Romeo's Day Out. Review on Roadside Romeo

At the very outset, I thought Roadside Romeo would be this mediocre Indian animation film produced by Yashraj (who’ve almost stopped producing good films) and directed by Jugal Hansraj (who could never do anything in films ). But surprise, both both proved me wrong and I’m very glad about the same.

Roadside Romeo is no ordinary film in today’s Indian cinema. Perhaps Bollywood’s first fully animated film built on pure fiction (you see Hanuman may not necessarily be pure fiction), Roadside Romeo rocks with every dog, cat, municipal van, train, steamer boat and what not!

Animation is absolutely neat by Indian standards. Considering the small budgets we work on (compared to international industry standards), I’d say its fantastic.

Voice overs provided by Saif and Kareena are alright considering they’re the usual hero and heroine who fall in love. What scores very heavily in favour of the movie is Charlie Anna’s characterization. He plays the villain and a very dangerous one, mind it! Jaaved Jaaferi’s voice brings life to Charlie beyond the script. You can’t help laughing each time Charlie Anna comes into the frame.

The plot is pretty ordinary. Dog meets bh (MS doesn't allow the real word), falls in love but she has a mafia boss trying to woo her. We’ve seen it many a times…..predictable and boring. What makes Roadside Romeo special is the treatment to the film in 3 departments primarily.

Charactertisation is fantastic in case of Charlie Anna and Romeo. Both are wonderfully dissimilar and have their own special style. The cool, sexy, stylish Romeo pitted versus the rough, ugly, paunchy Charlie……..works wonders.

Dialogues I felt were incredible. Quite a bit are lifts from hindi films over the years, but they’ve been inserted at the perfect spot in the narrative which makes it a laugh riot.

Every animated film depends hugely on the quality of voices that are given to the character. In international animations, the top artistes of the country lend their voices to animated characters, a trend which began in India with Shah Rukh lending his voice for Mr.Laajawab (The Incredibles in Hindi). Jaaved Jaaferi’s voiceover for Charlie, Vrajesh Hirjee for Guru, Tanaaz Irani for Mini and Sanjay Mishra for Chamcha really stand out for their voice over’s. I was in splits everytime Chamcha said something.

Roadside Romeo is a must watch for exceptional voiceovers, superb dialogue inserts and great characters.