Ta Ra Rum Pum

Ta Ra Rum Pum
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Siddharth Anand
Screenplay by	Habib Faisal
Story by	Siddharth Anand
Produced by	Aditya Chopra
Starring	Saif Ali Khan Rani Mukerji Angelina Idnani Master Ali Haji Javed Jaffrey
Narrated by	Angelina Idani
Cinematography	Binod Pradhan
Edited by	Rameshwar S. Bhagat Ritesh Soni
Music by	Songs: Vishal–Shekhar Background Score: Salim–Sulaiman
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date	27 April 2007 (2007-04-27)
Running time	153 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹280 million (US$3.7 million)[1]
Box office	₹700 million (US$9.3 million)[1]

Ta Ra Rum Pum is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Angelina Idnani, Ali Haji and Javed Jaffrey. This is the second time the lead pair worked together after the success of their last film, Hum Tum (2004). It was directed by Siddharth Anand, who directed Salaam Namaste (2005), also starring Khan, and also wrote Hum Tum.

The film was a hit at the box office in India and was one of the highest-grossing films of 2007. It received generally mixed reviews, with praise for its performances, but criticism for its pacing.

Plot[]

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At a race track in New York City, an Indian woman, Radhika Banerjee Singh (Rani Mukerji), and her kids, Champ (Ali Haji) and Princess (Angelina Idnani), are leading the cheering for RV (Saif Ali Khan), the most popular racer. Princess narrates the story in a flashback.

Rajveer Singh works as part of the pit crew on a racing track. He is reckless and fun-loving, with an immense passion for racing and dreams of making it big. After being discovered by his manager Harry (Jaaved Jaffrey) by speeding a taxi to work, he meets Radhika Shekar Rai Banerjee and instantly falls for her. Harry recruits Rajveer into Speeding Saddles, a struggling race team, and gives him the nickname "RV". He wins his first race and develops a streak, making him famous and wealthy. Over the months, Rajveer and Radhika's innocent love blossoms into a serious relationship.

Radhika is a talented pianist majoring in music at Columbia University, whereas Rajveer has no degree or any educational background due to dropping out of school after his parents died. This earns him the disapproval of Radhika's father, wealthy businessman Shubho Shekhar Rai Banerjee (Victor Banerjee). However, Radhika leaves her father and marries RV, abandoning her degree and taking on a position as a wealthy housewife, and also starts going by the name Shona. Rajveer and Shona go on to have two children, Priya (also known as Princess) and Ranveer (Champ). Luck follows RV and he is soon proclaimed the number one race car driver in America.

Years later, during the race, RV's jealous rival Rusty Finkelstein crashes his car into RV's. RV is severely injured and hospitalized for months. A year later once he recovers, he heads straight back to the racetrack but begins suffering PTSD from his crash out of fear of getting hurt again. His old accident haunts him to his nerves and he comes last in every race onwards. Exasperated, Billy Bhatia (Bharat Dabholkar), the manager of RV's team, fires him and hires Rusty instead. RV suggests he and Harry form a new team together but Harry reluctantly refuses, due to the necessity of his job and obligations, along with the money he has to send to his family. Angry, RV claims that he doesn't need Harry and can find some better manager easily. This results in the end of their friendship.

A year later, the family is in a worsening state. Neither RV nor Shona can get hired for good-paying work because of their lack of degrees, making them regret Shona's father's words. RV and Shona are left unable to pay their loans and bills, and thus, everything they own in their house is auctioned. Princess and Champ are not told much but start to worry that they're becoming poor. RV covers up the truth by telling them they're actually on a reality show, Don't Worry, Be Happy, briefly putting their worries to rest. With only about $2,000 left, RV and his family leave their big house and find a less expensive one.

They move into a one-bedroom apartment, and the children become worried again. RV and Shona insist this is all part of the game and the kids believe them, continuing to go to their favorite school while their parents try to find jobs. RV spends time circling through odd before trying to send their pet dog, Bruno, away out of frustration. Harry comes to meet RV and Shona the next day and brings Bruno back. He offers RV his old job as a taxi driver, but RV thinks Harry is insulting him, which results in a heated argument between the two. Days pass and Shona gets a job as a piano player while RV agrees to become a taxi driver, after much arguing.

During this time, Princess overhears RV and Shona fighting and learns that they actually are in trouble with money and there's no reality show. She reveals the situation to Champ and decides to take things into her own hands by saving up their lunch money. While Princess manages to refrain from eating lunch every day, Champ begins to starve. He starts taking food from the garbage bin without his sister's knowledge and eats it outside of school on a bench. Princess makes Champ promise not to tell their parents, knowing they'll get upset. The family continues to support each other through their tough times and end up making new friends from their neighborhood.

RV gets a customer who needs to get to the airport soon. He takes this chance to test his racing skills if they're still there. RV starts off doing great and moves at an elegant speed until he suffers flashbacks of his accident again. The customer is left furious and RV sadly realizes he may never race again because of his fear. During one of her piano jobs, Shona runs into her father, who is disappointed to see her current state. Shubho offers her a large check of money and states he would've looked after Shona and her children, even helped RV get a racing job, if she had just asked. However, Shona rejects her father's money when he insults RV.

Later, in a desperate attempt to pay his children's school fees, RV lies to his new friends and fellow cab drivers that Princess has pneumonia, prompting them to pool $1,000 together. When Shona finds out, she is furious and argues with RV in front of their children. Suddenly, Champ falls unconscious and begins bleeding from his mouth. RV, Shona, and Princess rush him to the hospital where Princess tells her parents about her plan, which Champ followed. The doctor reveals to RV and Shona that Champ has a piece of glass in his stomach from eating something and they need $65,000 for his surgery. With only two days to get the money, RV decides to enter a race for his son's sake. Harry learns about Champ's condition and reconciles with RV. Together, they set up their own race team, made up of RV's taxi friends, who forgive him for lying. RV encounters Rusty and starts remembering his horrific accident, but realises that he's even more terrified of losing Champ than he is of accident. This motivates him. He wins the most tensed race of his career, while apparently killing Rusty by wrecking his car the same way Rusty did to him previously. Champ's operation is successful and he recovers.

