“Rock On” Rampal Sirr

Very happy for Arjun Rampal … happy to see him doing good work…Rock On (RO) was enjoyable (though not novel) and the production quality was superb but I was really most happy to see Arjun coming into his own….

And its not very often that an extremely good looking star like him changes his look so much and still comes out on top … I think his deviation from regular looks in RO was more successful than most attempts i’ve seen in bolly…for me that is probably among the top three differences i see between bolly and holly…the holly guys very, very often don’t look the same across movies….

I’ve always somehow liked Arjun…i liked the fact that he walked away from the ramp when he was ruling…when he was at the top…after Milind Soman i don’t think anyone has ever dominated the scene like Arjun has…

My mom, at 60+ has a huge crush on him to date… if she’s given one shot at a date she’ll waste all her time deciding between Salman Khan and Arjun…which is why I probably ended up seeing “Pyaar, Ishq aur Mohabbat” thrice in theatre

….with such a superb start it was a pity to see him not really being able to get on with it… till OSO came along…he’s got praise for Don but i found him too scrubbed and it was just an impossible shot really to slip into Pran’s shoes (”Is Jail ke darwaje khule rakhna…main bahut jaldi waapis aane waala hoon” - god who can dare mouth that line again?)….but his screen presence in OSO would have made even critics nod their heads a bit and i’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t get a lot of accolades for Joe Mascarahnes in Rock On...good stuff chief…

P:S: I’ve always loved the lovely, shy, ultra chic Meher Jessia…her professionalism is the stuff of folklore …in a country where a misplaced sense of ‘entitlement’ seems deadlier than HIV she’s always worked hard and well ….and she’s lived her job (i remember she landed up at a fasion show only to find the sarees to be used for the show had not arrived because the airline had lost the bag…she… frigging did the show with her own collection)….and she’s never had the ‘guys, i’m mehre jessia, ive jsut walked in, look at me’ aura around her and always been shy and almost reticent…i love that…i love that in a country where we are proud without even knowing of what….her aloofness has been misread by some to be snobbishness but i think she’s just a very simple, reticent, family being…

So that makes it two people i love…god bless the lovely family

And god bless you, Arjun Sir

Good Luck…ROCK ON!

- Anil