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I have to say that watching this movie ALONE in an empty movie theatre added several dimensions to the whole experience of watching ROCKSTAR.

My first comment is to Imtiaz Ali-- What were you thinking, bro? To actually have the gumption to create a love story around the idea of ethereal and eternal love as envisioned by the great Sufi Master Rumi in the land of DABANGG and BODYGUARD? Did you really think that audiences (read THE COMMON MAN) would throng cinemas and multiplexes to get a taste of sublime love?

For sublime love is the thread that binds this beautiful bitter sweet tale together. It is a love story written in the idiom of NorthIndian/Kashmiri/Sufi culture, of dargahs, of spirituality, of Delhi University Campus insider jokes, of the topography of North India, especially Kashmir and I fear the film could be condemned with the "E" word--elitism.

The starting point of the story is a young ordinary low middle class callow youth who is a wannabe singer, strumming his guitar to ordinary lyrics hoping to make it big. He is accused of being shallow by his mentor and advised to seek out "PAIN" in order to light the creative spark, that divine glow that accompanies great art. Unbeknownst to him, his casual and frivolous flirtation with this search for angst leads him into the deep end where he has to come face to face first with true love and then with the inevitable pain that comes with it.

The dialogues are fabulous. So is the cinematography. The snow clad mountains of Kashmir and the misty mornings of New Delhi, the green fields full of flowers in Prague place the story in the here and now when in truth the story could belong to any era, any century, any epoch. The universality of love, the self realisation that comes with it, the realisation that this life is but a dream is what the movie is really about. The essence of the story is not in the physicality of love but love beyond the here and now, beyond right and wrong and love for the Creator who was there when there was nothing else.

See what I mean when I ask Imtiaz--what were you thinking, bro?

And now for the piece de resistance-the music, the lyrics, the singer.

If there were any doubts being expressed by the hoi polloi about A R Rehman's diminishing creativity well then, here is his rebuttal.

The music is earthy, rooted in our traditions and culture, and designed to rock. It's astonishing how Rehman is able to dive into the musical traditions of the Punjab to create the "Saada Haq" and "Katiyaan Karoon". Irshad Kamil's lyrics, if you take the time to listen to the songs and understand the words, are beyond compare. Mohit Chauhan's voice is eminently suitable for all the songs. My favorite is "Naadaan parinde, ghar aajaa" Listen to the lyrics and cry.

We have been enjoying a lot of junk food lately. Now it's time for some haute cuisine.

Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai was an iconic movie and was like a breath of fresh air at the time of its release. Zoya's film is a wonderful expression and exploration of the new social dynamics in a fresh new idiom heralded by her brother's earlier work.

In the last decade we have seen how some filmmakers have quickly adopted a new idiom, a meta language to depict the changing world order and the place that the modern urban Indian holds within it. Zoya does this beautifully thus elevating what could have been a very ordinary story to a level where it achieves an iconic status.

The film depicts the coming of age of a trio of young urbane successful Indians who have to go through certain rites of passage to reach self realization. The element of modernism comes in via the unorthodox paths that these young men adopt to reach that vital stage of real adulthood when they are able to exchange short term temporary needs for real happiness, a kind of worldly "moksha" (oxymoron!)

The trio undertakes a journey which becomes a metaphor for the journey of the self from boyhood to adulthood. Male bonding and real brotherhood (despite the fact that these men are just friends) is the thread that binds the story in a tightly woven fabric of delightful insights into the complexity of relationships in a modern milieu where the norms of old morality have been quietly exchanged for new ones. Love, romance, sexuality are dealt with in a way that is candid, frank and fresh. The locales that are chosen as settings for this journey are exquisite and breathtakingly beautiful, thus underlining the immense beauty of the world that lies at our feet when we are young and the world is still unexplored. So for example,we have one of the characters in a deep sea dive exploring the depths of the ocean and being reduced to tears by its beauty.

The movie abounds in such life changing moments and there is not a single scene when the audience finds it difficult to relate to the protagonists or the storyline. I watched the movie on a week night in a mid-Manhattan cinema and the audience was laughing and silent at all the appropriate places. The film had hit the right spot.

I congratulate Zoya and her team on the tight script, the casting, the excellent uplifting cinematography complemented by Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music and the wonderful direction of three great actors. I have always liked Abhay Deol. He is a brave actor and takes on roles that are not necessarily "heroic" (as in Bollywood) and always essays them well. Hrithik is seen in a new light and the sensitivity that he brings to his role is worth applauding. Farhan purports to be the "Joker" of the pack but is carrying a very real angst in his soul and that is done very well. For me the big surprise of the film was Katrina who comes across as having matured as an actor and looks gorgeous at the same time.

There is a new wonderful trend in Indian cinema which we hope will continue unabated and is not killed by the more inane, mind numbing Bollywood brand of cinema. The only thing that will go against this film is that it will not appeal to the masses in the hinterlands where "DABANGG" has set a benchmark.