So how did Akhtar find this new role? “I was busy focusing on directing my new film Voice from the Sky, for which we have finalised Akshaye Khanna, and my next acting role in Zoya Akhtar’s Luck by Chance, when Abhishek Kapoor came to me with a story,” he says.
Rock On revolves around a Delhi boy, who comes to Mumbai to form a rock band that, for some emotional deadlock, fritters away and regroups a decade later. It was a feel-good, realistic, underdog story that Akhtar couldn’t refuse as it “immediately took me back to the world and genre of Dil Chahta Hai.”
“Ever since DCH released eight years ago, a lot of people I have met the world over have asked me, ‘Why are you making war films and thrillers? Please do something like a DCH again,” says Akhtar. Debutant director Kapoor was one of the many Akhtar fans who wanted that magic back. And he was sure that if he were to make a buddy flick, it had to have Akhtar in it.
Kapoor also can’t stop raving about Akhtar’s singing skills—he has sung five of the nine tracks in Rock On—though the man himself is modest.
“The microphone is quite a villain because the way it magnifies the smallest inflection that you feel ‘Oh my god, I should quit,” says Akhtar. “Getting ready to face the mike was quite a process. First, I gave a demo to the film’s music directors for them to analyse and work out my singing range. Next, I practiced breathing exercises to work out the technicalities before we progressed to some truly complicated songs.” Akhtar calls the ballad Tum ho toh the toughest on the list “because of its slow languid pace with many portions holding single notes over many bars…”

... contd.