Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Bollywood movie review: Roadside Romeo
Roadside Romeo
A rich, cool, spoilt brat of a dog is abandoned on the wicked streets of Mumbai. He faces situations he has never faced before. He is confronted by dangerous, loony characters, the likes of which he has never met before; from mansions to streets, from five course meals to five courses of scraps, from soft beds to piles of garbage, from champagne to tap water.
Source: Cinema Source
“Oh, Romeo, Romeo, Romeo!” as the title song repeats over and over every five minutes in the movie. Sadly, this is the only thing you will take away from the movie, and that’s only because it is drilled into your head.
Roadside Romeo had all the hype. It was the first joint venture for the major Bollywood studio, Yash Raj Films, and the major American studio, Walt Disney. An East meets West that is unprecedented for the Bollywood genre and the start of a new trend. Plus, it is the weekend before Diwali, time for a major blockbuster. Even last year, two big titans clashed: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's artistic Saawariya vs. Farah Khan's glitzy-glossy Om Shanti Om. But this year, all we really have is an awful animated flick that has no visual, emotional, or artistic depth whatsoever.
Roadside Romeo’s story has Bollywood 101 written all over it except this time it’s animated with dogs. The story is overly simple and hackneyed. A down-on-his-luck dog, Romeo, is on the streets, meets a group of friends and they start their own business of hair-styling. I know, wtf? They meet the villains and we are introduced the evil, grotesque Charlie Anna. Meanwhile, Romeo spots a lady dog, Laila, and immediately falls in love with her at first sight. So the movie just follows the love story and the good dogs vs. bad guys. Such a poor plot. The writer/director Jugal Hansraj also put in every predictable line and moment in the film.
The problem is that there is nothing new with this movie, except that it is animated. So the animation should be fantastic, right? Not in this movie. There is something really awkward about it. The dogs are really not that cute. In fact, they look like creepy, especially the female love interest, Laila. Maybe it’s the eyeballs, non-fluid body movements, or the way their mouths move, but there is something really off. You can just imagine how uncomfortable it was to watch a dance number with these characters. And the songs are horrible and really badly placed.
Plus, the way the dogs were dressed added to the unease. They didn’t wear anything except a collar and walked on two legs. The animators should have done some research on what it takes to make a cute, cuddly character, especially with a film targeted toward the kids.
The voices for Romeo and Laila were performed by A-listers and real-life couple, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Saif excels at his part and you can tell he has great fun with the character. Kareena Kapoor doesn’t fit the role, because her voice always sounds bitchy (no pun intended).
As you can tell, this past Diwali weekend doesn’t have anything memorable, but be on the lookout for this upcoming weekend may with the provocative Fashion.
