Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 27, 2020)

December 15, 2006, brought Abhishek Kapoor much relief because the sports drama he had been struggling with, Aryan: Unbreakable, finally released on this day. The film’s writer-director took off to recharge and ended up listening to a lot of rock music. He’d never been a fan of the genre or a part of a band, yet the idea of a musical around a rock band grabbed him. He met up with his musican friends, sat in on their jam sessions and a story took shape in just a couple of days. But since the concept was novel to Hindi cinema, none of the actors he approached were interested. Then, one day, Abhishek bumped into Farhan Akhtar at a bar and instinctively felt his husky voice was apt.

“More than a trained, professional voice, I needed one that came from the heart,” muses the writer-director. A meeting was set up with Farhan and the script was narrated. He loved it and immediately came on board as Aditya Shroff aka Adi, the lead singer of the band, Magik, who rebels against his family to pursue music, then, abandons it to become an unhappy investment banker. “I’ve known Farhan since we were kids, but it was only when he came to the studio for a voice test that I learnt to my delight that he could not only play a guitar, but also knew all the songs by Coldplay, U2 and other rock bands that had inspired the film,” he admits, adding that the film was earlier titled Magik after the four friends’ Mumbai-based grunge rock band, then, changed to Rock On!!

Purab Kohli was signed on as the drummer Kedar Zaveri aka KD and to play him convincingly, the actor would often drop by Abhishek’s mom’s garage, from where he operated, to practice on the drum set there. Luke Kenny was the natural choice to play the keyboardist Rob Nancy, given his brief stint as a DJ and a longer one as Channel V’s first male VJ. The discovery that he is dying of brain cancer was a surprise twist in the plot and made him unforgettable.

The surprise package, however, was Arjun Rampal, who played the lead guitarist Joseph Mascarenhas—Joe, who was born for music and is lost without it. Abhishek empathised with this character the most, having himself failed as an actor, but unwilling to quit the industry because of his pure passion for cinema.

“Staying on meant lots of dark days, with nowhere to run back to, since I was a Mumbai boy living with my parents who hurt to see me go through such lows. Acting is a public profession, so your failure is there for the world to see and you start believing you have failed as a human being too,” he says, sharing that he wasn’t sure Arjun was the right guy to play Joe, but then, none of the actors he approached wanted to be one among four guys, even if each one was equally important to the narrative. “Arjun had no such hang-ups, but I was still worried he was too handsome and not wanting his looks to overpower the character, I toned them down. He walked away with all the awards, including the National Award for Best Supporting Actor. What an actor, what a voice,” he raves.

Shahana Goswami as Joe’s ‘anchor’ Debbie was a perfect match. Another inspired casting was Prachi Desai as Farhan’s wife Sakshi, through whose eyes the story plays out. “In my mind, Sakshi was a sweet, simple girl from a banking background, but not an elite space like Farhan; one who wants to make things right for her husband and his friends. She, however, needs an ally and that’s where ‘take charge’ Devika, who works in the jewellery store KD’s family owns, comes in. Koel Purie was perfect as Devika and Prachi, given all the work she had done in television, was my Sakshi. I have always believed that TV is a good training ground for an actor, given all the hours of shoot and the sustained level of performance,” he avers.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music made the Rock On!! album a cult favourite, selling 120,000 copies in India. The songs, from “Pichle Saat Dinon Mein” “Socha Hai” and “Yeh Tumhari Meri Baatein” to “Zehreelay”, “Tum Ho To”, “Sinbad The Sailor”, “Phir Dekhiye” and the title track “Rock On!!”, flowed from Javed Akhtar’s pen. “They were such ‘young’ lyrics and Javed saab was the real rockstar at the studio, ” Abhishek recalls fondly.

The film bagged a National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi too, and that is the moment Abhishek flashbacks to when he remembers Rock On!! , which opened on August 29, 2008 and finally put him on the road to success. “There was so much dignity and diversity of talent from across the country at that function. The experience was truly ‘magikal’!” he rocks on.

Luke Kenny aka Rob Nancy of the 2008 musical-drama, reunites with the actor for Ajay Devgn’s upcoming period-drama in which he plays Aurangzeb
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 25, 2019)

Luke Kenny is best remembered for his portrayal of Rob Nancy in Abhishek Kapoor’s 2008 musical-drama, Rock On!!, who is battling with brain tumour and his last wish is to perform with his band mates, played by Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli. The actor-musician will now be seen in Ajay Devgn’s period drama, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, as Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. And while he has no scenes with Ajay, Luke informs that it was great reuniting with Saif after Sacred Games. “We spoke about starting a rock ‘n’ roll band sometime soon,” he smiles.

