How do you let off steam when cinema houses in the city are pulsating to the successful beat of your new film?

You go to Hard Rock Cafe at Lower Parel and jam, impromptu. That’s what the young and successful producer-duo Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani of Rock On did for TOI.

Farhan, with gelled hair and in chequered grey shirt; Ritesh in a blue tee with two tattoos ‘Nirvaan’ and ‘Aarav’ (his sons’ names) showing. “Even I have one,” said Farhan exposing his arm. “I got it at 16 after a night of wild partying. I wanted a dolphin but it looks like a shark, so I call my tattoo ‘Sholfin’!” He took the mike and belted out Beatles numbers while Ritesh hammered the drums, though not as convincingly as Purab Kohli did in the film. A fan with spiky blonde hair and earrings walked up and said, “Dudes, you rocked man! You are the best.” Charged further, the duo then jammed unplugged in a chat session, a mannequin dressed like pop singer Prince standing by silently and listening into the rockstars’ conversation...

How did you celebrate the success of Rock On?

Ritesh: With 12,000 people.

Farhan: He’s talking about the concert in Delhi. We are going next to Bangalore and also to the North East - the rock capital of India. It’s amazing going live.

Is the response always positive?

Farhan: It is! One man told me that he is thinking of jamming up with his friends after 20 years. Another woman moved her son’s drum set which was lying in the garage to the sitting room. I still get goose bumps when I think of people’s reactions. Initially, only the younger audience went to see the film but now you see a 60-year-old and a 12-year-old watching the film together.

Ritesh: The film drew in more crowd in the second week instead of the first. It’s the word-of-mouth publicity that worked.

You are on No 13 on the world music charts of i-tunes...

Farhan: I need to thank Abhiskek (director of the film) for that. If he wasn’t stubborn and forced me to sing, I wouldn’t have done it. As a rockstar, if your voice is dubbed it sounds funny, that’s why I sang in Rock On.

Your production house has been taking new directors like Abhishek Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Abhinay Deo. Isn’t that risky?

Farhan: They fit into the realm of the kind of stories we want to work on. And besides, all other successful directors have their own production houses, why would they want to come to us?

Ritesh: These new directors have a different perspective, they bring freshness and new ideas with them. Besides cinema is changing and so is the audience.

You’ll have made films based on friendship. Tell us about yours?

Ritesh: We are school friends. As a kid, Farhan used to always mimic other actors. So I always knew that he would become an actor some day. But I was shocked that he took up direction.

Farhan: Well, even I was shocked when I got to know that he wanted to get into filmmaking as his family is into home appliances business.

Ritesh: I wanted to do films but those days he wasn’t doing anything.

Farhan: I was busy educating myself...

What about your next big film, Don 2 — The Chase Begins?

Farhan: Shah Rukh Khan is in it for sure and most of the actors who were part of Don.

Source: Times of India