Rocket Singh Movie Review

After Chak De India, the expectations are high from the men behind the classic – Shimit Amin (director) and Jaideep Sahni (writer) – who return with Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year, stars Ranbir Kapoor, Gauhar Khan, Shazahn Padamsee, D Santosh, Mukesh Bhatt, Prem Chopra and others.

The movie is about Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor), a below average student in school and college, who takes up marketing as his career. He joins a computer sales company, AYS, as a trainee. Under a corrupt senior, the job soon turns into one of his worst nightmares. Rocket Singh in short is Harpreet Singh Bedi’s journey from a zero to a hero. 

Rocket Singh Review

What works in Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year

  • Shimit Amin, the director of Ab Tak Chappan and Chak De India, is in top form. The feel of the corporate world has been captured very realistically. The writing (Jaideep Sahni) is top notch too, with several scenes making great impact – the first job interview, conversations between Harpreet and his senior manager Nitin, the scene in the club where Harpreet is insulted by his boss, when his boss gets to know about his secret company, his confrontations and many more.
  • The second half is better paced (compared to the first) and much more entertaining.
  • Like Chak De, Rocket Singh too has some fantastically written characters. The one that stands out though, is Nitin’s. We have no clue about the name of the actor, Yashraj hasn’t revealed it just yet. Nitin as Ranbir’s senior, is fantastic and easily the deserves the top acting honors.
  • For probably the first time in his career, Ranbir Kapoor is not the pick of actors. While he does a good job as a Sardar, mingling with the others and completely looking the character, the others steal the scene.
  • The romance too works largely due to Shazahn Padamsee’s sweetness, charm and fantastic screen presence.
  • Its nice to finally see a Sardar, who are usually seen as clowns, presented realistically.
  • Background music by Salim – Suleiman was good.

Performances, in no particular order, since all were good!

  • The guy who played the character of Nitin, is by far the best of the lot.
  • Ranbir Kapoor – As usual natural, perfect for the character and proves yet again why he’s considered, by many, as the next superstar.
  • Shazahn Padamsee – Sweet, sexy and does very well in the acting department too.
  • D Santosh – Was brilliant as Rajguru in the Legend of Bhagat Singh. In Rocket Singh, playing a sex-obsessed character, he does very well.
  • Prem Chopra after a long long time is good as Harpreet’s father.
  • Suri as the owner of AYS, is good.
  • Gauhar Khan is as good as the others.
  • Mukesh Bhatt too was fantastic.

Coming to the negatives

  • Rocket Singh is too long, exceeding 3 hours (including intermission)
  • The pace isn’t too great. The first half was slow and at times boring.
  • Music is average.

Don’t go in expecting a comedy, Rocket Singh is a realistic film that deals with serious issues. Perfect casting, fabulous performances, good direction and writing make Rocket Singh a good one-time watch.

All said and done though, without taking any credit away from Shimit Amin, Rajkumar Hirani was probably the best man to direct a film like Rocket Singh.

Rating: ★★★½☆ With a bit of patience, you should enjoy this.

Advertisements

107 Comments

  • Indicine…I completely agree with you about Taran.N thankz for respecting my opinion.This is why I love ur site I feel freedom of opinion here.Its not misleading but when u give 3.5 stars it really means that a particular movie is worth watching.N maybe coz of that I had more expectation n felt disappointed.

    @Akhlaq …Thanks for a detailed reply.But Govinda comedy times were not that vulgar like the recent comedies of Akhshay Kumar.Kambakht Ishq is the best example of that even CC2C has few obonoxious dialogues.Movies like DDD n AGKGK although have clean comedy but on how many scenes u can laugh??This is the standard m talking about even the worst movies r working well at box-offices n mayb with this graph Rocket Singh type of movies will work in next 5 to 10 yrs.

  • Thanks a lot Indicine for appreciating my review. Yeah its really sad that films like this get washed out…but again…a few years back, no one could’ve even thought about making a film on this subject with this pace…but now the ice is being broken…slowly though but it is…this is what i like in the modern times of cinema…at least we get something different to see…and that too in the rightly conceived manner.

