Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007)

Director:

Siddharth Anand

Writer:

Habib Faisal (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 April 2007 (India)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Don't Worry Be Happy

Plot:

A poor New York resident, who is of Indian origin, dreams of becoming a fast car race driver. He endeavors...

Plot Keywords:

New York | Racer | Marriage | Comeback | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship

Cast

Saif Ali Khan	...	Rajveer 'RV' Singh
Rani Mukherjee	...	Radhika Shekhar Rai Bannerjee (as Rani Mukerji)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vic Aviles	...	Yellow team manager
Noël Baker	...	Race Queen / Miss Charlotte
Victor Banerjee	...	Subho Shekhar Rai Banerjee
Dolly Bindra	...	Mrs. Panoya
Vance Branton	...	Pit Crew Chief
Christopher Combs	...	Orange Pit Crew Member
Bharat Dabholkar	...	Billy Bhatia
Meraby Ellis	...	Landlord
Matthew Fleming	...	Stan
Sam Ghosh	...	Dancer
Mary Goggin	...	Music School Principal
Beth Gosnell	...	Race Fan / Autograph Seeker
Ali Haji	...	Ranveer R. 'Champ' Singh
Rod Harter	...	Race Fan
Patrick Horne	...	Man in taxi
Craig Howe	...	Waiter
Angelina Idnani	...	Priya R. 'Princess' Singh
Javed Jaffrey	...	Hariprasad Dhirubhai 'Harry' Patel
Shobhit Jain	...	Extra / Kid
Austin James	...	Pit Crew
Christy Johnson	...	Model
Amelia Kallman	...	Ariel
Dan A. R. Kelly	...	Pit Crew Member - Orange
Ravi Khote
Kevin P. King	...	Green Pit Crew
Ronobir Lahiri	...	Pindi
Kris Lundberg	...	Corporate Executive Woman
Tirlok Malik	...	Restaurant owner
Tony McNeil	...	Bouncer
Adam Melton	...	Race Fan
Aaron Mills	...	Pit Crew Member
Amber Nann	...	Race Fan
Kal Parekh	...	Taxi crew member
Robert Pineiro	...	Green Pit Crew Member
Rao Rampilla	...	Car Manufacturer (as R.N. Rao)
Emerald Robinson	...	Secretary
R.J. Romano	...	Dave
Jay Schmitt	...	Yellow Driver
Josh Schmitt	...	Pit Crew
Shruti Seth	...	Sasha
Prashant Shah	...	Manager
Dawn Swartz	...	Race fan
Evan Thompson	...	Yellow Pit Crew Member
Ken Thompson	...	Rusty
Vanelle	...	Model
Jerry Weiss	...	Businessman
Bruce Williamson	...	Yellow Pit Crew
Alexa Yeames	...	Race fan / baloon girl
Junes B. Zahdi	...	Cabbie

Country:

USA | India

Language:

English | Hindi

Color:

Color

Certification:

Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Aberdeen, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Yash Raj Films

Trivia:

The crew had to lock up Times Square for the shoot of the song 'Hey Shona'. The brief was that the 2 actors were supposed to be alone in every location in New York for the love song. The crew got there at 2AM to prepare for the shot, and timed everything so that the location could be locked up & the first shot could be canned as soon as the light was right.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In 8 years of successful racing, RV drives the exact same car (the Chevy Aveo, which didn't exist back then), with the same endorsements.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Roadside Romeo (2008)

Predictable Movie with Nothing New to Offer

Movies like Jaan-E-Mann, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Namastey London are predictable. Movies like Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, and Bunty aur Babli are predictable. But the direction of the aforementioned movies make it an enjoyable fare. But the last three prove that predictable movies can lead to a moment where you want to kill yourself. This movie is definitely in the league of NTJNH, making it better than BAB and MPKDH. But this is not what one looks forward to seeing.

The story is nothing new. The racing is no different than any other job. The director improves from Salaam Namaste, but only because he makes the characters more likable and puts those realistic moments that actually made Salaam Namaste semi watchable. But it still seems like he sucks at how to make a proper movie. He still has a boring narrator. He still makes an overly filmi film which makes you wonder how DDLJ worked. Then you hear the dialogues and you find out why this movie doesn't. But the last half is quite touching. But the ending kills it. You'll see why when you watch the movie. And the movie is too unbelievable. It just seemed that the realistic movie gives an unrealistic reason for their poor becoming.

Saif Ali Khan is decent. He tries to repeat that awesome act in Hum Tum, but fails once again. Mainly due to weak characterization, but he doesn't experiment. Rani Mukherjee is good but disappoints. Discard the first half. Her wannabe New York style and ugly wardrobe proves that even the best actress can have her bad times. She improves, but the only time where she acts exceptionally well is the scene where she steals food. Otherwise this performance will not be winning any awards. Angelina Idnani is the true star. The little kid is a strong performer. Ali Haji reminds me of Jugal Hasraj in Masoom. He acts just as convincingly. The rest of the cast is pretty much wasted.

The music was disappointing, but grows on you. But in this movie, very annoying. I found myself skipping all of the songs. The only song that seems important is Saiyaan and Ta Ra Ra Ra Rum. Saiyaan has a picturization that will bound to put you in taars. It is the reasing why I give this movie a 6 out of 10. Ta Ra Ra Rum is similar, important to the screenplay as well. Ab To Forever has a good picturization, but you'll yawn through it. Hey Shona is going to put you to sleep despite being my favorite song on the soundtrack. Nachle Ve and Ta RA Rum Pum had no place in the movie and ruin the affect.

So my final verdict is that it is not bad. But it is not good. It will be liked by Rani and Saif fans. I did not like it because it got boring. but you might like it. There really is no target audience. You either watch and like it, or watch it and hate it. I thought it was okay.