RajeevKhandelwal Soundtrack-page 54 - Page 40

Soundtrack : The gritty tale of a flawed hero!

On a roll, Raunak drinks while driving, does drugs before making music, sleeps through the day and works nights. His life, full of excesses, is due to take its toll. When not dealing with an imaginary figure (a pink-haired clown) who he has conversations with, Raunak is dealing with his groupie-turned- girlfriend who wants to discuss things like landscaping the garden.

The Clown wonders aloud if his father, along with the talent, has also handed down the legacy of failure to him? We see Raunak enjoying every bit of his success with just one fear gnawing him—what if the talent in his genes comes along with the disorder?

Inevitably, what happened to his father happens to Raunak. He begins to lose his hearing. The film then shows us how Raunak deals with this loss, and the extreme methods he adopts to get himself to accept this reality.

Adapted from the Canadian film, It's All Gone Pete Tong, Soundtrack retains the original's mockumentary style, which includes industry people – VJs, Music directors, DJs— talking about Raunak's journey.

Debut director Neerav Ghosh talks about a story that's inspiring and heroic, but doesn't allow the film to get preachy. Neither does the film ever strongly suggest that Raunak is paying the price of his indulgences. Ghosh concentrates on the more tragic part – that Raunak is paying the price for a hereditary disorder coupled with a professional hazard.

Ghosh gives us a debut film that's highly immersing, stylish, and involving. But then, this film had a reference point in the original. One looks forward to what Ghosh can conjure up in his sophomore attempt. The film's music is top-notch, and so is the sound design, and cinematography.

It's incredible how Rajeev Khandelwal transformed his suited-booted cliched TV avatar, to give such crackling performances in Aamir, Shaitan and now Soundtrack. As the wayward Raunak, Khandelwal gets into the skin of the character, making it believable and likeable enough to get the viewer to root. Mohan Kapoor is delightful as the gregarious and ambitious club-owner/manager who notices Raunak's potential.

Several references are made to Beethoven, the master composer who eventually lost his hearing, and the film is punctuated by the master composer's quotes.

Soundtrack is electrifying but marred by a few flaws. We are not told what happens to that imaginary figure Raunak talks to. Was he schizophrenic; what was that all about? More importantly, Raunak has gone through a devastating loss, but despite the extreme methods he adopts to recover, his acceptance of the handicap and a dramatic change in his persona seems implausible.

Still, if you're looking for a dark, real tale of an authentic and flawed hero, this one's for you.

Verdict: Three stars

It's incredible how Rajeev Khandelwal transformed his suited-booted cliched TV avatar, to give such crackling performances in Aamir, Shaitan and now Soundtrack. As the wayward Raunak, Khandelwal gets into the skin of the character, making it believable and likeable enough to get the viewer to root.

loved these lines from the review..thanku for posting the article puri...🤗

Originally posted by: Surya.Ravi

It's incredible how Rajeev Khandelwal transformed his suited-booted cliched TV avatar, to give such crackling performances in Aamir, Shaitan and now Soundtrack. As the wayward Raunak, Khandelwal gets into the skin of the character, making it believable and likeable enough to get the viewer to root.

loved these lines from the review..thanku for posting the article puri...🤗

Originally posted by: -purnima-

its surely a big transition for all of us  😳😳😳... good to see him in completely new avatar 😳😳  absolutely right...this has been a beautiful journey till now for us..& i'am sure it will continue to be so always...😳😳😳

The Hindi movie 'Soundtrack', starring Rajeev Khandelwal as DJ Raunak Kaul, Soha Ali Khan and Mrinalini Sharma, was released in India and across the world on October 7, 2011.

The movie is directed by Neerav Ghosh, and is a remake of the 2004 English film 'Its All Gone Pete Tong'.

The story of the movie is about a popular DJ, who has exceptional skills to make every one groove to his tunes. But his excessive lifestyle makes him lose his focus towards his work and thus becomes permanently deaf. 

Due to his sudden hearing imparity, Raunak now find its difficult to pursue his dreams to make music. This is when Gauri, played by Soha, enters his life. Gauri too cannot hear but can lip read.

Raunak slowly gets attracted towards Gauri, who becomes his tutor and slowly begins to sense sound. Finally a deaf DJ becomes a popular composer.

Ghosh has attempted to make a docu-drama and has made it look like a biographical. Overall, 'Soundtrack' is a good movie to watch.

http://www.examiner.com/india-headlines-in-national/soundtrack-movie-review-watch-online-trailer-video-and-songs

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Rajeev Khandelwal's Soundtrack review

(Indie Ideas/Saregama India Limited) Rajeev Khandelwal and Soha Ali Khan shine in the feel-good movie of the year, Neerva Ghosh's Soundtrack, which officially lit up silver screens around the world this weekend. A sanctioned remake of the 2004 cult classic, It's All Gone Peter Tong, Soundtrack chronicles the story of DJ Raunak Kaul (Mr. Khandelwal), an entertainer who skyrocketed to stardom as a deejay before alcohol and drugs brought him crashing back down to Earth. Raunak's fall is perpetuated by a sudden physical disability: he goes deaf.

Therein lies the heart of Soundtrack. Perhaps never touching a deejay console ever again, Raunak's misfortunes take a turn for the better when he meets Gauri (Ms. Khan). In Gauri, Raunak meets a lip-reading deaf person who turns out to be his partner and tutor. Even more, Gauri gives Raunak a reason to love music again and find a new way to entertain his fans: composition.

Essentially a biopic of a deejay who actually lost his hearing but became a music composer in real life, Ghosh presents Soundtrack with just the right mix of dramatic storytelling and compelling reality. Indeed, Soundtrack launches with a strong dose of reality  Raunak's escalating rise as a deejay meets uncontrollable debauchery, causing him to fall down almost as quickly as he came up.

A reality check comes in the second half, where the humanity of Raunak's rock-bottom situation as a man who had everything but lost it all suddenly takes over. Yet, instead of being a sob-story of someone who did not know how to responsibly manage his fame, Sountrack ends up being an intriguing tale of how one man's love for music was so strong, it helped him overcome even the most significant of obstacles, both self and naturally created.

After all, a story featuring a deaf man triumphantly finding a way to create music for the masses is next to impossible not to feel good about.

Accordingly, Mr. Khandelwal certainly delivers a strong performance as the chief protagonist. He definitely portrays Raunak in a way that makes him easily relatable to the audience. In short, Mr. Khandelwal is quite convincing.

Directly opposite him is Ms. Khan, who is quite classy and ingenious in portraying a similarly disabled person. Quite interestingly, Ms. Khan breaks the mold of the stereotypical leading Bollywood actress who is often just a vehicle to tell a love story. Here, Ms. Khan's portrayal of Gauri convincingly gives both the lead character (Raunak) and the film's story a substantive purpose.

The supporting cast features a memorable performance by Mrinalini Sharma; the film's cinematography is above average and the music, scored by Karsh Kale and the Midival Pundits, is top-notch.

Ultimately, Soundtrack is a well-put film featuring solid acting and a qualitatively feel-good story. While it has a few minor flaws that may keep it from being one of the best films of 2011, Soundtrack is still a must-watch, and there have been very few must-watches coming out of Bollywood this year.

Fans of Soundtrack may also like: Guzaarish, London Dreams, Rock On!!

Reasons to like Soundtrack: Strong storyline, acting, top-notch score