Roadside Romeo

Plot synopsis:
Romeo is a dog who once lived in luxurious surroundings. One day his owners decide to migrate to London and he is left at the mercy of the servant of the house, who dumps him on the streets of Mumbai. Left to fend for himself, he is soon cornered by the local gang – Guru, Interval, Hero English and a dog-wannabe-cat, Mini, who tell him that this is their domain. Romeo does not know the street lingo and is at a loss for words at first, but he manages to win the gang over with giving them haircuts. They love their new looks and accept Romeo as part of their gang. Together, they set up a successful dog-grooming business until Chhainu, the right-hand of gangster-dog Charlie Anna, arrives to collect "hafta" (weekly protection money) in the form of bones. Romeo throws Chhainu out, and the others, terrified, go to Charlie to plead their case. Charlie threatens them with his trio of female ninja dogs, whom he calls his Angels, but Romeo tricks Charlie into allowing his friends to leave unhurt.
Romeo then meets Laila, who is singing from a rooftop, they dance and he falls in love. To win her over, Laila tells Romeo he must dance with her in front of everyone at the "Moonlight Club" where she performs. Romeo says yes, unaware that Charlie has long wanted her, and anyone who dares go near her is punished. However, Romeo braves the odds and dances with Laila to win her heart. As love blossoms between the two, Charlie, in a fit of rage, captures and terrorizes Romeo. Romeo then promises that he would make Laila fall in love with Charlie. Romeo does not intend to lose Laila, but plans to deflate Charlie's ego by having a disguised Mini pretend to be Laila and make it clear she's not interested. This only ends up exacerbating Charlie's ire, forcing Romeo to promise him a second meeting with Laila.
The night of the appointment, however, Chhainu catches Romeo kissing Laila, who then shouts at Romeo telling Laila of Romeo's deal with Charlie and she angrily slaps him and says she never wants to see him again despite Romeo's pleas and forgiveness. Charlie's Angels are then wooed by Guru, Interval and Hero English, Chhainu is cornered by a mouse and Charlie is chased and caught by the city dog catchers. But just before Charlie is caught with a net, Romeo pushes him under the dog-catchers van to escape while Romeo goes, Charlie then convinces Guru, Hero English, Interval and Mini to create a distraction to get the guard away from the van, they all succeed and Charlie jumps on the van and says he will free Romeo using a pin in his chain to pick to lock, but the van begins to drive and he falls off, after which Charlie races after the van, losing the pin in the progress, but they improvise with one of Charlie's ear hairs.
They escape but Romeo feels there is no point staying as Laila said she never wanted to see him again. The next morning, Romeo throws his sack onto an open train boxcar about to leave the station but Charlie arrives with Laila and the others. Charlie tells Romeo that he is a fool for leaving Laila when she still loves him, that he explained everything to her and says she is Romeo's and no one else's. He lets go of her hand and Laila begins to run after the train, while Romeo holds his hand out for her. Resembling a famous scene from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Charlie remarks "where have I seen this before?". She reaches for his hand and grabs it but the handle Romeo was holding had lost its top screws, making him fall off with Laila, after which they raise their heads to each other and say "I love you" in sync. It then goes to the "Moonlight Club" where everyone is back singing a party remix version of "Main Hoon Romeo".

