28 Apr 2007

Thoda Thoda Kum Kum

So onto the movie of the decade… er…year…no summer…well actually April. April 28th to be precise. And I’m am not talking about Pathfinder.

The good thing about Yash Raj movies (apart from the fact that with each movie you keep thinking DDLJ was their best shot) is that if you watch enough promos you should be able to guess the entire story. The initial promos are normal Yash raj stuff - cars whizzing around. Saif walking out to NASCAR(NASCAR???????) with his trademark - one shoulder lower than the other - walk. Rani and the kids cheering. Rani and Saif dancing alone in New York. Accident. of course Saif knows all about them. The car spinning in slow mo. And then crashing to the ground. Of course throughout this an irritating kid's voice talking about how her parents are the best in the world . ( Yeah right. We'll talk to her when she is an adolescent)

Over the weeks as the film does not recover its money one will see more – heart wrenching scenes, kids crying, Rani crying, Saif sadly strumming the guitar. Till you’ve seen the entire film. And you never have to go to the hall to see the movie. Come to think of it even if the film is hit the same strategy will be used.

So why am I writing about Thoda Thoda Kum Kum ?

Actually what got me this time was the campaign . It was an hour long thing which came on NDTV and then MTV. We got to know how the crew shot in hostile conditions ( New York City no less), also intimate details like the year the director was born the cameraman on the film started shooting his first film (how does that help me???) and how the kid who were acting were fantastic etc.

Towards the end we had Saif saying that he is tired and wants to go home. He interrupts the director and Rani who are sitting with him and turns to the camera and asks them to stop. He then proceeded to wind up the session by saying that this film from the premier studios in India, with a talented director and fantastic star cast. By this time the other two are embarrassed shit.

But he continues. He says that the audience has no other choice. This will be the hit film in April. Either you can watch this or some Hollywood flick because there are no other films worth watching.

By this Rani and the director had their mouths open. I almost choked on my tea.

So I thought maybe Saif lives in a different world where you had very few choices when you had to spend time with friends and family. I decided to take my partner for dinner on Sunday. That’s 200 rupees less that Yash Raj would earn this summer.

PS A special programme on NDTV with Rani and Saif even had a woman asking Saif for advice about how to bring up children as a single parent. When Saif started talking seriously about stuff like spending time your kids, I had to switch to another channel since I did not want my dinner on the floor.

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