SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2016 (PAGE 4) BOLLYWOOD-BUZZ MOVIE-REVIEW "A modelling background Fails to Rock on It all started off in the year 2008 can only help initially" when the cinegoers (esp. youth) got treated to a cult and raw musical Model turned actor, Rajneesh Duggal, who was journey in the form of the Abhishek in Kolkata recently to promote his upcoming Kapoor directed film ROCK ON!! And Hindi horror film, Saansein, speaks exclusively after 8 long years, the makers have to Souvik Ghosh about his film and career. come up with the film’s sequel titled What is Saansein about? ROCK ON 2. Will ROCK ON 2 prove It is basically a romantic horror film. Ample dose of romance and horror. I am playing the role of Abhay, who to be a musical hit at the Box-OOffice, goes to Mauritius for work and vacation. He is a person or will it lose its strings, let’s analyze. bereft of love in his life. He meets a girl in a temple and falls in love with her but later discovers the girl does enter into ROCK ON 2 starts off with the voiceover narration of ‘KD’ any relationship owing to some strange events in her life. aka Killer Drummer aka Kedar Zaveri (Purab Kohli). The Abhay promises to save her. When they fail to find out the story then mirrors upon the distances covered by Magik reason behind such events, they go to a scientist (played by band’s members from the prequel till today. Aditya Shroff Hiten Tejwani), who can talk to evil spirits. It is from here aka Adi (Farhan Akhtar) gets settled in Shillong to lead an the plot revolves around tracking down the evil spirits. isolated life as ‘repentance’ over a certain mistake. It is here What role are you essaying in this film? that he finds peace by running his self-initiated ‘Farmers’ My character is that of a vulnerable and lonely business- Co-operative’ and a school for the poor children. Even man, some one who is romantic at heart, who is ready to go though ‘Farmers’ Co-operative’ works selflessly towards the to any extent for his love. Obviously, he is a normal human benefits of the farmers, it just does not go well with the local being and fears the evil spirit. I think the character is like a governing officer of that area. On the other hand, Joseph knight in a shining armour. Mascarenhas aka Joe (Arjun Rampal) becomes a successful How was your experience working with Hiten entrepreneur as well as a judge in one of the TV reality Tejwani? rock, which I failed in the first attempt, and received an shows. One day, on the eve of Adi’s birthday, the entire It was great. This is the first time we are working togeth- injury on my forehead but now I am absolutely fine. ‘Magik’ team springs up a surprise by paying him a visit in er. I have seen him act on television before. We were serious You are a former model. Did that help you in the the North East to celebrate his birthday. Despite the happy during the shooting but otherwise had great fun. film industry? mood, there looms an atmosphere of tension, anger, repen- Horror films in Bollywood are often criticised makes his Bollywood debut as a director with ROCK ON 2. A modelling background can only help someone to get a tance and anxiety amidst everyone. One fine day, ‘Magik’ for its content and have failed to get good respons- few films initially. But to remain in the competition, you Without mincing any words, one has to admit that he has es of late. Do you think Saansein is different from sees the inclusion of a struggling musician Uday (Shashank failed to present a credible story. He had no story idea to have to have talents. Acting and modelling are two com- Arora) alongwith Jiah Sharma (Shraddha Kapoor) as its new its predecessors? pletely different worlds. You have to give time for training take his characters go on a journey. Most lead characters I would say the story of Saansein is very thrilling but bal- members. On the eve of the performance, Jiah chickens out seem to have moved on in life and are forcefully brought in as an actor. It does not matter which field you are coming on stage itself and is unable to perform because of her anced too. It is not too gory but there is enough horror as from. Acting is tough and one of the art forms of the highest together to make a sequel. Shujaat Saudagar definitely has a per the requirements of the script. father’s resistance to western music. On the other hand, long way to go as far as story telling in feature films is con- levels. This is an art where one has to engage in hours of Adi’s adopted village in Shillong gets gutted down due to for- In the film's banner, we see a clock showing hardship. cerned. est fire. And the money given by the Central government for 12.30. Is it ‘am’ or ‘pm’? What does it signify? You are acting in a horror film after a long time As for the film’s performances, the film solely focuses on the welfare aid of the affected farmers gets gulped down by a It is ‘am’. In our Vedas, it is written that 12am to 3.30am since your first project in Bollywood, 1920. Is there Farhan Akhtar. He tries his best to hold this mess together, corrupt government officer in Shillong. This is when Adi and is the dark phase and belongs to the devil. So this is the any specific reason? but, after a point, he too seems to give up. His character is so his rock band plan to organise a rock concert in Shillong in main reason behind keeping the clock's hands at 12.30. See, I came across a lot of horror scripts but never found delusional that he probably needs therapy rather than a gui- Do you believe in evil spirits? them as powerful as 1920 or Raaz. But the script of Saansein order to highlight the plight of the helpless villagers. What is tar! Mind you, we are not joking when we say that. ROCK I never used to believe till the previous year. Then a seemed good to me. the reason for ‘Magik’s members never-ending guilt, do Adi ON 2 focuses only on Farhan Akhtar's character, who is eter- strange incident occurred in my life, which changed my What are your plans now? and his band members become successful in their uphill task nally confused and that too... for no credible reason! His belief. My next film is going to be Wajah Tum Ho where I am an of organising a rock show amidst rock solid resistance from character in the film gets so depressing and illogical, that You have also sang in Saansein. Was that antagonist, full of ego. I am also acting in a movie based on their area’s officer, does Jiah’s father accept her modern even his on screen wife (Prachi Desai) refuses to take it any planned? a historical war. singing and what secret is Adi hiding from Jiah, is what longer. Arjun Rampal, on the other hand, is completely It was a great experience. It was an absolute surprise for Are you very selective about your projects? Is forms the rest of the story. wasted and looks totally disinterested in the film. It’s a real me. I was with Vivek (music director) and I was just singing. trying to play diverse characters part of your plan? When ROCK ON 2’s promos were released, it only rekin- pity because, Arjun Rampal had won a National award for It is then that he asked me to sing a song in the film.” I try to choose characters that are different from each dled many memories associated with its predecessor ROCK the prequel (ROCK ON!!) of this same film. Purab Kohli tries You had an accident during the shooting How other. If you see Laal Rang (released in 2016), you will find ON!! In reality, ROCK ON 2 sings an extremely different to bring in some genuine emotion, but, because he barely did that happen? me in a different role. In Beiiman Love (also released in tune (in literal sense). First things first. With absolutely no gets any space, his attempts go wasted. On the other hand, there’s Shraddha Kapoor, who looks endlessly lost in the That was a major car accident. There was a car sequence 2016), I am a rich spoiled brat. My role in Wajah Tum Ho head or tail to the script (Pubali Chaudhuri, Abhishek film. She never gets a grip of her poorly written character where I was driving very fast. I had to run the car over a is also very different. (TWF) Kapoor), the film lands up being a confused mish-mash of Jiah, who is just wandering around in the film. All of these too many things. Also, because of the lack of a strong and only add to the mess called ROCK ON 2. Other actors like convincing storyline, the film simply flows all over the place NATURE Shashank Arora, Prachi Desai, Shahana Goswami and without any ‘direction’. None of the film’s characters are well Kumud Mishra also barely manage to exist in this confused etched or defined, and hence they fail to build any emotion- script.