Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009)

One of my all time favorites.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Shimit Amin's 'Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year' is an underrated Gem from 2009! An overlooked stellar film, that's both, humorous & poignant. And Ranbir Kapoor is top-notch, yet again! 'Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year' Synopsis: Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor), a Sikh B Com graduate, joins a sales company to push his career, only to later realize that's working under corrupts. Harpreet then decides to teach his bosses a lesson, by starting a company of his own, without their knowledge. 'Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year' has a strong script, which undoubtedly, is its trump card. Jaideep Sahni's Screenplay, which focuses on an underdog, is so sharp & humorously written, that I was arrested in the goings-on. The characters, though diverse, work wonderfully & the dialogue, are pure gold. Its sad that 'Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year' didn't fare well & not many people saw it. Disappointing indeed!Shimit Amin's Direction is perfect. Cinematography captures the claustrophobic atmosphere, ably. Editing is good, but the film could've been trimmed, by 15-20 minutes. Salim-Sulaiman's Score is wonderful.Performance-Wise: Ranbir is a chameleon. Seriously, how fearless can this actor get? Right from playing a love-struck lover in Saawariya, to a Casanova in Bachna Ae Hasseno, to playing a Rockstar in Rockstar, to playing the ever-lively Barfi & to 'Rocket Singh'. His extraordinary portrayal here of the underdog deserves distinction marks. A Special Mention for the delightful supporting cast, that includes Prem Chopra (outstanding), Gauhar Khan (fantastic), D. Santosh (fabulous), Mukesh Bhatt (terrific) & Manish Chaudhary (deliciously mean). Shazahn Padamsee, in her debut role, is barely passable.On the whole, 'Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year' is a winner. Go, visit this gem that you might have missed!

Ranbir Kapoor's effort to move out of his stereotypes and believe in a smooth low glamour script has produced a movie which would be watched by you again and again. The screenplay is simple yet something which one could romanticize in our own office space. The young aspiring India, wants to engage in entrepreneurship and has ideas. One such aspirant is Ranbir. Movie is about his move to open a start up in an age where start-ups were believed to be suicidal. And the moment you would open one up, it would be annexed by a bigger firm. The screenplay treads their journey amidst suspicion, logistics of opening up a new firm and trying to avoid being annexed by the big fish. The casting is fresh and grounded to the roles demanded of them. Mukseh Bhatt(the peon and the partner), Naveen Kaushik (the marketing head aka Nitin Rathore) have all essayed their roles neatly. And this film deserves an audience. It clings on to an easy aspiring Indian middle class and is fit for family as well as friends. I give it an 8 out of 10.Its worth the effort to sit back and watch Rocket Singh in action!

Rocket Singh is an absolutely beautiful film that illustrates the power of start-up companies and strong business ethics. A relatively new resident of Silicon Valley, I honestly feel like this film was perfect for the San Francisco Bay Area and allowed me to relish this from a unique perspective.The entire success story of the high-tech industry here can be attributed to small start-ups whose conception people initially ridiculed and mocked as was Ranbir's idea. Intelligent minds with something revolutionary to offer to customers begin small teams of 5-10 people, and within a decade or two these companies have grown to have large campuses. I am talking about Google, Cisco, etc. Ranbir's new idea is to offer the same products at rock-bottom prices with extraordinary service. The diverse workforce here consists of people from all ends of the world from all backgrounds. In the film, people ranging from the receptionist to the peon have the potential to handle a company. No one can be stereotyped; the strict hierarchical system is a thing of the past as anyone has the potential to be the next big thing. You may never know; as in Ranbir's case, maybe even your boss will be working for you in the future! Rocket Singh is a truly inspirational movie that gives courage to today's frustrated workers to be entrepreneurs. Don't fear taking risks. While only 1 in 6 businesses here don't fail, each of those 1 of 6 is what built this economy.What I also really appreciated is the strong emphasis on business ethics. What character could be better than a sardar to persist on being honest and remain stubbornly true to his word? And what example could be better than Yash Raj Films--a company that produces its films professionally, legally, and responsibly and is now one of the top production houses in the world--to illustrate this business practice? This film is a wonderful work, though it may not be as easy to relate to for everyone. It truly inspires today's bright, young minds to pursue their dreams, work responsibly, and change the world!

With a funny sounding name and Ranbir Kapoor as a lead character, I assumed that this might be one of the popcorn movies that target the college going demographics, who want a "time pass" movie. But boy I was wrong.This movie is not a typical Bollywood movie. There are no spoilt rich college kids, characters do not hangout at McDonalds or other "hip" joints, no designer clothes, no gaudy weddings and "balle balle" dances, characters do not break into a song every 5 minutes. There are no "Rahuls" and "Priyas" and "Poojas".The movie deals with the issue of business ethics - especially ethics in sales and its importance in customer relations. The hero - who is almost a failure in studies, but has very high moral standards, tries to fight and survive in the dog-eat dog world of selling assembled computers.The story line is taut, focused and do not deviate from the main theme, the direction is excellent. In directorial terms, Rocket Singh is far ahead of Chak De India. I think that has more to do with storyline.The only weak point is an unnecessary love angle - the director could have complete avoided that character. Also, the storyline could have avoided a predictable mushy endingAlso, why does characters have to swear so much - "s**t" word is careless tossed around in the movie, while the female characters uses the word "a@@&**e". Is swearing in English considered to be "hip and cool" while criticising Vishal Bhardwaj for using Hindi swear words in "Omkara"?But the real show stealer is Ranbir Kapoor. He breathes life into the role of computer salesman. He gets into the skin of character, he is not afraid playing a role of loser and does not look uncomfortable speaking Hindi or Punjabi. I hope he gets a nomination for this role. 9/10 - 8 would have been fine, but 9 because it is a Yash Chopra production and still avoid all the clichés of Yashraj banners.