A real dud!

By Manisha Vardhan, MovieTalkies.com, 27 April 2007 2.5 / 5

Siddharth Anand's Tara Rum Pum turns out to be quite a dampner. One expected a little more sense and originality from him, post Salaam Namaste. One only comes away feeling disappointed. Is it really so unrealistic to expect some iota of originality in treatment? Guess so! Anyway, the ‘family audience' for whom this and others like this are made, seem quite content. With film directors only interested in how glossy their product looks, content, as usual will continue to suffer. To run through the storyline, let's warn you first that it is a takeoff on quite a few Hollywood biggies, beginning with Cindrella Man and culminating in that wonderful film, Life Is Beautiful. Unfortunately, Saif Khan and Rani Mukherjee are not Russell Crowe and Rene Zellweger, and neither does the Chhote Nawab have the magic of Roberto Benigni. Having said that, one has to admit that the actors sail through their parts with ease. One can hardly blame them for the flaws, in the script. So we have RV (Saif) and Shona (Rani), two NRIs, who keep meeting each other, fall in love and marry against the heroine's father (Victor Banerjee)'s will. That kind of takes care of the first half of the movie. The only twist of any, or the director's ‘masterstroke' of originality is the fact that the hero is car racing champion! Moving on, the champ has a cute little family, wife and two children. Things are great till tragedy strikes! RV has an accident and develops a race track phobia. The family's fortunes go into a decline and they instantly become poor with no food on the table as well! They are forced to leave their palatial home and shift into a shanty. This is where the bit from Life is Beautiful is taken with Saif trying to do Benigni. The kids are conned into believing that their present state of affairs is all part of a reality show called "Don't Worry be Happy." So everybody smiles through their misfortunes. Of course the poignancy of the situation in Life is, is missing here. Imagine a Nazi concentration camp and a NY shanty! The director piles on clichés upon clichés with sacrifice and a near death situation till the wheel of fortune swings back again in their favour. But it takes three hours for it to do so. And a very long three hours it is too. There is not much to recommend in the film besides the lead pair. Their chemistry, screen presence and charm keeps the film moving. Saif fits the character RV, living in the present, with not a care for tomorrow. Rani, as the devoted wife and mother, is equally good. But it is the clichés created by the director which are jarring. All the situations in the film appear to be so contrived and do nothing to give the plot any semblance of respectability. For all we care, RV could have been a rich doctor, rock star or anything else. Where the director fails is precisely here – what happens to an RV when he faces failure? That would have made for wonderful human drama. Honest drama, actually. Instead what we are fed is a lot of candy floss emotions. So go ahead and do a tara rum pum!

Not too many winners here

By MovieTalkies.com, 27 April 2007 2 / 5

The Yashraj banner has been known for the quality of its music. Ta Ra Rum Pum, their much-awaited release, starring the bankable pair of Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee has music by the Vishal-Shekhar duo and lyrics by the inimitable Javed Akhtar. The music of the album is quite average. There are not too many winners here. The most memorable numbers are the title track and Hey Shona. The rest of the soundtrack is pleasant enough but nothing soul stirring. Thankfully, the CD of the film has no remixes but six original soundtracks. The title track of Ta Ra Rum Pum is a happy song and has Shaan and Mahalaxmi Iyer lending their voices along with Saif's rendition of a story. Master Shravan Suresh and Sneha lend their vocals for the children. The number is suitably cheery and lively and has a feel-good factor about it. The second number, Hey Shona rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan is probably the pick of the album. It is the romantic song in the film. The singers, Shaan and Sunidhi, are a perfect foil for each other. Sunidhi's throaty voice and Shaan's soft vocals blend very well and give us a number whose beauty is enhanced by the quality of the lyrics. Vishal-Shekhar don't quite get it quite right with Nachle Ve, the mandatory Punjabi number in the film. Sonu Nigam lends his voice for this song along with Sowmya Raoh. It has all the mandatory sounds of a typical bhangra number but does not shake or stir beyond a level. Quiet an average number again. Shreya Ghoshal's Ta Ra Ra Rum Tararumpum is a slow number. Shreya is a very good singer and she proves her mettle again in rendering this slow, sentimental track. Her voice is perfectly pitched and crystal clear and she incorporates the right nuances to make this song quite memorable. This is easily the best song of the album. This singer is really doing well for herself these days. She is fast becoming indispensable with music directors for a certain kind of song. Ab To Forever by Shreya and KK, along with Vishal Dadlani providing an enthusiastic hip-hop accompaniment, is a spirited number. KK of the velvet voice and Shreya, in her third number in the album, sing it with gusto and verve and carry the mood of the song through. Vishal tries his hands at singing the last number in this album, Saiyaan as well. It is the Sufi equivalent in the album. Another cliché in this album. But Vishal still does a very decent job with the song. In fact, he surprises us with his choice. The lyrics of the song are very well written and Vishal gives a valiant rendition. Unfortunately, the song is not exactly chartbuster material. We have heard better Sufi style numbers in films in recent years and this one pales in comparison. On the whole, the album makes for very pleasant hearing. The music is good and the lyrics have been written well. It definitely has two chartbusters in the title track and in Hey Shona. Of course, some of the songs are more situational and can probably only be savoured while watching the film. But even though the music does live up to a certain standard, it is not yet in the memorable category. One would say, pleasant music, a couple of great numbers, lots of variety in terms of genres, but this is definitely not a winner. A little more in terms of creativity from the music directors would definitely have gone a long way in making Tara Rum Pum an above average album.

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