Tara Rum Pum

Tara Rum Pum—the name sounds weird for a movie. When I entered the theatre, I had no idea as to what the movie is like; when I came out of the theatre at the end of the movie, I still couldn’t connect the film to its name. Sometimes an improper name can ruin a good script. I hope the same doesn’t happen to this otherwise good movie.

When I say “good”, I don’t mean to eulogise it. It is an average film with all the masala in it, which brings it very close to being a tear-jerker. All adherents of the saas-bahu cult will surely love this movie. But people who were expecting another Hum-Tum magic from this Saif Ali Khan-Rani Mukherjee starrer, will be disappointed. The film is anything but magic.

The last time I saw Pataudi Junior give a power-packed performance was in Omkara. If Langda Tyagi (which he played with venom) was brilliant, Rajveer Singh or RV was lame in Tara Rum Pum. He couldn’t really pull it off, although there was much scope for power play in the film. He just couldn’t immerse himself in the role he played. It seemed all the time, he was thinking about his break-up with Rosa, his Italian girlfriend.

Rani Mukherjee (Radhika Bannerjee), on the other hand, played her part well. She looks stunning in this film! For the first time in her film career, she is not looking awful in Western dresses. And it is again the first instance when she doesn’t wear any traditional Indian dress in a film. Beautiful and smart (and almost ten kilos lighter), Rani Mukherjee is the woman to watch in this film.

And how can I forget the kids! The child actors (Ali Haji and Angelina Idjania) have given a superb performance in their limited roles. With their innocent looks and lovely smiles, I am sure they will win a lot of hearts. They certainly did win mine!

The multi-talented Javed Jafferey plays an important role in the movie. With his impressive (yet funny) Gujarati accent, Javed has some of the best one-liners in the movie. Still, he could have been utilised in a better way.

The only actor who looks awkward in his role is Victor Bannerjee. He plays the role of Rani Mukherjee’s father: a rich businessman who understands the language of money, not heart. His is the most imbalanced character in the movie. When he advises his daughter to have a fling with the “racer” and not really think about marrying him, he sounds like a cheap man (especially when he tells her that he himself had a number of illicit affairs before settling down). Again, when he hands over a $ 50,000 cheque to her in her troubled times, he looks more like a considerate money-lender than a father. That made me ask myself: are all rich fathers like that? If yes, how do they father good daughters like Radhika? It is a mystery that can’t be solved.

The movie has a number of sequences that have been inspired by different Bollywood-Hollywood movies. The song “Tara Rum Pum” (where the family dances with animated bears) seems to be inspired from Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins. There is an exactly similar song-dance sequence, where Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews and two kids (a boy and a girl) dance along with animated characters.

In another sequence, Saif gets out of a race when he remembers his near-fatal accident on the tracks. That thought haunts him everywhere, even when he becomes a taxi-driver. Tom Cruise was similarly haunted in the movie Top Gun (remember how he used to disengage from combat?).

Nevertheless, the film does give some good messages. The scene where Javed Jafferey advises Saif to retire from his game while he is still at the top, somehow made me remember the under-performing Indian cricket team. And the way Saif reacts to the advice, is strikingly similar to Sachin Tendulkar’s rhetoric post Team India’s failure in the 2007 World Cup.

The film inspires you to overcome your failures in life. RV’s is the typical rags-to-riches, then back to rags, and again to riches story. Despite being at the top of his game, one accident brings his career to near end. He loses his wealth, his house and all other possessions, very much like Rocky Balboa in Rocky V. But unlike Balboa, our hero rises from the ashes, thanks to the support of his wife and kids, and makes a comeback in style ala our own Dada, Sourav Ganguly.

Racing freaks will get to see a lot of expensive, fast cars and big brand names like Chevrolet and Castrol. Surrogate advertising has been done in the best possible way in this movie. But somehow, you don’t get the adrenaline rush while going through the racing sequences. All the tension and excitement of the racers and spectators alike was missing, giving it a filmy touch. And all throughout the movie, the Will Ferrel and Sacha Baron Cohen starrer Talladega Nights kept on coming to my mind. You will have to see this movie to find out why.

For the spendthrifts, this is an ultimate movie to watch. It tells you why you should learn to save money and not squander away your wealth. Troubled times don’t come in instalments—they overwhelm you all at once. But even if you are not thrifty, make it sure that you have a spouse who can keep a track of your expenses. Learn to save and think for the future. Don’t make your love your weakness!