The wild, long-maned musicians, the hair-raising electric guitar riffs, the no-holds-barred breathless singing and the delirious dancing fans. The very word Rockstar conjures all these images and the Imtiaz Ali-film does provide them in bits and pieces. But its agenda is not just presenting an anonymous college-singer’s journey into rock music’s stardom; it also desires to blend it with that artiste’s star-crossed love-story.

A middle-class simpleton collegian wanting to be the next Jim Morrison (Ranbir Kapoor) is told by his well-wisher that dard is the most important driving force for every great artiste. So the youngster decides to manufacture this pain, this heart-ache by proposing to the sophisticated college-queen (Nargis Fakhri). His logic is simple. She is way out of his league and engaged to be married; so she is surely going to reject him! But instead the girl ends up being his best friend and that’s how they remain till her marriage.

As she moves to Prague after her marriage, the boy goes through a series of unforeseen hardships but finally he gets his break and becomes a budding rock-star. On a cultural exchange-tour to Prague, he meets her again. This time around, their chemistry is different and both realize that they actually love each other. With she being in a marriage and he pursuing his flourishing rock-music career, how will they find a way to unite?

Director Imtiaz Ali’s blending of the plot somehow goes wrong and that’s why neither do we get a full-on musical with Rock theme; nor an emotionally satisfying romantic tale. The film is way too long to maintain its grip and looks patchy.

Still there are many things good about the film. It is visually striking; Rahman’s music grows on you and Ranbir delivers an endearing performance. Nargis Fakhri looks good and acts well in some scenes.

In its scope and vision, Rockstar was no doubt an ambitious project trying to reach for the skies but perhaps a more down-to-earth approach would have made it better!