Kutta Nahi Bhoka, Kyon?
Anyone surprised that Roadside Romeo has flopped? Fair Enough, it was only released a couple of weeks back, but box office results don’t look impressive – it doesn’t look like that the film will pick up either and that is a reasonable evidence to call the film a flop.
It is a bigger flop when you consider the amount of money spent and number of talented people attached to it.
It sounded good when a JV was announced by Yash Raj and Walt Diseny. But it has not gone to plan in their first attempt, which is not a good sign in current market situation and you know how Indian Film industry works.
Apparently, the animation was completely done in India by Tata Elixi where as Disney only (overlooked) provided the technical support when required and money. I don’t know what to make of the animation cos I is no expert and haven’t seen the film yet. But some forums are classifying the film as the worst animated film of the year.
The animation is certainly a bit of higher level than previous Indian animation films, but I don’t find it appealing. It’s not cool. It doesn’t have any style. It is flat, total flat.
Who should get the blame for the failure? Somebody must.
Should Indian animators get the blame? Nah. They have done a great job within the budget of $7 millions, which is fifteen time less than the average cost of a Disney (Pixar) movie.
A few months back there was an interview of S Ramaprasad (Execute Director of Toonz Academic) and he mentioned Indian animators are technically brilliant and because of that a lot of animation work has/is been outsourced to India:
Indian animators are second to none in terms of skill sets. India has emerged as a prime destination for animation outsourcing because of this skillful workforce, who can handle English well and understand western humour, both of which are an integral part of animation
So there is talent, but we lack experience, money, time, appreciation…..
We need to consider two factors: the cost of production and the level of involvement by animators. The investment required for making an animated movie that matches global standards is huge. A Disney classic would take at least 4-5 years to make and that results in higher costs.
In India, the domestic market is yet to mature and as such studios are hesitant to make such big investments unless the commercial viability of animated content is explicitly known.
As a result, own IPs are very scarce in the Indian animated industry and except for successful movies like Hanuman; we are yet to see productions of international standards.
60-70 percent of work in the animation industry in India is outsourced works that concentrates on the production stage. Rarely do our studios get a part in concept development. There is immense talent available in the Indian market, but it is the lack of experience in concept development that worries the sceptics.
Concept development? Do people in ‘Yash Raj’ factory understand the meaning of that? Business model of ‘Yash Raj’ is based on ‘McDonaldization’. Roadside Romeo is a typical example of their model. They cannot even make a film without having a foreign location angle in the plot, can they?!
Jugal was chosen to write the film and direct it. Why him?! Why was not Jaideep Sahini, in-house writer of ‘Yash Raj’, invited to write the film? Why didn’t Disney bother to work on concept development? In fact, why did not they reject this Kutta concept in the first place?
The story doesn’t has to be great – it can be very simple – it can even be a one line story – but you have to develop that! For example, ‘Finding Nemo’ (my favorite animation film) – the story is very basic but universal, creative, appealing and brilliantly written. Roadside Romeo lacks that – you don’t even have to see the film to notice that – the promos are enough. If they did wanted to do a spoof of Bollywood, then they should have done something like ‘Shrek’. They lacked creativeness – lacked ideas.
But, I presume, they have seriously tried to present Bollywood in a cool animation way, but have failed miserably. And that is not good for future of Indian Animation industry. Will Disney again collaborate with ‘Yash Raj’ or any other Indian production house for an animation film? In fact, will Yash Raj experiment again? I would want to them learn from their mistakes and come up with a better project but I doubt it.
There are currently a few upcoming India animation films in production, though. So let’s hope in future we will see a quality Indian animation film, in terms of animation and concept.
Tags: Disney, Jaideep Sahni, jugal hansraj, Roadside Romeo., Toonz Academy, Yash Raj
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Well i guess even when doing an animation flick, Yashraj sticks to it’s same old recycled rubbish.
Disney’a animation flicks aint too great either( i like Pixar’s more), but at least they come up with stories which the kids can identify with.
