Ta Ra Rum Pum [2007]

Ta Ra Rum Pum
[Reviewed: April 29th 2007]

Expectations Yash Raj Films are the best production house in India and I’m a huge fan of there’s so on that level there were some expectations, plus Saif and Rani are two of my favourites… and SalaamNamaste was an entertaining film. However, the expectations weren’t that high…why? Because frankly Yash Raj Films, as much as I still love them, have not really impressed me since Hum Tum and Dhoom in 2004, after that I felt they started to focus more on quantity and were sacrificing their quality…. So yeah I was looking forward to Ta Ra Rum Pum, but my expectations from the movie were nothing more than expecting a decent entertainer.

The Music Directors, Vishal-Shekhar & Lyricist Javed Akhtar have excelled in their departments, especially Javed Akhtar. The lyrics are beautiful and each song keeps in mind the present situation of the film making the songs flow with the narrative of the film and not just be placed for no apparent reason. After watching the film I am in love with the entire soundtrack, Siddharth was right in saying that the music is very important to the film and very appropriate!

Choreographer, Vaibhavi Merchant does an excellent job with each and every song! Each of the songs remains memorable because each of them is such a delight to watch! Ab To Forever surprised me at how well directed it was! It was so much fun and the dancing looked so real, spontaneous and entertaining… Hey Shona was just so beautiful and it was great to see New York in a new light rather then the same old typical busy-rushy-crappy way we usually see it haha… Ta Ra Ra Ra Rum was beautiful and emotional, more of a musical sequence then a song as such really, same goes for Saaiyaan… Nachle Ve was so much fun and I just loved how it came into the film (bath-time hehe, so touching)…one of the best songs I’ve ever watched, so fun and cute! And finally the title song, Ta Ra Rum Pum, was so adorable…such a cute song *sigh* those bear’s were adorable, as were the animated locations hehe, and hats off to all four actors for acting that song out so well!

The Costumes are just mind-blowing! Each and every actor is dressed so suitably… I especially love the job Surily Goel done in designing Rani’s outfits – they were so normal and so beautiful…fashionable, yet wearable! Each and every time Rani appeared onscreen I would be like ‘wow, that outfit is awesome!’ haha… Mamta Anand (I think it was her anyway) did a good job as per usual with Saif’s designing too! The kids were dressed great too!

Cinematographer, Binod Pradan does a brilliant job as per usual…the film is a visual-treat but the best thing about it is that Binod catches the locations in such a fresh way and realistic way…there are times when the camerawork has been done in such a way that there’s a slight claustrophobic feel in the second part of the film and I thought that was really different to how we usually see places in the USA being shown as some huge and spacious place all the time… Oh and it was great to see him in a special appearance hehe

The Story is fantastic… and the Screenplay is really good too, there wasn’t a moment of boredom… the screenplay was tight and effective – perfect.

Random Comments I don’t have time to talk about my favourite moments or anything but here are some very, very random points…

- A flaw I noticed… there was a picture of the family in their blue clothes from the Nachle Ve song, way before Nachle Ve or the accident etc even happened!! That was a huge flaw that really shocked me… Very irresponsible on the set-designers part (Sharmistra Roy was it?) and quite bad for Sid who, as the director, should have noticed and taken action on that!

- The car races were breath taking! The speed…! God…seriously every time there was a car race my heart was in my throat…and by the climax it was IN MY MOUTH LOL!

- I loved the unique style of the film…I loved the characterisations…especially Rajveer and Radhika… I loved the family-ness…I loved how it dealt with real emotions, money problems…problems that are real.

- The first half was adorable, cute, funny and entertaining… and the second half was heavily emotional, sensitive and beautiful...

