Romeo sure paves the way for indian animation. Review on Roadside Romeo

He’s smart, he’s cool, he’s

stylish, he’s good looking. He’s a dog, and an animated one at that. Meet

Romeo, and yes people, he’s way cooler than some of the main leads in recent Bollywood

flicks I’ve seen!

I love animated flicks. Wall-E in

fact was my last one, and will go down in my list of top 10 films for as long

as I live. Going by the quality of Indian animated flicks in the past, I understandably

went for Roadside Romeo with not much expectation, despite that it seems to be getting

good reviews all over.

But man…the film rocks! The

animation quality is superb(It’s a Walt Disney venture, so that’s a given),

the story is great and the entertainment value is total paisa vasool.

But what sets the film apart is

the fact that it’s a labour of love by Jugal Hansraj, and that shows through! Each

character of the film is well etched out. Each dialogue is well written, each

joke is worth a laugh(a giggle at the very least), each character worth remembering

and each frame so well detailed that a one-time watch isn’t enough!

Here’s why I think you should

book your tickets NOW…

• ROMEO. Stylish, cool, smart and soooooo much like Saif

Ali Khan himself, who’s lent his voice for the character.

• CHARLIE ANNA. The bad guy(bad doggy actually). Javed

Jaffery’s voice and Rajnikant’s coolness quotient. And with 3 bodyguards called

Charlie’s Angels(Silk Sunita, Nylon Nalini and Polyester Padmini), he’s the

ultimate bad guy in doggy world.

• ROMEO’S FRIENDS. From the Bollywood buff dog to the cat

who hangs out with dogs cos she wants to be like them, Romeo’s gang is a riot

when they come on screen!

• DIALOGUES. Some of them are gems. “Don’t fear, Charlie’s

here. Be happy, my chappie” and “Ay English medium, apun log ko gentledogs

nahin bulane ka samjha na” will have you in splits and are hardly the thing you’d

expect from a ‘good boy’ kinda guy like Jugal Hansraj.

• SCREENPLAY. Top notch, and so detailed. Watch out for

posters for ‘English Speeking Corse’ on the streets and torn posters of Dhoom

II in the background in certain scenes.

• DETAILS. The promos for the film started in early 2007 with

animated characters auditioning(!) for the roles of Romeo and Charlie Anna. The

film ends with showing ‘bloopers’ that happened during the ‘shoot’ of the film.

What I loved was the attention to that little detail and closing the loop.

All in all, Roadside Romeo is a

new benchmark for Indian animation films, and will hopefully open up a whole

new world for Indian film makers. And yes, we look forward to more from Jugal

Hansraj for sure:).

Don’t miss this one!