp.

“Because of her costumes and make-up, Sushmita wasn’t expected to traverse the sea on foot to reach the ramp,” explained producer Viveck Vaswani. “She would have made some reasonable comments like ‘can’t shoot’, ‘too difficult’ or ‘make a walkway’ and that wouldn’t have even constituted as starry tantrums. However, all credit to her professionalism, she was sport enough to be carried on Mudassar’s shoulders. The two being good friends further eased the situation,” he said. And it wasn’t just Sushmita who was transported in a similar fashion. “Though a picture of Sushmita being carried by Mudassar is being splashed all over, making it look like a romantic episode, the fact remains that the young director with help from other crew members was also carrying sensitive filming equipments. This is not all as the art director, who is a senior lady and had hurt her back, was also being ferried in a similar way,” said a source from the crew.

While Sushmita refuses to react to rumours, Mudassar says it is easy to sensationalise things. “I really don’t have much to react on something as frivolous as this. There are so many beautiful moments attached with Dulha Mil Gaya and something like this hardly deserves more attention and focus,” said Sushmita.

Mudassar was more practical, saying “It is easy to sensationalise a simple picture. However, the sheer hard work and sweat that goes into taking a simple shot is something that only those people can explain who have gone through the entire tribulation.” also be called Mr India, and is set to shoot in the first quarter of 2010. The characters of Anil Kapoor and Sridevi will be retained and are supposed to be played by them. And Anil Kapoor’s new invention will help fight Mogambo to save the country from his wicked plans. Sridevi will make a comeback, and let’s hope she doesn’t overshadow the villain. Now Salman’s always played the good guy, even the rowdy guy, but not the bad guy. Although I have a feeling that he’ll fit perfectly into the role. After all, Sallu’s hardly a saint in real life….

Dulha Mil Gaya also stars Fardeen Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in a pivotal role along with new find Mohit Chadha. And it seems Sush hasn’t quite found her dulha yet!