April 28, 2007
'Tara Rum ...'
A Romp Through Life's Ups and Downs By Subhash K. Jha
Film: "Tara Rum Pum"; Cast: Saif
Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Ali Haji, Angelina Idnani, Jaaved Jaffri;
Director: Siddharth Anand; Rating: ***
Hrishikesh
Mukherjee meets Walt Disney in this utterly heart-warming take on
life's most serious and cruel jokes.
There's a moment in Anand's film where Rani plays that clichéd
sequence where the hero's fallen-on-hard-times wife rejects a fat
cheque from her rich father.
"I did the right thing, didn't I?" Rani asks her screen-husband Saif,
who looks aghast. "You turned down a cheque for $50,000? For that
sum of money I'm ready to be compromised every day."
The above sequence is a strangely subverted interpretation of the
sequence from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Satyakam" where Dharmendra's
idealism was weighed against Sharmila Tagore's ability to ward off
temptations.
"Tara Rum Pum" is like a romp through the highest emotional summits
of life's blows. Anand situates this riches-to-rags drama of a
spendthrift car racer, his cautious and principled wife and his two
adorable kids in New York where the economically challenged family
moves from up-market Manhattan to downtown Queens.
Cinematographer Binod Pradhan captures the underbelly of New York
and the racing driver's family story in a restrained rush of
emotional adrenaline. In true Walt Disney tradition, the family
makes the best of its challenged morality when it falls on hard
times.
There are moments, like when Saif's hungry little son, played
naturally by Ali Haji, devours a half-eaten burger retrieved from a
trashcan, where eyes can't but turn moist.
You can't fault the director for pumping up the tears. Commercial
cinema is all about the pleasure you derive in bringing the
fundamental emotions of love and life together.
"Tara Rum Pum" does just that. Anand's screenplay is original from
far. Get closer and you see scenes from "Days Of Thunder" and a
whole chunk from the Russell Crowe boxing film "Cinderella Man"
packaged in vibrant colours.
Saif, I feel, is a better actor than Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe.
He plays the role of the rugged, dare-devilish fallen hero with
pathos and parody.
It helps to have Rani as a co-star. Though her make-up and clothes
are all wrong in the first half, she brings an emotional resonance
to her supportive wife's part in the second-half. Here, she has to
stand by a man who has lost his heroic sheen and is a bit of an
embarrassment to the mirror.
Jaaved Jaffri replicates the role of a star manager from dozens of
Hollywood films. Though his penchant for doing accents (this time
Gujarati) is admirable, he doesn't quite blend with the film's
fabric.
Victor Banerjee is outstanding. He stands out of the script, trying
to give a semblance of originality to the role of the heroine's
rich, snobbish father.
The inspirational tale is buoyed by a bewildering array of songs and
dances, including one where the protagonists dance with animation
figures. They highlight the happy family undergoing distressing
times.
The initial 15 minutes could have been more inspired though.
Nothing, not even the tepid songs by Vishal-Shekhar can take away
from the sheer weightlessness of the narrative as it moves through
several superbly written scenes.
Scenes like the one where Saif and Rani pretend to be satiated at a
family dinner so that the kids can eat properly and another when the
kids stare longingly at a confectionary stall makes you wish all
your cynicism would dissolve.
"Tara Rum Pum" is true feel-good cinema. Siddharth Anand gives us a
slick slice-of-life that swings from joy to sadness. A must-see
family film!
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Hrishikesh
Mukherjee meets Walt Disney in this utterly heart-warming take on
life's most serious and cruel jokes.