In the end, RV returns to racing, Shona completes her music degree, and the family shifts back home, though often visits their friends from their former neighborhood. RV still struggles to let go of his habit of taking loans and repaying them on installment basis. Champ and Princess return to school, where the former keeps boasting about his surgical scar and how RV defeated Rusty.

Cast[]

• Saif Ali Khan as Rajveer Singh (RV), a racer, Radhika's husband and Princess' and Champ's father
• Rani Mukerji as Radhika Banerjee / Radhika Rajveer Singh "Shona", RV's wife and mother of Princess and Champ
• Ravi Khote as Pandya
• Angelina Idnani as Priya Singh "Princess", RV and Shona's daughter and Champ's elder sister and the narrator
• Ali Haji as Ranveer Singh "Champ", RV and Shona's son and younger brother of Princess
• Jaaved Jaaferi as Harry
• Bharat Dabholkar as Billy Bhatia
• Sujoy Ghosh as Chatto
• Ronobir Leheri as Pindi
• Victor Banerjee as Shubho Shekhar Rai Banerjee, Radhika's father
• Shruti Seth as Sasha
• Dolly Bindra as Mrs. Pandya
• Ken Thompson as Rusty Finkelstein

Production[]

Production began in May 4-June 26 2006 and the film was released on 27 April 2007.^[2] The working title was "Ta Ra Rum Pum Pum".^[3] The film was shot almost entirely in the US, with a few scenes shot at YRF Studios in Mumbai. Portions were filmed in Rockingham, North Carolina at the Rockingham Speedway and at West Allis, Wisconsin at The Milwaukee Mile. Ali Haji had to go through 3 auditions and Angelina Idnani was called in for her fourth audition before they were finalised. The plot is combined with that of Tom Cruise's Days of Thunder and Will Ferrell's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) — the protagonist meets with an accident while racing and than makes a comeback destroying his nemesis race driver – and Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), where a father and son have to move out of their house, due to the loss of a job.

The cars used in racing scenes were provided by Andy Hillenburg, who purchased Rockingham Speedway months after its release and provided the stunt drivers, as many ARCA Re/Max Series drivers participated in the filming (ARCA Re/Max Series stickers can be found on the cars in the movie; Hillenberg trained stunt drivers, along with letting some film stars take turns driving).^[4] Some cars that can be seen in Ta Ra Rum Pum display high resemblance to cars specifically created for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (except featuring modified sponsorship decals) as Hillenburg provided cars for that movie as well.

The title song of Ta Ra Rum Pum is a 4-minute animated endeavour with all the main characters of the movie and 4 other animated characters. This song was performed by Walt Disney Studios as part of their 3-film deal with Yash Raj Films.

Music[]

The music was conducted by the duo Vishal–Shekhar and Javed Akhtar penned the lyrics.^[5] The soundtrack of Ta Ra Rum Pum contains 7 songs. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 10,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fifteenth highest-selling.^[6]

Telugu soundtrack[]

Response[]

Box office[]

Ta Ra Rum Pum opened to an average response in cinemas, where collections were reported to be as low as 50%. However, the film saw a good opening of 90%-95% in the big cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, catering to the kids and family audiences; the smaller cinemas received an average response of 50%–70%.^[7] Though the film opened to an average response, the next two days saw a huge jump in collections. The collections dropped on Monday by about 55%–70%.^[8] In its first week the film collected an impressive Rs. 43.7 million in Mumbai,^[9] and did well at the multiplexes but moderately at the single screens.^[10] The overall gross for the first week in India stands at Rs. 114,392,260.^[11] The release of Spider-Man 3 caused a drop in collections, but the film has continued to do well in Mumbai and Delhi.^[12] Ta Ra Rum Pum became the 9th highest-grossing film of 2007 so far, with box office figures of Rs. 362.0 million.

The three main markets overseas – the UK, USA and Australia – saw a similar opening. Ta Ra Rum Pum collected during the weekend and debuted at #9 on the UK film chart which was a good opening.^[13] In the United States, the film collected $425,102 which was a fair opening. In Australia, it collected $90,000.^[14] Though the weekend figures were good, the collections were below expectations for a Yash Raj film.^[15][16] The film was given an above-average status in the United States and was a hit in the United Kingdom.^[17]

In its sixth week, the film had collected Rs. 377.0 million and was declared a hit in India.^[18] Overseas, the film has collected $2,000,000 in the United Kingdom.^[19]

Reception[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 8 critics reviews.^[20]

Taran Adarsh of Indiafm.com gave Ta Ra Rum Pum a rating of 3.5 out of 5. He praised the performances of Khan and Mukerji, saying "Khan is extremely likable. He conveys the varied emotions with complete understanding. Mukerji enacts the role of the mother/wife proficiently".^[21]

It is inspired by Days of Thunder (1990) and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) though film critic Rajeev Masand pointed out that "the plot has been borrowed generously from films such as Cinderella Man (2005), In America (2002) and Life Is Beautiful (1997)".^[22]

Awards[]

Sabsey Favourite Kaun Awards[]

• Won – Sabsey Favourite Heroine – Rani Mukerji

See also[]

• List of films set in New York City

References[]

External links[]

• Official movie page
• Ta Ra Rum Pum at IMDb