Jab bhi ho gam zyada ya kam

Muskurayenge hum, gayenge hum….

Ta Ra Rum Pum….

Little Priya recounts what ‘best’ Mummy (Rani Mukherjee) and ‘best’ Daddy (Saif Ali Khan) had taught younger bro Ranveer and her in times of crisis-n-strife (So very typical sugar-coated-Yashraj-ishtyle). Siddharth Anand shifts location from Australia (Salaam Namaste) to USA for his second film unusually titled ‘Ta Ra Rum Pum’ and when you finish having a ‘dekho’ of the slickly made three minute theatrical promo, you are filled with a mixed feeling.

Why? Firstly, as expected, the production values are first rate, camera work is exceptional, stunts are fantastic (the tumbling car sequence is mouth-gaping) and the look is hep-n-happening. Saif looks hot in the ‘Days of Thunder’ get-up of a Tom Cruise like maverick car racer. And then the big car accident results in things undergoing a sea change! Wasn’t Shahrukh Khan a footballer before he meets up with an untimely accident in ‘Kabhi Alvida na Kehna? Any similarities are co-incidental…Anyone…The New York locale has been done to death in films like ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’ and ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. It’s as if you’ve seen those jumps-n-camaraderie before with the familiar skyline as a backdrop.

Moreover, when Priya says that her Mummy is the ‘best’, daddy is the ‘best’….It’s as if you’ve heard it a way too many times before. Can’t there be anything beyond that in a Yashraj Film? Saif on stretcher and Saif driving a taxi with a morose dead look make you think about the circumstances that must have driven him into all this. And tears in Rani Mukherjee’s eyes have become a regular feature so it fails to bind attention. Even the hookline of the title track ‘Ta Ra Rum Pum’ carries a heard-before-feel. The parting editing chops in the promo have the same tinge as ‘Dhoom 1’. The bikes have been replaced by the racing cars.

In the final analysis, ‘Ta Ra Rum Pum’ theatrical trailer carries the punch. But alas the novelty value is missing. Let’s see what the movie has in store…Incidentally it’s releasing on April 27^th.