Rockstar is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali.

A flashback reveals the story of Jordan, whose real name is Janardan Jakhar ("JJ"), a Jat boy from Delhi.

He watches the dance performance of Heer Kaul, a beautiful girl from St. Stephen's College, during a contest, and overhears that she is the "perfect heartbreaking machine."

Remembering Khatana's words, he decides to propose to her but suffers humiliation, which he sees as the perfect method for enduring the heartbreak needed for stardom.

He takes refuge for two months in the nearby Nizamuddin Dargah, singing qawwalis, and then moves into Khatana's home.

Ustaad Jameel Khan, a renowned classical musician, hears JJ's singing at the Dargah and prompts Dhingra, the owner of "Platinum Records," to sign him.

Sheena, a journalist, interviews JJ and hints to him that Dhingra is sending artists to Prague for a Europe tour.

Upon being deported back to India, he is overwhelmed by the attention he receives, and clashes with the media and the Indian police, resulting in a jail term.

After being released, JJ terminates his contract with Dhingra, embarks on a countrywide tour, and finally morphs fully into "Jordan,"  the rockstar he had aspired to be.

He starts disregarding his musical obligations to spend more time with her, and Khatana, his manager now, asks Heer to persuade Jordan to attend his concerts.

Heer dies offscreen, leaving Jordan in a permanent state of grief, who finally achieves international stardom like his idol.

The film cuts back to the concert in Verona, and while performing, Jordan sees a vision of a smiling Heer walking towards him.

Ranbir Kapoor plays the male lead of Rockstar, with whom Eros International worked previously on Anjaana Anjaani (2010).

His role of Jordan is loosely based on Imtiaz Ali's Jat friend, who lived in a small settlement in Pitam Pura.

A major part of the shooting took place in Kashmir at Kulgam, Kupwara, Pahalgam and Srinagar, while the last phase was shot in Delhi at places like the Kotla Mubarakpur, Nizamuddin Dargah, Greater Kailash, Munirka, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Amity School (deleted scenes), Connaught Place, Shri Ram College of Commerce, BL Kapoor Hospital, Rajendra Nagar, St. Stephen's College and Hindu College, which was Ali's alma mater.

[17] Ranbir had to transform himself into a rockstar: he practised guitar at A. R. Rahman's studio in Chennai for many days, read Kurt Cobain's biography and familiarised himself with Jats.

Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Rockstar is a simple, unspectacular tale, sometimes even predictable, but director Imtiaz Ali masterfully weaves in details that draw us in.

"[36] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India also gave the film 4 out of 5 and stated that "The highpoint of Rockstar is its high tension, high-on-passion romance between two unlikely people".

"[38] Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times also gave a rating of 3.5 out of 5 and noted "The canvas is wide like early Sanjay Leela Bhansali's; bird's view of the stunning bridge is very Mani Ratnam; witty, earthy dialogues are so Vishal Bhardwaj.

Director Imitiaz Ali manages to retain a personal, auteur's touch in a genre vastly commercial, mainstream.

"[39] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and said "On the whole, Rockstar does not live up to the confidence and expectations from the otherwise very skilled and accomplished filmmaker Imtiaz Ali.

"[40] Hrithik Sharma of El Viaje Reviews included it in his select list of Bollywood classics and says that "Rockstar is a unique cocktail of 50% drama, 40% romance and 10% comedy.

"[42] Sumit Bhattacharya of Rediff gave a rating of 2.5 out of 5, saying that "Rockstar is what is called a one-time watch", and highlighted that the film "is more Devdas than The Doors".

gave the film 1 star out of 5, and said "Rockstar drives home an unscientific hypothesis that people who’ve endured sufferings/heartbreak etc will reach their creative best.

[47] Anuj Kumar of The Hindu said "Imtiaz Ali's latest is yet another good-looking product where a promising new-age director fails to translate his thoughts into something convincing.

The film opened to a strong response at multiplexes with bookings averaging around 60–70%, and single screens witnessed a lower capacity at around 30–40%.

[12][52] The strong opening was attributed to the multiplexes across cities, the "star power" of Ranbir Kapoor as well as the youthful theme of the film.