INSTEP Magzine

Ta Ra Rum Pum was supposed to be one of those films that would make 2007 as memorable for Bollywood as 2006, yet it failed to meet expectations. The ingredients are all right – it's a typical Yashraj film that brings the winning combination of Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan together in an intense family drama; the aesthetics of the film are beautiful and the songs melodious. Where it loses out is storyline. Like most films these days – Eklavya, Shakalaka Boom Boom etc – so much focus is put on shooting the perfect scene and putting together the perfect image (especially where the locale and wardrobe is concerned) that the backbone of the film, the story, is left in a compromising situation. Exactly that has happened with Ta Ra Rum Pum.

Rani Mukerji is Radhika Banerjee, a young, beautiful and intelligent girl from a good family. She's a talented musician who has a bright career ahead of her until she falls for Rajveer Singh (Saif Ali Khan) who is a careless and rather reckless cabbie turned NASCAR racer. He's a high school drop out, has no education and his lineage cannot be traced back to royalty. As expected, they fall in love as he's racing round the track and marry against her dad's wishes. The rest of the film is as predictable as water falling into a glass, the only thing surprising about the film being the names they give their children – Champ and Princess which are rather Derby names. For a race car driver one would have expected Formula One and Indy Car instead.

The film has strong undercurrents of Hum Tum, most definitely of Salaam Namaste and even a dose of Life is Beautiful thrown in at the end. Even in times of extreme struggle the couple keeps convincing the kids that they're playing a game. The story isn't original and honestly, Rani and Saif have had stronger on-screen presence in their previous films. Other than that, it's rather a far fetched concept to swallow that a successful racer would go bankrupt enough to have to eat out of garbage cans after only one accident. And yet there's one thing that actually makes this movie worth a watch – it really is a family film by all standards and is the perfect film for children. In fact, it even helps in teaching them a lesson or two on the importance of education and sensible spending. Not exactly the best reason to appreciate a film, it does lend it credit.

However, it doesn't whet the appetite as much as a Yashraj production is supposed to. There isn't enough drama to choke up the screen or even rattle the emotions. The tragedy that hits the Singhs just isn't effective. Plus, one now expects very intense and mature performances from Saif and Rani – after films like Black, Omkara and even Hum Tum – that is natural. But they fail to deliver as the two actors are reduced to eye candy in Ta Ra Rum Pum. The characters they play are not challenging in the least and do them no credit which is a pity. One person who unexpectedly does manage strong screen presence, however, is Javed Jaffry. As Sam's best friend Harry, he packs a powerful performance.

One could say the film is a must-see; die hard fans feel they owe it to Rani and Saif. But others who expected a lot more from this production, and that goes for a large percentage of cinema goers, have slammed it as unwatchable. Our advice: watch it if you have time on your hands and then pass it onto your kids.

--Aamna Haider Isani

*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME