Rock On - Best Female Character in a Male Band Movie

So I finally got around to seeing Rock On, over the weekend, though I’ve been wanting to see it for some time, if only for the fact that its theme of ‘four music band members split up and meet again after 10 years’ is something unique in Hindi cinema. (Does Rock On even qualify as Hindi cinema, considering that so much of the dialogue is in English, even if the songs are in Hindi? Weird, but that’s another question)

The movie revolves around male bonding - the focus is on the camaraderie among band members, both in their idealistic younger days, when they are confident of taking over the world, and in their older avatars, when they reunite after an acrimonious break-up. Overall I found the movie enjoyable although I thought the rapprochement between quarreling band members, Joe and Aditya, happened too easily and seamlessly. Where did all those feelings of being let down and resentment go? Whoosh! Still, I thought Rock On managed to convey the essentially uncertain lives of those who choose to pursue an artistic vocation, without hammering it in - there is no one starving here, but you get the sense of dreams having passed by, bills having to be paid, responsibilities other than to oneself.

Which brings me to the character I liked best - and no, it wasn’t among the four men in the band, the lead characters. The character who really stood out, for me, was Debbie, wife of one of the band members, Joe. Finally, finally, here is a female character in a Hindi movie, who is strong, knows her mind, has some dreams of her own, speaks to her man as an equal - and yet, is not portrayed as a shrew or a nag or as infantile or as a conniving bitch. It’s also evident that she loves Joe deeply, even if she cannot understand him. (The other somewhat strong character I could think of is Rhea from KANK, but of course the lavishness and general mindlessness of K-Jo movies makes it hard to take any character seriously!)

Debbie, who dreams of being a fashion designer/stylist eventually ends up handling the family’s fish business while Joe - well, Joe seems to run a small-time music shop and gives lessons to neighborhood kids, but essentially, he doesn’t even have the excuse of really pursuing his dreams. With a husband who refuses to face up to life, it falls on Debbie to keep the household going and we get the sense that without her, things would fall apart. Naturally, she loses her temper often and is not the most pleasant of individuals, but this is understandable in a woman carrying more than her fair share.

When the band decides to reunite, she worries that Joe is off on a wild goose chase, letting go of a decent opportunity to play on board a cruise, which of course, she has garnered for him. She goes to meet Aditya, to ask him not to spoil what she sees as Joe’s opportunity to finally make some money. Does she seem slightly insensitive to how much her husband values this band and its music? Well yes, but on the other hand, she is also the one who knows how much it costs to send their child to school and so on, so fair enough.

When she looks around Aditya’s posh apartment and tells him that he has managed to do well, as always, Aditya tells her that he can’t understand if she is praising him or not. And she replies, “I’m just stating the facts.” That one dialogue established the character totally.

It helped that Shahana Goswami, who played Debbie, did a very good job. Overall, I’m glad that there are atleast a few Hindi movies coming up with realistic and nuanced female characters rather than the single-dimension beauty queens, hero’s shadow or dad’s-little-girls we normally get to see.

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Tags: debbie, Hindi movies, rock on, shahana goswami