Want to.......Rock on!

Finally I did it! Well did not win the Formula 1 Constructors trophy for the McLaren Team, but something more important in the myopic future. Well, watched Rock On for the second time. First encounter did not start off well, I missed the song “Socha Hai” cause I and my friend were stuck in a traffic jam (these seem to appear in a lot of posts, don’t you think? It is a problem then…..:)…..)

I don’t think I can properly weigh the effect that movie is having on me. First time around, I was with 16 people, a litre of adrenaline in my bloodstream and leading a not so complicated life. Post that first viewing, I think things have changed very rapidly. Makes everything much more interesting and vivid. I know you agree. Then, I only knew it was about a rock band who got a second chance. And with the (frankly speaking, useless…) humour being handed out by the folks accompanying me, the movie was any other Bollywood flick with some very good music in it (hats off to shankar-ehsaan-loy, especially Ehsaan "Rockstar" Noorani for the amazing guitar melodies which make this movie such a joy). I loved the movie when I saw it the first time. And then we sat down on the dinner table to speak about stupid things like Farhan Akhtars diction and acting, Rampals fake guitar playing, Prachi Desai’s dresses, Zehreelay (hehehe)………et al.

All in all a paisa vasool movie one would say. And I would definitely agree. But I wanted to watch that start. In the theater. Might sound awful foolish, but I wanted to.and yesterday had the perfect chance to. Cause the people with me yesterday do not know me very well and when I turned up at the rendezvous point in a Lamb Of god t shirt, they might have given up on me all together. No use talking to this wannabe goth they must have said. Well, that actually worked fine for me. Cause then I could watch the movie in peace.

Reached the theater on time. The chances of those happening nowadays in Pune are close to nil, but the Leave-a-second-later-than-the-last-second organization has vowed not to bow down. Wasn’t crowded. More good news. We settled down and the lights went down. Dark. The reel started spinning.

I am not going to write a review of the movie, cause then it would be the worlds most biased and outrageously one sided review. And I think its gay to review a movie like Rock On. So, no, I wont do it. Integrity preserved.

It is hard as I already have said, to define what that movie has done to my mind set. Being (a sort of) musician and being a part of band, I could just feel every character and emotion. Be it the poet inside the investment banker, the guitarist who could own the world with his guitar but couldn’t own anything else, the mad drummer who had sadly sobered down (not the dying Rob. I am yet to be in that position and god knows I don’t want to be.) . Magik had their second chance. Even though it was short lived. But it released its members from their demons. They came together. They were bound together.

Ten years down the line I don’t know if I will be playing drums. Ten years back I wanted to be an Air Force pilot. Times change. Priorities change. Needs change. People change. But what that movie manages to tell you in the 2 hour span is, even if this is the case, you could redeem yourself if you are true to yourself. Right now , we , in Skepsis share an amazing chemistry. Right now I cannot dream of parting with those guys. Cause if we blow this , I am not really sure if I will come back to it. Would we go the Brute Force way, playing metal for a living. In a bollywood obsessed country. Those guys are doing awesome. I want the same for my band. But also know very well that it would be very difficult if I have to lead a “normal” life. Just some questions. Why doesn’t life let me do what I want to? Why do I always have to fight destiny and snatch it from the clutches of fate?

Maybe I am being too immature, naïve and even foolish as many of you might rightly point out. And I would be inclined to agree on rational grounds that I am. But what is the basis of that rationalism. I do not have to trust you cause you too at some point of time have given up your dreams and gone on to do what you were compelled to. For whatever reasons. That makes you a frustrated prick. That makes me not want to take any opinions from you. At least not on this.

A friend asked me after the movie , if I was a tad downbeat after watching the movie. Well yes and no. yes for the above reasons and no for some reason I could not find. As I said, hard to explain. But one thing for sure. Upto now, whatever I took meekly what life had handed out. Like a prisoner in a penitentiary. Well, now I want to make sure that dreams come true and in a way I want to. And if I have to fight for it, I will.

Hard to make any sense out of all of this. I know. Trying to do that . If someone understands it, please let me know.