Who can forget the drummer KD from Rock On!!? When he auditioned for the film, actor Purab Kohli didn’t know its scale. “I enjoyed shooting for the film. But I realized the magnitude of the film only when I saw the final cut,” says Kohli, adding that he bonded with co-actors Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Luke Kenny on and off the screen.

“Farhan was an established director and producer when he did the film and everyone would turn to him for advice. But he was just focused on acting. Gattu (Abhishek Kapoor; director) was the captain of the ship.”

Music was a crucial aspect of the film and Kohli recalls shooting the song Socha Hai at Mumbai’s Hutatma Chowk. “Farhan was well-known, but back then, he wasn’t the star he is today. In fact, Arjun was the star. But since we were in our look — Arjun with long hair and me with a beard — the crowd that gathered didn’t really know who we were. They were just enjoying the song. Perhaps they thought a music video was being shot,” he ends.

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Rock On!! was a special album for us. It was as trendsetting as Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and Bunty Aur Babli (2005). It was the first time that an Indian film was made on a rock band,” says Ehsaan Noorani of the composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. He adds that making the songs for the film “was like a breeze”:

“Loy (Mendonsa) and I grew up playing rock music. We also played with rock bands for many years. I was hugely influenced by the music of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, U2 and The Police (rock outfits).”

Recalling the studio sessions, Noorani says, “Spending time with Javed (Akhtar; lyricist) saab, Farhan (Akhtar; actor), Shankar (Mahadevan) and the rest of the band and coming up with ideas that were turned into songs felt special. We had a rock band-like setup in the studio, with live musicians, including a drummer and a bass player. We composed the songs like how a band would. I’d come up with a guitar riff and that’d go on to become a song. The music became such a rage that my friends who are music instrument dealers told me that the sales of acoustic and electric guitars went up drastically after Rock On!! released.”

Noorani feels “Javed saab should have won awards for the film. An Urdu poet writing simple Hindi lyrics like Meri Laundry Ka Ek Bill was unique”. Calling Phir Dekhiye his favourite number, Noorani adds, “It’s a simple song that I came up with on an acoustic guitar.”