Soundtrack - Movie Review | Rajeev Khandelwal | Soha Ali Khan | Mrinalini Sharma

The ApunKaChoice movie review of Soundtrack.
Some real life characters are insanely inspirational. Take, for instance, the legless South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, the ‘blade runner’ who is also described as the fastest man on no legs and can give the able-bodied sprinters a run for their sweat money. Or take the legendary Beethoven, who continued to compose music despite going deaf as a post. Director Neerav Ghosh’s film Soundtrack is a tale of one such man.

Inspired from the 2005 Canadian movie It’s All Gone Pete Tong, Soundtrack tells the story of Raunak Kaul (Rajeev Khandelwal). Raunak comes to Mumbai and becomes a famous DJ but soon falls victim to his own success as he plunges headlong into a life of sex, drugs and disc consoles. The hedonistic lifestyle takes a huge toll. Raunak’s career plummets and, worse, he begins to lose his hearing ability. Soon, all the sound and raunak is gone from his life. Poof!

But then, Raunak rehabilitates and reforms, and meets Gauri (Soha Ali Khan), herself hearing impaired but an expert in lip reading. She instills Raunak with hope and inspiration. The deaf protagonist does the seemingly impossible when he begins to feel the music in other ways than hearing and comes up with a new album. Will his finished career get a new lease of life?

For the most part, Soundtrack stays close to its Canadian inspiration, but director Neerav Ghosh show amateurishness in dealing with certain aspects of the narrative. For instance, the clown that haunts Raunak fails to make for a convincing metaphor of his inner demon. Likewise, the music of Soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired.

A fat share of credit must go to Rajeev Khandelwal for making Soundtrack work. He is every bit the wasting, oversexed junkie in the first half and the repentant but unyielding man in the second half. Soha Ali Khan, who lisps her dialogues, provides ample support to the leading man without being reduced to a romantic prop. Similarly, Mrinalini Sharma is darn good as our hero’s partner in sex and debauchery. Mohan Kapoor is emphatic as Raunak’s agent.

In a nutshell, Soundtrack may be far from being a stupendous film, but thanks to its unique story (inspired albeit) and the performances by the actors, it turns out to be a decent attempt by a debutant director.

Recommended, if you’re itching to watch something hakte.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5