Movie Review: Rocket Singh- Salesman of the Year

RANBIR KAPOOR: Actor Of The Year

Rocket Singh - Salesman Of The Year

* Ranbir Kapoor

Writer : Jaideep Sahni

Director: Shimit Amin

India and its middle class can be quite clearly divided between the pre and post Manmohan Singh days. Everything before that was tinged with a layer of dishonesty & sleaze and while corruption is far from over, the advent of better days seem to have been heralded with his brand of clean and honest politics.



With Rahul Gandhi and the other bright young guns in politics now, with the resurgent media and examples like the Jessica Lal campaign leading to Manu Sharma’s conviction and with the rejection of the BJP’s divisive policies during the last elections, the middle class is slowly but surely beginning to dare to dream of a better India.


To use Obama’s words, the youth of India now have the audacity to hope of a cleaner, better and a more truthful India.

Rocket Singh taps into this brilliantly.

When Harpreet Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) or H.P as he’s called by his friends begins work as a fresh new salesman, his honest way of dealing and refusal to offer or accept bribes seems quaint and naïve. Even as recent as 10 years ago this character would have been seen as a loser.



But then as the movie progresses and HP (who has become Rocket Singh by now) sticks to his principles and succeeds, his boss and his old way of dealing with bribes and kickbacks becomes (to use one of the character’s phrase) ‘history’.

With all due respect to the Ambani brothers and all their high ranking in the richest lists and for all their money, the one thing they sorely lack is solid respectability. The moral authority to stand and call someone like Mamata Banerjee a fool to her face. That is what someone like Ratan Tata can do.


That is why the TATA brand is almost synonymous with quality and trust and it’s no coincidence that the next job Rocket Singh takes on after being fired from his job at AYS computers is at Chroma which is a TATA enterprise.

Maybe in Rocket Singh we can aspire for a model of a citizen that will nudge India from the developing to the developed status. An India whose promise of democracy and transparency triumphs over the oppression and moral ambiguity of China.



Rocket Singh is not without its faults though. It could have been much shorter and frankly a little more entertaining, especially in the first half. At times it tends to plod along but its greatest strengths lies in its writing.

It is as non-filmy as you can possibly get out of Bollywood and some of the characters and spaces are exceptionally well etched. Case in point is the office atmosphere at AYS computers and the dress and body language of the salesmen working there.



You can almost smell the damp sweat as they come back from their sales calls. Infact in each of their faces you can recognize all the hundreds of salesmen who have over the years knocked on your own door selling everything from water filters to encyclopedias.



All the supporting characters are excellent with the best being the tea boy Chotelal Mishra. Watch him wince involuntarily every time he is called “cup-plate”. Even the romance is handled with…what’s the word here…. Aah yes…Normalcy. Its exactly how a budding romance unfolds. No singing no dancing no drama….just plain simple middle class love.

But at the end this movie belongs to one person. That is ofcourse, apart from the director Shimit Amin and writer Jaideep Sahni.




And that person is Ranbir Kapoor.


I have certainly watched Baazigar, Deewana and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman but have no real recollection of the exact time. But when Darr came out I was in college in Bangalore and like the movie buff I am, I vividly remember watching it twice at a cinema called Rex on Brigade Road.
And as Shah Rukh Khan rolled both his eyes and his K’s in that movie I was acutely aware that we were seeing the emergence of a solid superstar.

After the good husband Sunny Deol punches the hell out of SRK for stalking and harassing his wife, a bloodied and bruised SRK falls at Sunny’s feet and begs for forgiveness. As Sunny hesitates and begins to show some pity, SRK gets up and repeatedly stabs him. Instead of a gasp, I remember the whole theater erupting in cheers.



Tu either Haan Kar, Yah Naa Kar, the fact was that King Khan was born.

A month back as I sat in another theatre (this time in Darjeeling) watching the Ajab/Gajab movie I came to a similar conclusion.

Ranbir Kapoor is the next superstar.

And in Rocket Singh he takes a simple one dimensional role and adds so much subtlety and nuance to it that you cannot help but root for him.


Action, comedy, drama, dancing…. He does everything brilliantly and more importantly he does it absolutely naturally. And he seems to be choosing his roles also very well. Just 5 films old and look at the range....Saawariya, Bachna Aye Haseeno, Wake Up Sid, Ajab Prem Ki...., Rocket Singh and then he has Rajniti coming up.
There is really no stopping him now. Shahid Kapur eat your heart out.

This movie is a bit slow and has no item numbers and big showdowns etc but if you like intelligent films then Rocket Singh is the movie to watch.

Enjoy



Luv


Vishal