Rockford (film)

1999 film by Nagesh Kukunoor

Rockford

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Nagesh Kukunoor
Screenplay by| Nagesh Kukunoor
Story by| Nagesh Kukunoor
Produced by| Padmini Kolhapure
Elahe Hiptoola
Nagesh Kukunoor
Starring| Nagesh Kukunoor
Nandita Das
Rohan Dey
Kailash Atmanathan
Ulrika Krishnamurthy
Imran Mirza
Cinematography| C. Ramprasad
Edited by| Renu Saluja
Music by| Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy
Lesle Lewis

Production
company

SIC Productions

Distributed by| Padmini Films

Release date

* 7 October 1999 (1999-10-07)

Running time

| 102 minutes
Country| India
Language| English

Rockford is a 1999 Indian English-language, coming-of-age drama film written, and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor.[1][2] Produced by Padmini Kolhapure, the film starred Nagesh Kukonoor, Nandita Das, and Rohan Dey in pivotal roles.[3][4] The film received positive reviews, and was screened at the MAMI Film Festival.[5][6]

## Plot

[edit]

Thirteen-year-old Rajesh Naidu arrives at Rockford Boys' High School. Having left home for the first time he is a bit sad. Rajesh's best friends are Selva, a good spirited boy, and David, an arrogant sports hero but with a good heart. The captain of the school – Raja, hates Rajesh. At school, Rajesh experiences the joy and agony of living in an all-male boarding school, learning to fend for himself without the safety net of his parents. There he befriends PT Instructor Johnny Matthew, who teaches Rajesh a lot of lessons of life.

One day the school arranges a fete in which the girls also participate every year, and all the boys are to propose at least one girl. Rajesh is least interested, but goes anyway on Selva's insistence. Unfortunately, David gets hurt and cannot go to the fete. Hence he tells Rajesh to give a card to Malathi, a student from the girls school. But Malathi becomes attracted to Rajesh which David takes in his stride easily.

On Rajesh's birthday, Mr. Matthew pretending to be Malathi's uncle, brings her out of the school to meet Rajesh. This information is then passed on to the headmaster, Brother Lawrence. Shravya, Malati's friend also accompanies them. Malathi and Rajesh spends some time together, sharing their first kiss. Shravya and Mr. Matthew go together for an Ice-Cream. She then accuses Johnny of having assaulted her when they were alone, which is in fact a lie fabricated by Raja. Brother Lawrence, believing the lie to be true asks Mr. Matthew to resign from the school. Rajesh gets bewildered by this and fights Raja with the help of David, and makes him confess the truth in front of Brother Lawrence. Johnny Matthew then gets reinstated and everything ends well.

## Cast

[edit]

* Rohan Dey as Rajesh Naidu
* Kailash Athmanathan as Selva Reddy
* Nagesh Kukunoor as Johnny Matthew (PT Instructor)
* Ulrika Krishnamurti as Malathi
* Imran Mirza as David Fischer
* Jayant Kripalani as Brother Lawrence
* Maj Vijayakumar R as Coach Velu
* Vipin V Kumar as K Senthil aka Didly
* Shilpa Pai as Shravya
* Suhail Bajaj as Raja
* Nandita Das as Lily Vegas
* Debasakti Mohapatra as Happy
* Sohrab Ardeshir

## Soundtrack

[edit]

Rockford

Soundtrack album by

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Lesle Lewis

Released|

1999 (India)

Genre| Feature film soundtrack
Label|

Sony BMG

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Lesle Lewis chronology
|  | Rockford
(1999)  | Bhopal Express
(1999)

|
|

# | Song | Singer(s) | Duration

|
|
|

1 | Aasman Ke Paar | Shankar Mahadevan | 6:15
2 | Rockford Theme | Ashirvad | 3:35
3 | Find Me | Malvika | 2:55
4 | Comatose | Uday Benegal | 3:05
5 | Vegas Theme | Ashirvad | 2:05
6 | Feels So Good | Hariharan, Lesle Lewis | 4:59
7 | Make Merry | John Sudhakar, Ashirvad, Malvika | 4:51
8 | Yaaron | K.K., Lesle Lewis | 4:32

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Stanley ka Dabba – Films where child protagonist stole the show!". The Times of India.
2. ^ "Nagesh Kukunoor's Rockford is much more than your regular coming-of-age tale". 20 March 2018.
3. ^ "Film reviews of 'Rockford' and 'A Life Less Ordinary' : FILMS – India Today". intoday.in. 4 October 1999.
4. ^ "ROCKFORD (1999)". BFI. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018.
5. ^ "Rediff On The NeT, Movies: Rockford review". m.rediff.com.
6. ^ Magan, Srishti (11 April 2018). "Real & Refreshing, Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Rockford' Remains One Of The Best School Films Of All Time". www.scoopwhoop.com.

## External links

[edit]

* Rockford at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Nagesh Kukunoor

* Hyderabad Blues (1998)
* Rockford (1999)
* Bollywood Calling (2001)
* 3 Deewarein (2003)
* Hyderabad Blues 2 (2004)
* Iqbal (2005)
* Dor (2006)
* Bombay to Bangkok (2008)
* 8 X 10 Tasveer (2009)
* Aashayein (2010)
* Mod (2011)
* Lakshmi (2014)
* Dhanak (2016)
* Good Luck Sakhi (2022)

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