Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year (2009)

Rocket Singh is not a great film – for great films usually do very well with critics and rake in the moolah at the box office too – but it certainly is a good one. To begin with, it is refreshing to see Ranbir Kapoor step out of the romantic-stooge mould he has been stereotyping himself in. He has established himself as a star already and hasn’t hesitated in hiding that behind his character’s beard and turban. It’s even better that he has managed to break the ‘jolly, good Sikh’ stereotype as well. The after effects of Happy Singh, Jolly Singh and Singh is King have finally been annulled. It’s also a relief to see this kind of realistic cinema come out of Bollywood and especially out of a Yash-Raj studio. Yash Raj films, as we all know, have always been better known for super dramatic stories, ensemble star casts, exotic locales and glamorous songs. Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year breaks through these preconceived notions and lifts the bar for realistic cinema. This is acclaimed director Shimit Amin (of Chak De! India fame) stepping in while Aditya Chopra has produced the film – and his brand of cinema is very different.

Haspreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor) is a college underachiever, destined to either fail or barely get through everything he does. What he really wants to do is to become a successful salesman but he lacks the wily tactics most salesmen thrive upon. His strength is his honesty, a virtue that isn’t valued at much in the big, bad world of business. Within days of his training period at AYS (At Your Service) – a company dealing in computer sales – he is marginalized for jeopardizing the company’s relations with important clients. He is banned from the field and is sidelined in more ways than one. When it appears that his career as a salesman may as well be over, he discovers that while his corporate bosses may not appreciate his honesty, the clients certainly do. And so he begins Rocket Sales and it launches with the sky as its limit.

Rocket Singh is from a genre of films that are stemming off from the hugely successful Taare Zameen Par (TZP). It doesn’t have the steam that TZP had: the story drags into three hours which is one hour too much of computer sales, the dramatic sequences are too spaced out and the climax is weak and not at all a euphoric moment of good-over-evil victory. What binds the story are its characters. Ranbir Singh shows tremendous mettle and Prem Chopra is the gentle kind of witty grandfather that you always wish you had. Gauhar Khan as the attractive office secretary, Koena is refreshingly unapologetic about her sexuality, Giri (D Santosh) is unapologetic about the fact that he burrows in his cubicle watching porn and Mishra (Mukesh Bhatt) can’t believe his good fortune when he is made partner from peon. Naveen Kaushik (Nitin) and Manish Chodhary (Puri) also pack good performances as morally challenged executives and one expects to see them in other films henceforth.

While Rocket Singh didn’t quite take off at the box office, it does deserve to be remembered as one of the better films of 2009. Together with Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots, one has to say that the year has ended with a bit of promise for Bollywood. But while Rocket Singh may be salesman of the year, one does think 3 Idiots will walk away as film of the year! – Aamna Haider Isani

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Comedy, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Aditya Chopra, Director – Shimit Amin, Music Director –Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant, Cast – Ranbir Kapoor, Shazahn Padamsee, Prem Chopra, Mukesh Bhatt, Gauhar Khan, D. Santosh, Naveen Kaushik, Manish Choudhary