Rockstar is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2011 Hindi musical film of the same name, directed by Imtiaz Ali, and starring Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri in the lead roles.

The album features fourteen tracks, and was released on 30 September 2011 by T-Series to extremely positive critical reception and hysterical response from fans, grabbing nominations and numerous music awards held in the subsequent year.

[2] In 2010, during the development of the album, Rahman stated, "Rockstar is a character driven film and as one can guess from the title, there will be lots of guitar".

[1] To make it sound like something that could come from character Jordan, Kamil toned down the original after a few more rounds of discussion the lines were "Jo Bhi Main Kehna Chaahoon Barbaad Kare Alfaaz Mere" in the soundtrack.

[1] Upon development of the vociferating words Sadda Haq, Kamil stated that the situation needed a politically charged number that Jordan performs before a surging crowd at the height of his artistic angst.

[1] On writing lyrics of "Phir Se Udd Chala", the analogies, he stated on introduction of offtrack lines like "Banu Raavan, Jiyoon Mar Marke" ("I become Raavan by continuing to live each time I die"), "The line was a metaphor for character Jordan who like the demon Ravan from the mythology Ramayana, dies a number of times and yet goes on with his life and that is why I used the Ravan simile.

Likewise, when Jordan is thrown out of his house in the film, he goes to Nizamuddin Dargah, spends time with the Qawwals, absorbs their music and plays with them.

[10] A review by Mumbai Mirror concluded, "Mohit shines through with his versatility, Irshad Kamil's lyrics make simplicity seem profound and Rahman shows who's the boss.

"[13] Critic Baradwaj Rangan wrote, "Rahman, we have trained ourselves to be indulgent, even if we suspect that he is never going to give us an album that we take to instantly, and even if we fear that we are going to rush out in droves to purchase our copies of Rockstar duck only to register the initial response of bemusement.

"[14] For Bloomberg TV India, Pratish Narayan stated, "So it’s left to Rahman to redeem the movie with a soundtrack and score that is arguably his best and most diverse since "Dil Se.." more than a decade ago.

Credit must also go to Mohit Chauhan, whose voice gives life to almost all the songs, ranging from catchy rock tunes and Indian folk music to soulful and dark sufi numbers and romantic ballads.

[16] Saibal Chatterjee at NDTV noted, "AR Rahman’s outstandingly lively and eclectic musical score presents a wide range of sounds blended into a harmonious whole.

"[17] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India reviewed the score as, "The music by AR Rahman are stuff classics are made of.

Each AR Rahman number is lilting, and woven beautifully in the story, the high frequency of songs not hindering the storytelling but enhancing the experience.

Lyricist Irshad Kamil does an outstanding job, penning words that reflect the lead character’s state of mind and complement situations aptly.

"[20] Raja Sen at Rediff stated, "It's remarkable how much narrative detail Ali leaves to the asides, to margin notes not underscored and overwhelmed by AR Rahman's grand, lovely soundtrack.

"[22]Rajeev Masand was quoted saying, "AR Rahman’s score serves as the spine of this enterprise, emerging expectedly as one of the film’s biggest strengths.

"[23] Special mini-concerts were planned across cities including Delhi, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Pune, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Indore and Bangalore.

When the record label's head, Bhushan Kumar was questioned about the missing credit on the album cover, he claimed that it was producer's mistake.

There were certain discussions between (Imtiaz) Ali and the Board regarding retaining a kiss between two actors (Ranbir and Nargis), but there have been no disagreement regarding deleting the flag from the frames."

Ranbir Kapoor(as Jordan) - Narration The complete track listing of the soundtrack was released on 16 September 2011, on A. R. Rahman's official site.

Credits adapted from A. R. Rahman's official website[36] as well as original CD liner notes[37] Clinton Cerejo's session singers Suzanne D'Mello's session singers: A. R. Reihana, Swetha Mohan, Prashanthini, Augustine Paul, Ebenezer Arunkumar, Rachel Tharian, Joel Thilagaraj, Cleona Abraham, Kalyani Nair, Nadisha Thomas, Harini Ramkumar, Priyadharshini, Deepa Mariam, Parveen Azad, Simran, Rumana Ali, Shagufta Jan, Shagufta Rehman, Srinidhi Venkatesh Crowd chorus: Sumit Basu, Roysten Abel, Teddy Maurya, Abhishek Roy, Satish Raj, Ashima Chibber, Tanmai Rastogi, Anubhav Roy, Abhinandan Reddy, Pushpa Jain