The President Is Coming (2009)

In 2006, George Bush, President of The United States, visited India. In addition to the many diplomatic and political things on the agenda was a rather unique event - a meeting with one of ... See full summary »

Director:

Kunaal Roy Kapur

Writer:

Anuvab Pal

Stars:

Konkona Sen Sharma, Shernaz Patel, Shivani Tanksale

Cast

Credited cast:
Konkona Sen Sharma	...	Maya Roy
Shernaz Patel	...	Samantha Patel
Shivani Tanksale	...	Ritu Johnson
Anand Tiwari	...	Kapil Dev Dholakia
Namit Das	...	Ramesh S.
Vivek Gomber	...	Rohit Seth
Satchit Puranik	...	Ajay Karlekar
Ira Dubey	...	Archana Kapoor
Imran Rashid	...	Mohammed Aslam
Paul Knox	...	Michael Frayn
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Faezeh Jalali	...	Nun
Akarsh Khurana	...	Presidential Chef

Storyline

In 2006, George Bush, President of The United States, visited India. In addition to the many diplomatic and political things on the agenda was a rather unique event - a meeting with one of the young faces responsible for shaping "The New India". This is a fact. The rest is fiction. The US Consulate hires a dysfunctional PR agency that "knows America" to find 1 young Indian to be the face of the New India before The American President. The agency brings in 6 Young Indians who have been selected by NDTV as the "top Indian achievers under 30". The winner is to be selected in a day through a round of bizarre tests that get progressively tougher in a room in the US Consulate. The President will shake their hand among a long line of waiting Indian luminaries, the next day. Each is desperate to win and will resort to any means to do so.

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Taglines:

Six Hundred Million Young Indians. He Wants One.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

English Hindi Bengali Urdu

Release Date:

9 January 2009 (India)

Filming Locations:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

R.S. Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References Taxi Driver (1976)

User Reviews

Watch this only if it's confirmed that you've been given a one way ticket to Purgatory

I trembled while resisting the worst possible rating for this film but in all fairness I've seen worse. At least the promos were creatively misleading and since it's important to actually sit through the ENTIRE film before laying claim to a comprehensive review, I admit I threw up and walked out on this one within the first hour. Let's take it up one by one:

The Acting: is at best shoddy and reminiscent of a self-congratulatory, Mumbai-based English-theatre performance. For those who don't know what this means, it's the equivalent of Timothy Dalton playing Bond or Arnie playing a mother. (Maybe I'm cribbing because I've seen some of these performers botch a perfectly good script on the Mumbai stage as well). The characters are so cocooned in caricaturisation that they you can't connect with them any more than you would with Puff-the-magic-dragon.

The Direction: is amateur and unimaginative. Sorry KRK but the reality- TV style is losing its sheen unless you bring something to it. Those forced silences and awkward moments just don't work if you're not going to bring an element of the panopticon to it.

The Production: Cut, cut, cut. I read someone say this film is slick but in my opinion you could trip on the gaps between cuts. I could hear myself grind my teeth between bad performances because for some reason the producer wanted me to notice they were BAD.

It pains me to write this because I actually knew KRK back in college and loved his stage performances and steady supply of off-stage wit but I'm thoroughly disappointed at the hack job that's been put together with "The President is Coming". Let this be a lesson to all foreign dignitaries to steer clear of this country just so we don't have to be subjected to another one of these abominations.