"The Best meets the Best" should be an apt saying for the
Yashraj and the
Walt Disney collaboration for the best animated full length feature film to be churned out from the
Indian Film Industry…when I say this I do not by any chance mean to degrade the previous releases but in fact I wanna say that Indian Animation Industry will surely wake up after watching
RR…coz a huge step taken towards betterment or upliftment of anything should be more than welcome….right? and that's what we should thank
YRF, Walt Disney and the whole creative team of
Tata Elxi for….now you guys might be thinking why have I not included the films director
Jugal Hansraj's name here….lets talk about him later…
The main ingredients of an animated film like the colors, the movement, the textures, the shadows, the environment are all so perfect in RR that there will be times when you will feel like touching the characters…
I don't know about others but while watching RR atleast I was feeling proud with every passing frame to be a part of this Industry…an Industry which, in the past, was making films in the ANIMATION genre but somehow or the other the look was very amateurish (No comparisons with the west) in some of them and very very bad and hasty in some like My Friend Ganesha2 (Arggggghhhh, eeeeeksssss, bwaaaak)…
RR is definitely a cut above the rest simply for its superb animation….voice selection of the characters…and the lively and witty dialogues…but falls flat on its face in more than one department (Now here I talk about Jugal- the director)…Script…Music (Not all that great) and the biggest question of all the differentiation of its target audience….which I actually thought would be kids but while watching the film barring few places no where did I find that the film is targeted at kids…coz of too much of maturity in dialogues (Hillarious though!!)…there were hardly any lines which the kids would pick up and it will become a trade mark…
Jugal Hansraj's one line of the story is very catchy that how a cute and rich young pet from a filthy rich family, Romeo's (Saif) fate lands him in a slum and how with the help of his ability of smooth talking, he manages his way through in that big bad world of stray dogs...how he falls in love with the most happening babe of the area Laila (Kareena), and after a misunderstanding between them how he wins back the love of Laila. but that's about it I mean taking into account RR being an animated film, so many stories could have been woven around this interesting theme but Jugal opted for the tried and tested formula of a typical Indian pot boiler of the late eighties, the early and mid nineties, that's where the film faulters big time…
But I am seriously telling you all these notes of mine are the after thoughts of RR but once you are watching the film, these things will sit miles away from your mind, may be in the dicky of your car ;-) it's a very lovable film…though it drags in between but again manages to maintain its pace…
Whatever Jugal may have done with the script but one thing which works in his favor are the lovable characters he has created and also some of the weird incidents and stories he has managed to create successfully relating to dogs…like the game which dogs play at midnight of which dog will wake up maximum house owners by barking the maximum…the idea of a dog opening a salon…like the term "Cash" in the dogs world actually means "Bones" … "Aaj Haddi Kal Udhar" ;-)
There are dialogues to make you laugh…mind you not just giggle but laugh…at certain points you will feel like clapping hard and laugh aloud at the same time...all this happens may be because its an animated effort, and passionately attempted, had it been a regular motion picture it would have been a total NO NO with the audience…RR has a host of facilities for the dogs….night clubs…happening lifestyles and hairstyles…Salon….its cute…tattoos on arms…DDLJ going wrong ;-)
The best thing is the body movements of all the animated characters which are achieved with perfection…each and every minutest movement and expression of even a character who is in the background is kept in mind…the posters and the hoardings at some places in the background need a special mention…it only goes to show how much detailing has gone into the making….one of the posters in the dog catcher van scene which publicizes a bhojpuri film and the director's name is "ANURAG SINGH" god knows what was it hinted at ;-)…jokes apart but also notice the rate cards and the special notices stuck in the background in the salon… "Aaj Haddi Kal Udhar" while watching RR you seriously feel that you are watching an international product but the only things which lacks is a tight script…
Though the Cinematography and Choreography is created by the brilliant and too good team of Tata Elxi's animators but yet it is credited to Cinematographer Anshul Chobey and a whole lot of Choreographers for a simple reason that these are the guys who genuinely passed their expertise in the making of the film….Cinematographer with his expert advice on the camera angles, lighting and movements and Choreographers with the movements and steps…which were then used by the animators to animate…similarly the dialogues were dubbed with all the actors first and the expressions recorded on camera which were then used in animating…this is the info which I gathered in the days gone by coz this film had raised my curiosity levels and I was looking for information from wherever available…
The sets created in the film also give a huge compliment to the thinking brains behind it….the chawls…the city…the gullies…the flyovers….but again one fault here, the moment Romeo reaches the rooftop where he meets his love of the life Laila…suddenly the buildings and the whole settings change…coz no way does Mumbai look the way it is depicted in BB…otherwise its all carefully done…
Music is not all that great by Salim-Sulaiman as it sounds very repetitive in terms of tunes and arrangements, it reminds you of many Yrf previous releases, there is no song apart from the title track which stays with you…overall a letdown…
Now lets come to the all cute and lovable characters:
Romeo (Saif Ali Khan): this is one dude any body would want to be friends with…his attitude is gifted to him by God which is clearly noticeable in his character…and like a hero he has the guts to take panga with Charlie Anna the dreaded local goon…Saif has dubbed for this character to the best of his ability and not gone overboard anywhere…he does what he is best at…in fact you can see a bit of Saif in the animated character too for a simple reason that all the characters were created taking a reference from video recorded at the time of the voice recording….
