Writer: Janak

Writer Ratings:
Overall:
Cast:
Plot:
Effects:
Cinematography:

Watch this if you liked: “Chak De India”, “Wake up Sid”, “Raju Bangaya Gentleman”

Where's the rocket in "Rocket Singh"? This is the story of Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor) who lives with his grandfather Dadaji (Prem Chopra). He's an aspiring salesman with big dreams and believes that he'll be someone someday. As we all know in reality, with big dreams comes bigger challenges. This is what he faces when he joins a computer firm called 'At Your Service'. The good news is that Harpreet is a sincere person but the bad news is that in a corporate world, corruption and dodgy dealing are commonplace.

Due to Harpreet's straight nature, he's given extra work. His disapproving colleagues also start throwing paper rockets at him. As luck would have it, one fine day is given a chance by a colleague, Koena Mehra (Gauhar Khan), to run a parallel business with the name 'Rocket Sales Corporation'. AYS customers start switching to RSC slowly. Puri (Shantanoo Bhagyaraj), the boss at AYS, finds out the identity of the people at RSC and files a police case against them. Harpreet in the end agrees to sell his business to AYS as a deal to drop the charges. However, Puri soon learns that he can't match the service and quality given by Harpreet's team to its customers.

Casting lead actor Ranbir Kapoor was perhaps the best thing producer Aditya Chopra did. He fitted the title role perfectly. With "Saawariya" as Ranbir's debut film and now this, he'll definitely go far in time to come. Prem Chopra who plays the grandfather did a very good job too. There are a few new faces in this movie and hopefully we'll see more of them in upcoming titles.

Shimit Amin, who last directed 2007's "Chak De India", is an efficient storyteller. Despite a lot of limitations, he did manage to bring the story forward. The screenplay and writer Jaideep Sahni who also collaborated with the director previously, had the courage to try a new refreshing story but perhaps the direction was too singular and narrow. The movie could have been presented in a much better way if a lot more of fun scenes were thrown in.

The cinematography (presenting the office world in India) was very well shot. This backdrop is rare. Other than that, nothing much for the special effects except a few paper rocket planes flying around. Also, the biggest surprise to audience will be the songs, as it has always been a tradition that movies under the Yash Raj banner will contain at least a song sequence or a dance number but surprisingly, there are none in this film. The promo song "Pocket Mein Rocket Hain" (There is a rocket in the pocket) was released for this movie but was strangely not featured in the film.

Very atypical for a Hindi movie, "Rocket Singh" offers barely a song, hardly a romantic scene and only a few comic moments, causing the movie to look dull at most times. Thankfully we have the very watchable Ranbir Kapoor to carry us through. With lower expectations, this movie can still please a lot of people.

Cinema Online, 13 December 2009