Jul 03, 2003 02:31 AM
7096 Views
(Updated Jul 03, 2003 07:10 PM)
Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh with Nagesh, but what can you say about a movie which is amateurish at best. Lets see what went wrong -
Story
The story revolves around how a kid Rajesh Naidu fares in his new school, Rockford - culminating in his transformation from an innocent shy lad, to a confident young boy.His source of inspiration is his teacher (I may have got the formal relationship wrong), played by Nagesh.
A few facts
This is Nagesh Kukunoor's (henceforth called NK) second film - the first being Hyderabad Blues.
As is his norm, he has directed and acted in this movie.
Nandita Das appears in this movie - she is seen walking from one end of the screen to the other end and is usually gone before you can say 'There goes Nandita Das'.
It took 32 days to make this movie - and it shows.
More people listened to the music than saw this movie.
Now, the fun begins
When I saw Hyderabad Blues, the simplicity, humour and talent of the director caught my attention. NK displays glimpses of this quality in Rockford, but this soon gets lost in the confusion that he creates while trying to show boarding-school life through the eyes of an impressionable young guy.
If I were to point out one thing that killed this movie, it would be the editing. The scenes ended abruptly, and the audience had to make an effort to pick up the threads before they could gauge the next scene.
The acting was amateurish too - the eyes simply did not convince the characters' emotions. Nobody looked comfortable - not even NK... you could actually feel the effort in their acting and dialogue delivery.
In an effort to add substance to the story, NK simply dragged it by adding a twist in the middle. To make matters worse, thats what shattered the young audience viewership - what was added was a molestation charge on NK's character in the movie. Apart from all this, the screenplay was horrendous. I think this is one area which completely exposes NK's amateurishness(did I say this right?) as a director (cum writer).
My Recommendations
I know very few individuals who do not have fond memories of their girlhood or boyhood years.However, Rockford does not provide an outlet to reminisce about them.
I would strongly recommend watching this movie if you are planning to make your own and need desperate advice as to what not to do; or maybe you have a paper to submit describing directors who took a step backwards; or to get an idea of what editing and screenplay is all about; barring this select few I would say Rockford simply does not rock.