Meanwhile, director Om Raut, after seeing him in the series, was convinced he’d make a worthy Aurangzeb. They met and once Raut explained his vision, Luke grabbed the opportunity. “It allowed me to play a character that hasn’t had any millennial representation on the Indian screen. I was also lucky to have Nachiket design my costumes and the legendary Vikram Gaikwad (make-up artiste) the look of Aurangzeb with remarkable authenticity. The rest is actually history,” he says, adding the history lessons from his school days came in handy while brushing up on the character, along with Internet research. “But I didn’t want to overdo it either. I wanted to let Om lead me through his vision.”

Luke’s last big screen outing was Tanuja Chandra’s 2017 romcom Qarib Qarib Singlle, headlined by Irrfan Khan and Parvathy Thiruvothu. Why is he so choosy? He explains, “It takes true clarity of vision for casting agencies and filmmakers to find worthy places for me in their projects. And as an actor, I have consciously stayed away from being a novelty item.”

Staring his career as a dancer, Luke joined the rock band, Greek, as a vocalist in 1991. He then worked as a VJ before landing his first acting role, the 1998 film Bombay Boys. He is constantly touring and playing in shows.

In August, he released a single, “The City Never Sleeps”. “There are a few ideas in the works, let’s see how things develop,” he says. Can we hope for a reunion with his Rock On!! boys in reel or real life? “Is there life on Mars?” he quips cryptically.

Luke Kenny on his cameo in 'Rock On 2' and reuniting with his boy gang
Soumya Vajpayee Tiwari (MID-DAY; November 11, 2016)

When Magik's Rob Nancy succumbed to brain tumour in Abhishek Kapoor's 2008 musical-drama, 'Rock On', few would have expected the keyboard player to make an appearance in the sequel. Yet, Luke Kenny is delighted to reprise his role in part two.

"Although I will only be seen in a single song, I am excited to be a part of the film." Prod him on how his character will fit into the movie and he says, "It is this track that will set the mood for the film and help in taking the story forward. Farah Khan has directed the track; it was a pleasure working with her," he says.

Reuniting with Rock On co-stars Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli after eight years was enjoyable. "Purab, Farhan and Arjun are great to hang out with. Farhan and Arjun had their hands on the guitars, Purab had his drum kit and I plugged in my keyboard. Give a boy gang that and they are bound to annoy the crew with some musical rambling," he says cheekily. "But when we began eating into production time, Farah cracked the whip and had us back shooting promptly again."

Joginder Tuteja (DNA; November 3, 2016)

Believe it or not, but in a way, Rock On!! 2 has managed to find a common connect with Tanu Weds Manu Returns. How, one may ask, considering that they aren’t similar in anything — the genre, cast, storyline, treatment or ambience. Yet there is one connect, and that is around the characters who find themselves in the sane scheme of things all over again in the sequels.

“That’s right,” comments an industry observer, “Rock On!! 2 is one of few films, apart from TWMR, where all the principal characters — R Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Deepak Dobriyal, Jimmy Sheirgill, Swara Bhaskar and Eijaz Khan — from the first part, return for the sequel. When director Aanand L Rai decided to make the sequel, he was sure of bringing them all together once more.”

Producer Farhan Akhtar, too, has ensured that everybody from the film’s band Magik and their wives returned for part 2. “Farhan, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli were in Rock On!! and each of them is back as the band members. The only member who is not there is Luke Kenny and that’s because he died in Part 1. Who knows, he may return in the flashback sequence?” our source wonders.

Prachi Desai and Shahana Goswami (who played the wives of Farhan and Arjun respectively), are back, too. Also, newer characters played by Shraddha Kapoor and Shashank Arora have been introduced.

Now compare this to other major sequels, especially with the ones that feature four or more major characters, and the common trend is to have at least one of them being bumped off.

Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is the only film in the history of Bollywood sequels where each of the three leading ladies (Nushrat Bharucha, Sonnalli Seygall and Ishita Raj Sharma) were repeated, while only one leading man, Kartik Aryan remained in both films. In Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar 3, only Amitabh Bachchan has survived.

Let’s wait and watch to see which character returns in Rock On!! 3, if and when it happens!

Upala KBR (DNA; November 2, 2016)

A new song for Rock On!! was shot at Madh Island yesterday. However, it featured the old Magik (Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar, Purab Kohli and Luke Kenny) and left out new joinee Shraddha Kapoor, who features in all the other songs of the sequel.