As a kid, i would avoid any love stories or romantic stuff, as it would just make me yawn. So what was Yash Raj’s point in putting in a love story for an animation flick.
It’s stupid, India has so many wonderful folklore tales, which can be narrated using animation. The kids who are growing up on a diet of Harry Potter, can get to know these Indian stories, and these stories can be narrated in an entertaining way. Did not Yash Raj find a better story for it’s animation flick?
“In fact, will Yash Raj experiment again? I would want to them learn from their mistakes and come up with a better project but I doubt it.”
Fat chance, just wait, i am sure Rab Ne Bana Di, whatever will be a success, and that would be excuse enough for Yash Raj to churn out some more crap.
i guess, its not the animation its the script, the problem is common with most yrf film animated/non-animated.
i personally didn’t think that the animation was too bad, considering yrf’s lack of patience they did a decent job and…its safe to say most of the animated characters in the film had more expressiveness than many yrf actors.
but, and this is an entirely personal opinion…the title roadside romeo doesn’t sound like a kid’s film, if i was a parent, i would have been apprehensive to take my child to a film titled roadside romeo
Agree with Ratnakar
Major problem with Romeo is STORY,..
And who is “Jugal Hansraj”?
This film is full of dialogues,
No need to see the visuals, one can just close their eyes and listen to it ,..
In Animation; there is term called “GAG’s”
Completely missing in this film
@Rusted rick
I agree with you also
“most of the animated characters in the film had more expressiveness than many yrf actors”-ha ha ….great line…
“I don’t know what to make of the animation cos I is no expert and haven’t seen the film yet.”
Please see the film first before writing about it, especially if it has been released. Even if the film is bad it is just not right to trash it without watching it. It is a basic courtesy accorded to any film you analyse in this manner.
This is something I have spotted here before too, writing about a released film without bothering to see it. Just because it is an open platform doesn’t mean that anything goes. There has to be some rigor.
I would request the editors to have some sort of guideline in this regard.
Nothing heavy-handed but just a gentle reminder that there are some basic niceties involved in writings of this sort, some basic minimum standards to be adhered to.
Rocky,
I haven’t thrashed the film. I have just put my (pre) thoughts across, that is all. When I thrash a movie, I only swear and affront people.
The promos don’t excite me and I am afraid of watching nanga kutta kutties dancing to chooo-leh-na tune. Is that a crime?!
Also you do not need to see the film to spot why the film hasn’t worked – it is quite obvious – the promos gave away.
Why would kids or any grown up go to cinema to watch animated characters do horny item songs?
I guess what Rocky says is true. No matter how bad a movie seems, only a complete viewing entitles someone the whip, or flowers as the case may be. I know the promos might not have excited anyone, but that doesn’t become a license to blanket ban a movie. I have never taken to the Barjatya school, but circumstances have led me to watching both Vivaah, and Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi. Nothing pathbreaking, or earth shattering, but then you have to give it to them for the sincerity in the plot, and the idea if not the execution. That is to say every movie will have some good to take home, and some bad. When the good overpowers, or is overwhelming you ignore the bad. This is necessary because rarely are movies made of late when EVERYTHING is perfect! So only a complete viewing regardless of the past experiences, track record, the common say should enable or entitle someone to dismiss something in public that too on a forum which prides itself for being almost perfect. At least this kind of rank dismissal is not expected of featured authors. Watch a full movie, then you have every right to trash it, thrash it, laud it, place it on any kind of pedestal you want. AND starting off the write up with a throw to the Box Office (which is only a knowledge in hindsight now) to prove the dismal state of the movie (if any) is such a sad thing to do. If it hasn’t worked, say it hasn’t worked for you. BO report should be no vindication. Rocky has definitely has a point here.
I will repeat again. I have not thrashed the movie. In fact, have I reviewed the movie here, no! Only have raised a few questions and just my thoughts….
If this what you call thrashing, then boy you guys have no clue whatsoever about thrashing.
And also, I will repeat again, Promos are meant to be judged. What is the point of a promo if you are not allowed to make a judgment? Should everyone watch every single films before they make a judgment about it? Bullshit.