    Well for the romantic scenes…they are adorable…simple and short…yet they fully reflect the level of understanding and intimacy between the two. in a way i’m glad that the romantic sequences were not more in quantity…as in that case there would’ve been chances for the script to get off the track. Yet i loved the spontaneity and realism of these scenes.

    Although its sad that the film didn’t work…yet you and me both knew it in our hearts when we were watching the film and appreciating it (ain’t that exactly what you felt as well???)

  • Ppl stop commenting about DDD. it was very entertaining. dont call it a thrash. stick on to Rocket singh dont deviate the topic..;)

    and ppl pls stop writing long essays here.;) and most important we all r mature enough to judge wat s right n wrong so dont become too preachy and spiritual.

    And todays youth does enjoy some double meaning jokes so dey r used. plain repeated comedy none likes. so stop commenting on those aspects..;)

  • @amish.people here want reviews of their review hence writing a essay.everybody thinks that he is a critic..let critic to do their job nd we ours..

  • Amit, we always take criticism positively. Agreed, shouldn’t have spoken about Taran Adarsh here, but we said what most in the industry already know :)

    Amish, ‘plain repeated comedy’ ;)

    And yes, please back on topic. Long ‘essays’ are welcome as long as they are on topic..

  • ^ did i make a mistake??..;)

    and even related to a topic long essays r boring yaar.. and most of d time they start gettin preachy and tel us this s rt or wrong.. ;) he he

  • Indicine .r indicine awards 2010 hppening?if not plz do before filmfare..plz poll should be atleast for 15days..thanx

  • Indicine Team: now I’m confused.. I don’t know what to believe.. everyone said that the movie is not a comedy.. but today.. I was at a shop which was very close to our Awal Cinema.. so I went there and asked the ticket man if the movie Rocket Singh is a good movie and he said: it’s a comedy.. but unfortunately..there’s no public.. no one is coming to see it!! and I saw a video now on AVS website.. and the makers said that it’s a comedy..can u please explain all that?!! it’s a comedy and ppl r saying it’s not.. Taran Adarsh said the same!

    Any explanation for all that?!

  • A few dialogues and situations were funny, but that’s about it. You can’t call it a comedy, no way.

    The makers were and still are, promoting it as one, which is why they have ended up disappointing a lot of people.

  • rocket singh is very boring. so was chak de india. the latter did well at the b.o. just because of shah rukh khan. the director shimit amin is not very talented. he is a boring ugly looking man who makes boring films. doesn’t deserve any applause.

  • I saw the movie today in cinema.. and honestly.. it wasn’t boring at all! I enjoyed watching it.. I got little bored while watching some scenes of 3 Idiots movie, which was a comedy and a funny movie, but I didn’t get bored watching Rocket Singh!

    This story of Rocket Singh happens in real life, the script & the direction was good with some funny scenes.. it happens in sales.. lots of people try to do their own business, create their own company while they’re working for others in some institutions.

    Ranbir’s acting was good, and he looked good as a sikh with a natural looking beared, didn’t look fake at all as well as Prem Chopra’s beared.

    It’s a movie which is good for employees in institutions, companies, sales.. they’ll enjoy watching it, but it’s a one time watch only.

    Gauhar Khan’s acting was good, her role was much more important than the other lady.

  • Very good movie. The cast,storyline, production are top notch. It is great to such a complex corporate ethical issues being presented so well. Hats off to the production crew.

  • What was that song played after interval when ranbir kapoor enters in the party.
    In the scene music was loud & both can’t hear their voices clearly.
    Tell me the name of song?

  • Rocket Singh just blew my mind when i saw it for the first time. Just watched the fifth episode of tvf pitchers and couldnt help but rekindle Rocket Singh’s terrific moments.

    What a lovely film! It has stayed with me for more than 5 years. :)

Leave a Comment