Director, Siddharth Anand comes into his own with this film! SalaamNamaste was a nice film and was definitely well directed, but Siddharth has certainly matured as a filmmaker with Ta Ra Rum Pum, dealing with more mature issues and handling them with sensitivity. He never once goes overboard with the emotion and keeps a perfect balance between the comic moments and the sad moments. Hats off to him for this film because this is the first time in 5 years (since K3G) that I have cried my heart out so, so, so much! There is still room for Siddharth to grow and improve as a director…as the captain of the ship he has to take responsibility for the minor (and slightly ridiculous haha) flaws that were in the film, there weren’t many but there were some and hopefully next time he will sort that out also… he’s definitely grown and there’s only one way left for him – climbing even higher. Great job Sid, because I see Ta Ra Rum Pum as a ‘Siddharth Anand product’ and not as a ‘Yash Raj product’ (which SalaamNamaste definitely appeared to be).

Saif Ali Khan is just amazing, he’s a natural… his dialogue delivery, facial expressions, body language…you know it, and you got it in the most perfect form! He suits the role like no one else could have and he carries the film on his shoulders from his entry right till the last scene! Be it as a lover, husband, racer or father – he performs each part of his role with equal excellence… he’s always been a great actor but in the past few years the growth in Saif has been impeccable, he’s ironed out any faults people could’ve pointed at him for and today he is just so talented and definitely right up there at the top as an actor! And of course, he was looking awesome too! Saif and Rani share such a warm and beautiful chemistry, I seriously cannot think of another kind of film that I would have liked to seen them in after Hum Tum…this was a perfect second venture for this gorgeous pair!

Rani Mukerji well, it’s just getting so common now to say that her performance was just so natural and flawless! It was great to see her as Radhika because [1] I don’t remember the first time she done such a youthful role like she was in the first half and [2] seeing her play a mother to the two children in the second half was a first and it was a great treat! The warmth, support and emotion she delivered in the second half is something no other actress could have done! I truly fell in love with her character thanks to her beautifully natural portrayal and the ease with which she makes her character grow from the Radhika in the first half to the second half, oh and not to mention she was looking so gorgeous and glam, it was a treat to watch her in the get-up in both halves of the film!

Angelina Idnani was stunning! Such a great performance from such a little girl… she’s talented, gorgeous and adorable! Her role is really important to the film and she succeeds in portraying it naturally with flying colours.

Ali Haji is just the most adorable child I have ever seen, aww he is just so cute! His performance was awesome and his innocence is so heart-warming… I really loved seeing him and Angelina as siblings – they made a really cute bro-sis!

Jaaved Jaffery was fantastic…he carried over some of his SN traits onto this role too (same-to-same as sam-to-sam haha and of course pluralizing some words by adding a random s at the end lol) and it was really fun to see that…but the best thing is that he performed so naturally in not just those comic moments but the more serious times in the film too…great performance!

All the other actors (Shruti Seth, Victor Bannerjee and everyone else) were fantastic in their roles also!

Overall Verdict Ta Ra Rum Pum … Like I said, it’s the first time in 5 years that I have cried so much while watching a film…the film truly touched my heart! It’s entertaining, it has repeat value, it’s emotional and the best thing about it is that it carries the most beautiful social message it could. In today’s day and age when money is such a huge issue, I think it’s really refreshing to see a film like this, which behind all it’s cuteness/glamour/gloss is actually a beautiful, sensitive and warm film that deals with realistic situations … A must watch for all who those people who are very family oriented and of course all you who lead money oriented lives (all you shop-a-holics out there) haha! To be honest, for me, the best thing about the film was that it dealt with a family’s struggle, a family coming together…and a problem (money), which is far more real and problematic, then what most films use (love)… I mean it was refreshing to see the issue here being money and not love and it dealing with a family, not just a couple…all this was REAL and seeing YRF make something like this was a great feel…I’m glad to say YRF did not suffer from quality when it comes to Ta Ra Rum Pum…it’s a quality product all the way…well done Sid and well done to the rest of the team too!

Rating 9/10 (though I was debating with myself, was about to give it a 8.5 but then I was like oh shut it haha what’s a 0.5…Maybe I will revise the rating later but for now it’s definitely getting a 9!)

Strength, family, love and courage…Ta Ra Rum Pum speeds all the way to the centre of my heart… I love it.