Laila (Kareena Kapoor): Performs well and ably but something somewhere lacks in her voice at certain places otherwise she portrays her role that of a sensuous night club dancer with perfection…she has that sex appeal required for the voice of laila…
Charlie Anna (Jaaved Jaaferi): Oh My God this man is amazing….i think jokes might be flowing in his veins rather than blood…he is a bundle of energy… spontaneous… hilarious… fit for the role of Charlie Anna the dreaded local goon…this guy is simply great with his wit and timing of comedy… his dialouges "Khuda meherbaan toh Kutta pehelwaan" "Room mein aao…kaun sa room mein aao"… "Agar tu khutte kha bachcha hai toh mere se fight kar" and many more are just too hillarious and the rajnikanth feel given by him to his character is too good…the portion where he introduces his angels as Silk Sunitha, Nylon Nalini & Polyester Padhmini is superb and I could hear a loud roar of laughter in the theatre…You would want to see more and more of him a the film progresses…at times his dialogue delivery goes very low and cant be understood…
Hero Enlish (Kiku Sharda) / Guru (Vrajesh Hirjee) / Interval (Suresh Menon) / Mini (Tanaaz Kurrim) / Charlies Angels are all good, cute, lovable and lend a very able and supportive role…
Chainu (Sanjai Mishra): is one guy who stands out from the rest with his hilarious dialogues and his timing…his UP style anccent is just adorable…see the film and you will know what I am saying…he is superhit from the time he enters the screen… ;-)
RR is a film which every Indian should be proud of…though its Walt Disney involved with Yashraj but the animating company Tata elxi had all the Indian animators on job and at the end of the day its an Indian product….
Do not miss the end credits....that chunk of the film too is interesting....
I have been watching and reading reviews of famous critics some of them have liked the animations and the dialogues in the film but not the story and some have not liked the story and even scrapped the animation as stiff….now, I am with the first group and for the second group I have only one thing to say "Bachche ki jaan lega kya"…array bhai someone has come up with something extra ordinary in the field of animation toh usko encourage karo aur accept kar lo na…even I agree the film faulters big time on the story part but this kind of work done in animations should be more than welcome…right? Stories aur screenplays toh aur bhi banenge later on but the good news is that now we have some Indian brains who can create world class products…
On the contrary now is the time in India when apt stories would be planned which would make sense, which would have the right emotions and the zing…the quality of animation is definitely going to ring a bell in Anurag Kashyap kind of a brilliant director who seriously did a brilliant job in Hanuman Returns…I strongly feel that he is one man who can give an animated product its deserved status in India….a status which could even get India some well deserved Oscar…and Tata Elxi should plan to open up more branches and offices across India to control the work load they are going to experience after RR…
One can only hope that RR inspires other Indian filmmakers and production houses to value audiences and give them a well made animated product
Whatever said and done I think you should go and watch RR once atleast to believe what I say or if not for anything then go and encourage a genuine and an honest Indian effort…
Roadside Romeo is cute and worth a watch !!!