I promise that this is the last post I'll write on Rockstar… I had to get this out! Spoilers ahead. You have been warned

Rockstar purports to be a film about passion, love, freedom, youth, magic – take your pick. A budding musician seeks to find passion in his humdrum existence in an attempt to channel it into his music. And he gets a little more than he bargained for. Life becomes messy. All this is completely believable. But after a point, Rockstar strives so hard to make this point that it leaves its viewers bewildered.

At the beginning, the hero is a singer, out to make music. Somewhere halfway, he morphs into a lover. He is still a musician but his music turns angry, rebellious. The lover is angry and you wonder why. What is his problem and who/what is he railing against? There isn't even a villain to blame. Okay, maybe his beloved Heer's husband could be a villain but the guy does not even show up until the film is close to ending. Is Jordan rebelling against society's morals? Maybe. He acts like a typical bad boy of rock and there have been many of those types. However, Jordan is in deep pain, as reflected in the angry anti-establishment music he composes about lost pigeons. Why is he in pain? Because his beloved's home has a security alarm system? Because she is dying? It is mystifying.

It could be argued that the doomed passion between the two lovers is to blame. But there isn't even much passion between the couple save for a hot-n-heavy song that pops up halfway into the film. She feels guilty (she is married) but she cannot help herself from going to him. What is Jordan's motivation? Is he interested in marrying Heer? He certainly makes no steps in that direction. He acts like a naive kid most of the time and you wonder what he really wants. Whatever it is, he doesn't get it  and then he goes ballistic. Runs away from concerts, gets into brawls with reporters and police, throws tantrums, vomits all over the red carpet.

All along, I wondered – Dude, what is your REAL problem?

Sure enough, there is pain in passion that knows it has no happy ending. Hindi cinema has its favorite star-crossed lovers and they have borne their sorrow with much dignity, leaving the viewers in tears. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Ek Duje Ke Liye come to mind. I suppose Rockstar could have been that way but it is so lacking in real passion, whether it be between Heer and Jordan or between Jordan and his music.

Unfortunately, the film also suffers from too much music, if that is even possible. There are umpteen musical interludes and as fabulous as they may sound, they are unable to make up for gaping holes in an ambitious script. Rockstar tries to be bigger than the sum of its parts and loses its lofty message somewhere in all that "passion."