Son of the beloved lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar was born into fame. But it was not until 2001, when he directed Dil Chahta Hai, that he began to build his own identity. Seven years later, he was well on his way to becoming the A-list actor/director/producer that Indian viewers know him to be today. Rock On! was his first film as an actor and it also happened to be one of the first rock-themed films in India. This garnered the attention of younger moviegoers and instantly launched Farhan and his on-screen band mates to new heights. Farhan plays lead singer Aditya Shroff, while Arjun Rampal plays lead guitarist Joe Mascarhenas, former VJ Luke Kenny plays keyboardist Rob Nancy, and former VJ Purab Kohli plays KD the Drummer. Together, they make for a very believable band. As the four grow up, in the film, they go their separate ways, only for a life-threatening illness and a Channel V contest to bring them back together on the stage.
" 'Socha hai kya kabhi, woh act aur ga sakta hai?' (Have you ever thought he could act or sing?). As it turns out, he could do both."
A ten-year gap separates the band’s initial fame from their encore performance. Thus, one of Rob’s quotes makes perfect sense: “ Kabhi kabhi aisa lagta hai jaise yeh sab pichle janam mein hua ho... aur kabhi jaise kal hai ” (Sometimes it feels as though it all happened in another lifetime... and sometimes as if just yesterday). “ Kabhi kabhi ” is a quite common phrase, which means “sometimes.” Alone, the word “ kabhi ” technically means “ever,” but when it is placed alongside the words that follow it, “ Aisa lagta hai jaise yeh ” (it seems like), it becomes “sometimes.” In the second half of the above sentence, it is important to pay attention to the tense and context. “ Kal ” means both “tomorrow” and “yesterday,” which can be quite confusing and it is possible to get the meaning all wrong. In this case, we can rely solely on the context to figure out which meaning of “ kal ” is intended. Since the first half of the sentence talks about the “past,” it is quite obvious, even without exactly understanding the grammar, that the second half will do so as well, albeit about a more recent past, or “yesterday.” It is not always this clear, so it is really important for students of Hindi to get their tenses down!
Since this is a film about a rock band, it is no surprise that more than a few songs, sung by Farhan himself, actually became popular. One of the favorites was “ Socha Hai ” (Have Thought). It presents a series of subjects to think about in the form of random, unrelated questions. Most of these are “ koyn ” (why) questions: “ Gol kyon hai jameen ” (Why is the earth round?), “Chaand do kyun nahin?” (Why aren’t there two moons?), “ Sarhadein hai kyun har kahin ?” (Why are there boundaries everywhere?). After this, Farhan asks, “ Socha hai kya kabhi, hota hai yeh kyun ?” (Have you ever thought why this happens?). One might notice that the first half of this sentence, “ Socha hai kya kabhi ” (Have you ever thought), does not have the word “ apne ” (you). This is because, in spoken Hindi, the pronouns “you” and “I” are often left out, leaving listeners to infer what is meant. Also, “ khabi ” appears again, this time by itself and translating into “ever.”
Indian viewers had already come to love Farhan Akhtar as a director and producer when he decided to wow them with his singing and acting. In 2008, with Rock On! , he left his audience asking, “ Socha hai kya kabhi, woh act aur ga sakta hai ?” (Have you ever thought he could act or sing?). As it turns out, he could do both.
