Cut...

...the crap!

Blogging itself has become a rare event nowadays. Even if I do blog, posting about films consecutively is even rarer. In the unlikely event of that happening, posting about a hindi movie is the rarest of all events.

It did happen: Movie name is TaRaRumPum (I hope I have conveyed the subtelities in the case sensitive title in the exact manner the director wanted to). I haven't watched a lot many hindi movies, but this was absolute trash for numerous reasons.

1. It's supposed to be an NRI film. What the hell does that mean? OK, let me guess - does it take place in New York? Yes. Does it feature rampant culture confusions? Yes. Do the cast go with non-Indian names (Harry, Billy, Princess, Champ)? Yes.

2. The hero is a NASCAR dirver. F1 I can understand. Mountain biking, why not. But NASCAR?! If this movie is catered towards NRI's, you lost us right there. If it is used as more useless propaganda of "Amayrican life-style" to already confused folks in India, you scored some points. Actually, wait. Yuppies in India watch F1, not NASCAR.

3. The story is about realization. The hero is portrayed as a live-for-this-minute person, who doesn't bother to care about tomorrow. There is no background details about why he is passionate about driving or racing. But he just jumps in a taxi cab and drives like crazy. Oh, the original cab driver is actually a laid-off racing team manager! Of course, his name is Harry.

4. The pair go against the heroine's dad wishes (the only character in the movie who made some sense, inspite of him asking his daughter to have an affair with the hero and forget!) and of course buy a palatial house in some place with ponds and rustling leaves but still need to come to Manhattan to buy bread. Oh, and they get married in a car (with a preacher and all) on the way to their house.

5. Each and every scene about the hero screams that he is a prize-idiot. So, his starting point is low. Then due to momentary success in racing, he rises up. With relation to his original starting point, it seems (to him and to an extent to the heroine) that he has risen really high, but the fact that he is an idiot doesn't change. Then he falls and realizes that he is still an idiot. Ably supporting him is his wife, who apparently gets her intellect from reading Elizabethan history (WHY?), Mathematical logic(!), violin, piano, karate (ok, I added that one), but still doesn't get a college degree. Oh, and by the way, she uses an ipod and throws some flowers nonchalantly on the streets of Manhattan.

The story takes a turn when the racer's luck runs out and is rendered bankrupt since most of the things they bought are on credit. They try to convince their children (they have two model-like kids) that this is a reality-show and they should curtail their spending. But that is unchartered territory for the hero and the family struggles. I don't want to give away the story(?), but actually I may be doing a service to not put you guys through torture.

There are some dramatic elements and sequences in the movie to keep us occupied for some time in the middle. The not-so-glamorous lifestyle of NY cab drivers are shown honestly. Javed Jafery's acting was pretty well done. But the positives in the movie stop there.

I don't know where the artistic freedom ends and where assaulting of intellect starts. This is not even a spoof on over-spending or we-know-and-the-hero-knows-that-it-is-a-fun-movie. It is pretty sad to see such movies being made in the pretext of "feeling-good" and "fun".

On a normal day, I would have enjoyed animated characters in a movie, but this time, I wanted to shout "OMG! Cut the crap" when papa, mama and two bear cubs dance with the hero's family!