Janardan (Ranbir Kapoor), born and brought up in the very middle class locality of Pitampura in Delhi, has a larger than life dream of being a rockstar like Jim Morrison! But all he gets from his reluctant audience is ridicule and humiliation. He is at his wit's end, when he realizes that all musical stars; all artists in fact, have one thing in common. And that is tragedy. They all have tragic lives. They have all suffered painful heartbreaks to become what they are. Alas, there is no pain in Janardan's life, it is an oasis of peace. Unless he does something drastic, he will never become a rockstar. Heer Kaul (Nargis Fakhri) is the undisputed diva of the college campus beautiful, talented, arrogant, rich, and unavailable. She has broken many hearts.
Janardan hopes she will break his heart too. He sets out to woo Heer with the sole object of getting his heart broken. Rock star is the journey of a boy, who leaves behind Janardan to become Jordan; who traverses the highs and lows of life from simple naivete to tortured soul, from the pleasure of unaffected friendship to the torment of unrequited love, from the campus in Delhi to the international stage. He ultimately gets all that his heart has ever desired, but in the process shatters/loses his heart forever.