Says a source, “The song, You Know What I Mean, composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was picturised at a Catholic wedding in a bungalow. It’s a flashback song, which will show Magik performing at the wedding. It was to be shot earlier and with another choreographer, but it kept getting postponed because of Arjun’s personal issues.”

Adds the source, “Later, Farhan requested Farah to choreograph this song. She just had one day to shoot the song and she couldn’t refuse his emotional appeal. And so, she had been having rehearsals the last week. The song will be the bridge to the previous Rock On!!.”

Farah confirms that she choreographed the song.

Meanwhile...

Farah, a Karan Johar favourite, has done songs for every film he ghas directed. But this time, she was busy with reality shows when her friend’s latest, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was being shot and hasn’t worked on a single song in the film. Later Karan felt that he needed Farah to be part of his film, and he called her. She agreed to do portions of a already shot song. It wrapped in three hours.

The actors with a crowd of 2000-plus and 250 dancers rock on at The Gateway of India for a cause
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 17, 2016)

On June 6 and 7, a crowd of over 2,500 had gathered at The Gateway of India to cheer on Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli as they took to the stage for Rock On 2.

Besides the stargazers-turned-junior artistes, there was a crew of 200-plus along with 200 background dancers, and 250 bodyguards on the scene. "The crowd was huge and uncontrollable," recalls one of the security guards who is delighted to be making his Bollywood debut as one of the background artists. "We've managed Farhan sir's real concerts. We know what happens and that experience came in handy."

It was no ordinary concert, there were huge 'MARD' hoardings, posters and standees in and the performance was all about women empowerment. Farhan is the brand ambassador of MARD - Men Against Rape and Discrimination and many of the concerts in the Rock On! sequel are socially driven, choreographed by Bosco Martis and recorded live. Shooting went on from 7am to noon during which Farhan belted out four new singles, as he swung from a rope suspended from the ceiling and dived into a crowd surfing routine.

Leading ladies Shraddha Kapoor, Prachi Desai and Shahana Goswami were not a part of the sequence, but Luke Kenny, whose character Rob Nancy, died two months before the band Magik's final act in the 2008 film of a brain tumour, was in the wings, trying to muscle his way on to stage. "Luke will return in a special appearance as a drunk who gets into an argument backstage. His sudden appearance takes the band members by surprise. Whether he's just another star-struck fan or ends up making the band nostalgic is one of the surprises of the film," says a source.

Writer-director Shujaat Saudagar and actor-producer Farhan Akhtar met Luke three months ago to finalise the details of a special appearance. "He was always going to be a part of the film, they will be shooting one more sequence with him soon," the source adds.

Luke Kenny has come up with some death-defying options for his much-loved character Rob
Sanyukta Iyer (BOMBAY TIMES; January 8, 2015)

Luke Kenny grabbed eyeballs with his performance as Rob Nancy in Rock On!!. In the 2008 hit, Rob, a brain tumour patient, was instrumental in bringing the band members back together but towards the end of the film succumbed to the deadly disease.

Now Mirror has it that Luke has been asked by the makers to pen his return in the sequel which goes on the floors in April. When contacted, Luke confirmed this, saying, "Yes, Gattu (Abhishek Kapoor, who directed the original) told me to find a way to come back from the dead. Earlier, we had thought that it was a standalone film. Nobody ever hinted at a Rock On 2. Had I known that seven years on it would be back, I would have never let them kill Rob."

Buzz is, the actor will be seen in flashbacks but Luke says that there is the possibility of him making a comeback as Rob's twin.

Agreeing that it will be tough to pick up from where the first film left off, Luke confesses that he has two options before him: The first is a cameo.

"Farhan (Akhtar who returns as Aditya Shroff) is walking down a crowded street and bumps into someone with a guitar. He turns to see himself face-to-face with Rob's lookalike."

The other option is that KD, played by Purab Kohli, comes up with a master plan to let Rob slip away to the Himalayas to spend time with his long-lost family. "And he reveals to Aditya that Rob never died." However, Luke quickly admits that plot number two doesn't sound very plausible. "Not killing me would be silly," he laughs.

The actor of Irish-Italian descent was picked for the first film for his singing and song-writing skills. He is confident that he can script a full-fledged role for himself, second time around too.

Mirror had earlier reported on December 20, 2014, that Farhan is prepping for the sequel with a three-month-long concert tour. How is Luke readying himself for his return as a rock star? "I am writing a musical," he quips. "I plan to make a full-fledged commercial film with A-list actors. I don't know if this film will roll before or after Rock On 2 but it's good prep."