One of my friend recently said..” Yaar suna poori cartoon hain? Chaa..nahi dekhonga..toda sa cartoon hain tho theek hain like Hum Tum..lekin poora cartoon kya dekhne ka?”
This is the real audience..feel them
Santhosh Kumar TK has a point there.It is not fair to judge a movie without watching it completely.At the same time Honhaar Goonda hasn’t reviewed the film as such just raised a few concerns.But still I didn’t get this
‘Jugal was chosen to write the film and direct it. Why him?! Why was not Jaideep Sahini, in-house writer of ‘Yash Raj’, invited to write the film? Why didn’t Disney bother to work on concept development? In fact, why did not they reject this Kutta concept in the first place?’
Why trashing Jugal when u haven’t watched the movie to judge his writing and direction?And as such how can u say that Jaideep Sahini would have done a better job?I think we cannot say that if a film does not work,it would have worked
if someone else have done it
I give jugal hansraj and YRF films 90/100 for this brave attempt. Animation in India still has a long way to go. While a film like Who Framed Roger Rabbit came out of hollywood way back in the ’80s, India was still stuck with third rate 2D animation. I have been a part of the animation industry for the past decade and feel that RR is the best animation product from India, ever. lets face facts:
* indians feel cartoons are for kids. While in the western countries as well as japan, korea and south east asia, animation is a multi billion dollar industry.
* general indian film viewers will lap up any animation film that comes out of hollywood and go ga ga over it without bothering to go into nuances.
* RR was the first professional attempt at an Indian animation film. Proper cast – Saif, kareena, jaaved, tanaaz, kiku, vrajesh, etc. Proper music directors etc.
* the quality of animation is actually very good for the budget they had.
* decent humor with lots of background rference points – one cant forget all the YRF film posters in the background or the outtakes in the end.
* jaaved jaafery takes his caharacter to a good level and gives it weight.
* i agree that the script could have been better.
Lets give it its due credit. It was a good attempt and should not be written off. Why are we rubbishing it? Because its a YRF film? Because its made by jugal hansraj? Can someone explain how does it matter? If it was made by one of the glorious directors who write on PFC would we still rubbish it or praise it for its attempt, for the guts it showed, for breaking new ground and so on?
Its a fun film and definately better than drona, golmaal returns and some of the other turkeys we have recently seen. It should be respected as the first step in world class animation films from India.
Hear, hear, Sophocles! My thoughts exactly, especially about Javed Jaffrey and decent humour, and that yes, the script could have been better, but it should be respected.
http://passionforcinema.com/quantum-of-solace-falls-short-of-casino-royale-roadside-romeo-etc
Why is it a brave attempt?! I don’t think it is a brave attempt. Disney have backed them, they would got some money from Exim bank.. and they have jumped down on the animation bandwagon. They haven’t done something different. They have gone with their same tried formula. Have they really tried to understand the animation medium? They have gone with their same formulae.
With the resources available they could have done a lot better…. yes or no? and really would have properly tested the water.
Yes, animation is impressive. Did I deny that in that article? I just don’t find it appealing.
Nope! It’s nothing to do with the Indian Animators!
Rhythm & Hues ( www.rhythm.com/ ) and others are animating for most of the awesome animated blockbuster movies in India!
I find this movie akin to the unreal NRI drama* which is patented by Yash Raj Films, nothing more!
*read it with Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s famous quote about such films
Guys, good animation/effects/CGI and good film are different ballparks. Case in point : Golden Compass, Hulk, Mummy 3. The list runs long.
The entire concentration of the team seems to be on making the ‘animation’, and the ’script’ was taken randomly from the YR library. The only pinch of salt on this bland cold soup was Charlie Anna ( Javed Jaffery) and I am not intending any pun here.
All i can think after seeing the film ” Who let the dogs out ?”
~fe~
@Tushar ..its not true that good films and CGI are a different ballpark, case in the point : Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Minority Report, King Kong, Spiderman 2,Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl …although i agree that a lot of them do overdo it at the cost of the story