Rocket Singh: Sales Man of the Year

Review:

Rocket Sing: Salesman of the year is a fresh, unexpected film than the usual

bollywood escapades which showcases a sincere and honest protagonist

which seems like zero to his magnificently corrupt boss. Though boss isn’t

the real villain in the movie but Business is, as it is portrayed as

fundamentally dishonest act, fueled by bribes and payoffs.

Ranbir Kapoor plays a cheerful underachiever Harpreet Singh Bedi, who

barely graduated for college. With such low scores he naturally decides to

take up a job as a salesman with high esteem and expectation since he

believes he has the right stuff to make it big. He is quickly hired as a

trainee at the computer sales and service firm, AYS (At Your Service). As

his initial days are pumped up and exciting in the office and field because

the senior Nitin gives him pros and cons of business and trains him, he

immediately falls in trouble when he blows the whistle as a client offers him

a bribe and becomes everybody's target and gets humiliated.

Harpreet decides to prove them wrong and starts his own shadow company

from inside the company and gathers together a crew of misfits. They aim to
play the game with new rules and to win. In fact, the movie’s best moments

involve Harpreet interacting with his co-conspirators: the unchallenged

computer tech who spends his days looking at bikini-clad women on the

Internet, the pretty receptionist who’s only valued for her looks, the

disrespected office tea server. Like Harpreet, they all represent ways in

which modern corporate culture devalues individuals. How he goes about

proving his worth as a salesman cum businessman & teaching his superiors a

thing or two about doing business keeping their ethics intact constitutes the

rest of the movie.

The biggest strength of the movie lies in its screenplay. It’s taut and

focused for the most of the movie's running length except the unwanted

love story segment which is forced in the movie. The dialogues are witty and

idealistic and yet not preachy but feels real like real conversation between

real people. They never feel unnaturally forced and the actor deliver them

with utter conviction. The production design is realistic and as simple as it

could be has only helped the movie to create a credible rapport with the

audience creating unpretentious aura about the movie.

The characters seem authentic because they look & act like actual human

beings. No over-the-top shenanigans or preachy monologues for these guys.

Not all of them have their moral compass pointing in the right direction at all

times but they do make the most of situations presented to them by life,

learn their lessons & keep moving ahead, isn’t that how most people are?

The movie is finely etched with realist performance by its actors. Where
usually actors tend to get overboard in Indian movies which is not in this

case, actors of Rocket Singh should get kudos. Ranbir Kapoor as Harpreet

Singh Bedi breaths a life in his character and this is by far his most nuanced

performance. He displays such a heartfelt earnestness that you'd root for

him instantly and which is really necessary for this kind of movie where the

script is character driven. However, the real standout in performance

department is Naveen Kaushik as Nitin who convinces us from the word go

that he's the real deal, a ruthless salesman with year of experience under

his belt who'd sell ice to an Eskimo with alarming ease. Gauhar Khan, who is

debutante, doesn't let us feel its her first movie and carries her character

with such ease and alarming performance. D Santosh as the technician,

Mukesh Bhatt as the peon and the guy who plays the owner the AYS, are all

more than believable in their roles. Special mention should also go Prem

Chopra who's impressive (hasn't done a movie since ages) in a small role as

Harpreet's honest grandfather. The love interest played by Shazahn

Padamsee in her debut feature doesn't get much scope and doesn't measure

up to the other performances in the movie and one of the very few flaws of

the movie.

This is an admirably written and more than competently acted movie filled

with enough humor, drama and a restrained morality lesson to make you still

believe that there's still enough talent in Indian Movie Industry to surprise

the socks off you when you least expect it.

Director : Shimit Amin

Writer : Jaydeep Shahani.

Movie Budget : Approx. 5 crore INR

Release date : 11 December 2009

Competitor Movie : Paa released on 4th Dec. a week before

Rocket

Singh released.

3 Idiots relesed on 25th Dec. two weeks

after the release of Rocket Singh.

(though Rocket Singh was solo release that

week it had found a solid competitor with

Paa and 3 Idiots being released before and

after Rocket sing released respectively.)

Actors : Ranbir Kapoor,

Gauhar Khan,

Shazahn Padamsee,

Prem Chopra,

Manish Chaudhary,

D Santosh,

Naveen Kaushik.
Main theme: Revolving around a simple guy, who is happy-go-lucky and

a bit of an underachiever, this movie shows different

facets of business and its stake holders. What this movie

tries to prove is that how corrupt has become the ethics

of the business in today’s world and how it drags a simple

and honest person into its own web.

Conclusion: The movie has a very decent message that business can

be done with ethics and honesty kept in the place but at

the same time it doesn’t go overbroad and be preachy. As

it is told in the movie that honesty and simplicity are the

jewel of the persons character the movie itself is simple

and honest.

My opinion: This is a very well made movie and I won’t change a thing

about this movie. But if I have to tweak something then I

would remove the romantic track of the movie or flesh it

out little more because the romantic track only comes as

a irritating part of the movie and only hindrances the

flow of the script but otherwise the movie is unlike any

other bollywood movie and a welcome surprise.

Thank You...
 Rocket Sing:

Sales Man of the Year

Submitted By
Sandeep Shrestha
Bim
Orchid International College
Sinamangal, Ktm.