directorimtiaz alicastranbir kapoor nargis fakhri in the film ranbir kapoor is advised that to be a trueblue artist and a real rockstar he has to experience pain which will come through heartbreak if we go by this theory most audiences of this film will walk out of the hall as rockstars since the movie will largely leave them heartbroken but for heartbreak it is imperative to fall in love first and thats exactly what director imtiaz ali does he starts off the film on a promising note and just when you fall in love with the amazing first half the narrative nosedives with a stagnant second half so you have the nave janardhan jakhar ranbir kapoor who aspires to be a rockstar like jim morrison his yearning for heartbreak gets him close to heer nargis fakhri as they bond over softporn cinema and country liquor soon after the girl is married off to some nri the boy is thrown out of his house he seeks solace in a dargah and next you know hes a singing sensation rechristened as jordan a foreign tour reunites him with heer and their passive passion rekindles until jordan is obsessed with her what follows is another tribute to devdas or rather devd with the neurotic lovelorn protagonist unable to get over his mixed emotions and confused definition of love but thats not all as the plot meanders to culminate into an undesired arena of erich segals love story imtiaz ali is known for his oldwineinnewbottle brand of cinema rockstar is very much engaging as far as it is in that familiar territory where the director adds a refreshing touch to the regular romance drama the casual chemistry that he induces between the lead pair through their wacky and eventful escapades has its moments of charm the passionplay between them when they reunite after years is spontaneous smoldering and yet tastefully achieved their reunion is also faintly reminiscent of the jab we met reunion where the characterconduct is reversed with the burbling boy now trying to make the gloomy girls life more exciting and like love aaj kal imtiaz ali kickstarts the film with a montage song highlighting select significant sequences from the entire film but beyond that when the director ventures into uncharted zone the narrative loses track while one can still overlook the devd influenced intoxicating attitude of the proceedings which you can somehow attribute to the convoluted rockstar protagonist the subsequent terminal illness conflict takes the film towards an unwelcome and undefined end after an interesting graph to the narrative in the first half the story almost turns stationary in the second half the screenplay seems stretched and gets monotonous with repetitive mediabashing scenes and flashback shots of what has been already served to you another problem with the plot is that it is neither a standalone story about the riseofanunderdog who becomes the biggest rockstar nor is it merely a love story with a rockstar backdrop the director somewhere attempts to