Ta Ra Rum Pum

Starring:

Directed by

Rating:

I

t amazes me how Bollywood has appropriated New York. From KHNH to KANK to now TRRP, the city figures in our movies more than Delhi or Bombay. Forget whether we get NY’s geography right but do notice how we are portraying it like an Indian city, a melting pot of Punjus and Gujjus. TRRP goes further, here Americans are totally incidental—either a backdrop or as cameos. The story of the rise and fall and rise of a racing champ is set in NY because you won’t get that kind of adrenaline-rushing backdrop in India. But even in that alien arena, we rag-tag Indians manage to beat them convincingly, boldly displaying the tricolour on our racing uniforms. Nationalism in globalised times.

RV (Saif), a pit crew man, furiously drives Harry’s (Javed) taxi on Manhattan roads and lands a job with Speeding Saddles. He simultaneously falls in love with Radhika, aka Shona (Rani), who’s busy learning piano when not getting drunk on cheap wine. It’s here that the most revolutionary character steps in. Shona’s rich dad advises her not to marry the dude, instead he tells her have a fling and then dump him. Where do you get such affairs-supporting dads in our films and how then could his daughter turn out so square? She marries the guy and stands by him even in bad days.

The film leaves you cold and unmoved even if it deliberately aims to be a three-hanky weepie. There’s a scene in which the couple’s well-scrubbed, nicely-clothed son is shown picking a half-eaten burger from the bin. Instead of any sympathy for this heart-rending display of hunger, you can’t help but giggle at the picturesqueness. Agreed that the film is narrated by a kid and has a non-threatening feel of a fairytale but even Cinderella’s misery was more believable and less designer. Rani experiments badly with a silly "bangs-and-curls" wig, looking wannabe hip in the ghastly minis. The kids are filmi cute and the song with the animated bears is sweet. Saif has this laidback way of carrying himself on screen which makes him so likeable. But in TRRP he, and the rest, are on an automated mode, efficient but those sparks don’t fly.

High Fives

Bollywood
1. Ta Ra Rum Pum
2. Bheja Fry
3. Namastey London
4. Kya Love Story Hai
5. Paris Mein Hungama (subtitled)

Hollywood
1. Spider-Man 3
2. Disturbia
3. Hot Fuzz
4. Harry Potter: Order of Phoenix
5. Grindhouse

Rock
1. Year Zero (Nine Inch Nails)
2. Daughtry (Daughtry)
3. All The Right Reasons (Nickelback)
4. Extreme Behaviour (Hinder)
5. Infinity On High (Fall Out Boy)

Courtesy: Film Information

Business

Sports

Others

Ta Ra Rum Pum

The film leaves you cold and unmoved even if it deliberately aims to be a three-hanky weepie.