Following the success of '' Om Shanti Om '' , Rampal started to rise as a successful actor . In 2008 , Rampal gave an excellent performance in '' Rock On !! '' as Joseph " Joe " Mascarenhas , the lead guitarist of a band , a poor idealist who never learned that self-promotion is more important than music in a remixed world . Rampal learned guitar to prepare for his role . His performance was widely acclaimed , earning him the prestigious National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 56th National Film Awards , Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award at the 54th Filmfare Awards , IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 10th IIFA Awards and Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor . This brought wider success and acclaim to Rampal . Noted critic Nikhat Kazmi of '' Times of India '' praised Rampal 's performance and wrote : " If you actually had to choose , then the vote would go for Arjun Rampal who displays a newfound maturity and looks absolutely groovy with his windblown hair and his guitar-strumming stance . " Martin D'Souza of Bollywood Trade News Network praised Rampal , writing : " Arjun Rampal is slowly coming into his own . After playing a character with a negative shade in '' Om Shanti Om '' , he returns with another powerful performance as Joe Mascarenhas , the lead guitarist of the band . Vibrant at first , and then subdued he walks the act with a rock star gait . " Later that year , he starred in Rituparno Ghosh 's English-language arthouse film '' The Last Lear '' , alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta . The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was received well at a number of other film festivals . Upon its theatrical release in India , Rampal got favourable reviews for his performance . He gave a show-stealing performance . Taran Adarsh wrote : " Arjun is evolving into a fine actor . After '' Rock On !! '' , this is another performance that would fetch Arjun laurels . " Martin D'Souza considered it to be Rampal 's best performance to date . Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN praised Rampal 's performance , writing : " Arjun Rampal shines as the guilt-ridden filmmaker , too ashamed to even apologise for his selfishness . " Rampal 's only release of 2009 was Deepak Tijori 's '' Fox '' , in which he starred opposite Sunny Deol , Sagarika Ghatge and Udita Goswami . The film mainly received negative reviews and flopped at the box office , but Rampal earned critical acclaim . Taran Adarsh praised Rampal 's performance as perfect
56th National Film Awards
56th National Film Awards
Arjun Rampal