Rockstar was released in theatres on November 11, 2011. The film had Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri in the lead. It also marked the posthumous screen appearance of the legendary Shammi Kapoor after he died in August 2011.

Rockstar saw the late Shammi Kapoor share screen space with his grand-nephew Ranbir Kapoor. Shammi Kapoor had essayed the character of Ustad Jameel Khan, the first person who discovers Janardhan’s (Ranbir Kapoor) singing talent.

Imtiaz Ali recently told Filmy Shilmy about Shammi Kapoor’s dedication to his acting craft, and how he kept on performing despite being in pain.

Speaking of how ill Shammi Kapoor was, Imtiaz Ali shared, “I knew the kind of pain Shammi ji was going through to come to set and perform each scene. He was going through a lot of pain and he was… I don’t want to get into how painful it was for him to exist at that point in time. And it is his blessing that he was in the film and he gave it everything.”

Recalling one of the scenes where Imtiaz could feel the pain that Shammi Kapoor was going through, the director said, “And I knew he was just coming from the hospital and he was in so much pain. But the shot was not okay for me as a director, because there was pain on his face which was not supposed to be there. I went and told him. Because I thought that this was not the actor that said bohot achha tha Shammi ji. It’s a lie. I went and told him ‘Shammi ji this is a very good take but there is pain on your face. I can go with this take’, he just looked down and said ‘Okay, let’s do one more.’ And then he just gave himself 30 seconds to take the pain out of his face, and then took the shot.”

Ali concluded by saying that he felt the balance was just right in the film with Shammi Kapoor’s scenes. He said, “I’m very happy that there are those scenes and those only, between Ranbir and Shammi ji.”

Rockstar was re-released in theatres on May 17, 2024, due to popular demand.