Tags: romantic

Review:
This is a mediocre attempt at an Indian CGI animated film.
It's the same old hackneyed storyline of a typical Bollywood romance with the characters all dogs.
Only Javed Jaffrey leaves an impression as the villain Charlie Anna.
That's right, I watched Roadside Romeo (a wordplay on an Indian term for 'flirt') on DVD with English subtitles and liked it.
It's probably the 2nd in a full line-up of movies about dogs from October 2008 to February 2009 (Chihuahua, Romeo, Bolt, Marley, Hotel and Vomit).
This film is kinda like a CGI Bollywood version of Lady and the Tramp meets All Dogs Go To Heaven, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Myself, I haven't even watched any ordinary Bollywood film, but I've watched some clips and heard of Yash Raj's other hits, so I understand.Ever since the giant Hindi studio Yash Raj Films included a clip from 'Cars' in 'Dhoom 2' and used the Disney Store and a song provided by Disney (non-pop) in Ta Ra Rum Pum, Disney had decided to join forces with the studio to create Roadside Romeo.
Before the film was developed, Indian animation looked pretty cheesy.
But Tata Elxsi, a VFX studio responsible for doing VFX for plenty of Bollywood films and two of Marvel's films, did a pretty impressive job on making it almost Pixar quality.
(I've heard in the commentary that someone from Pixar came over to visit the creators and teach them how to do fur)Anyway, the film is about a spoiled, cute-looking, rich dog dude named Romeo (Saif Ali Khan) who gets abandoned on the streets of Mumbai, where he gets bullied and then befriended by a pack of strays with unique personalities.
Hero English is a dog with a funny hairstyle, buckteeth and a bow-tie who wishes to actually speak full English, though a lot of the characters speak broken English and Hindi at the same time.
Mini is, believe it or not, a pretty aggressive alley cat, just about the only one in the movie, who thinks she is a stray dog and refuses to disbelieve it.
One night, Romeo falls in love with a pretty female pooch named Laila (Kareena Kapoor) after hearing her sing and watching her dance.
The next day, Romeo meets a ferocious, disgusting, big-lipped bulldog with a bit of an accent named Charlie Anna (Jaaved Jaffery), his sidekick Chhainu, who gets beaten up all the time and looks like Wile E.
;) A few song sequences in this movie act like Indian music videos.
The biggest example is in "Cool Cool".The creators acted quite like Pixar when doing this movie.
Not only did they do impressive animation/motion capture inspired by that of Ratatouille, they also released teaser trailers without actual footage one year before the film was released.
Maybe on their DVDs.Though it ain't the best animated film of 2008, Roadside Romeo has plenty of charm and feel, including some tension, beautiful romantic moments (especially , and clever humour.
My big problem with the film was - did Yash Raj care about the audience of theirs that loves Disney and is not familiar with Bollywood?
I highly recommend this film if you're a freak for animation, Bollywood, dogs or anthropomorphic animals..
In a world where Pixar sets the gold standard in animated films, Yash Raj Film's Roadside Romeo (incidentally Dinsey's foray into Bollywood as well) will find it hard to even pass the QC test.
Both the animation and the story leave a lot to be desired and the only positive outlook for the movie is that being the only major release this Diwali and potentially a hit with the kids, it should barely manage to trudge along.
The story of a dog, Romeo (voiced by Saif Ali Khan) who was living the lavish life and suddenly finds himself on the mean streets of the city is clichéd to a fault.
Romeo falls for Laila (Kareena Kapoor) who also happens to be the crush of bad dog Charlie Anna (Javed Jaffrey) and predictable mayhem follows.
Jugal Hansraj's direction relies too much on borrowing from Bollywood lore (Yash Raj film scenes and dialogs are copied galore) and too little on character study.
It is an earnest effort perhaps but if anyone thought animation didn't need a story, they should ask the studio that made the animation movie event of the year, WallE.
The redeemer is eventually Javed Jaffrey, who is the only one who seems to know how to voice an animation character.
He brings out the quirks of Charlie Anna superbly to life and provides the few laughs there are in the film.
With Roadside Romeo, Indian animation films have taken a giant leap forward and kudos to Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney Studios for being the one to raise the bar up by many notches.Bottom line is the fact that Roadside Romeo is ultimately a movie that has stemmed from the land of masala films, so expecting anything different is sheer blasphemy.
The film has lovers, a villain and great humor - the ultimate essentials for a Bollywood caper.
But then being animated and convincing is what whisks this film away from clutches of the inane Bollywood film monster.Romeo (Saif Ali Khan) the quintessential lover dog is thrown onto the streets, where he meets newly found best mutts.
Besides falling in love, the biggest mistake Romeo commits is having rubbed Charlie Anna (Javed Jaffrey) the wrong way.
With a villain to combat and love to win over, the film is all Romeo and tons of heart.One can't stop gushing over the fact that Yash Raj Films and Disney have brought to India what can be called India's first world class animation film.
I was beginning to think that Yash Raj Films were losing their touch after delivering a list of box office flops which is Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Aaja Nachle, Tashan & Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic but not after watching Bachna Ae Haseeno & Roadside Romeo.
Roadside Romeo is the film which set to launch the animation era in Bollywood is co production between Yash Raj Films and Disney.
The love story, revolving around talking dogs, has the voices of real-life couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.The film was really good, funny, lively and keeps a smile on your face throughout.
I intended to see it because it is the first proper animated film of Bollywood and that is a milestone.
Javed Jaffery has given the best vocal performance of the comic villain Charlie Anna who is a bulldog.
The animation was really great although it can't match with Pixar animation but still it's good for a Bollywood movie.
It has all the Indian masala like music, songs, dancing and a love story but it wasn't long and was about 1 hour 40 minutes.
The songs were really good that will get better after you watch the film.
I liked the idea and the film does start very strongly with quite a stirring opening scene.
4/10 Bethany Cox. Animation good, Plot Bad. The plot of the movie is very simple, it kind of reminds me of The Lady and the Tramp parts one and two.
It's not because Romeo came from a rich family, but it was the gangs and the dog catcher.
The music was pretty good, just hearing it gives you the feeling that it's made for kids.There were two things that was a huge turn off for me in the movie, one was the way they moved the characters and second was the script.
Some of the characters look nude, for example, Charlie Anna, he reminds me of a naked Peter Griffin.
In the movie Romeo uses a lot of slang's from the 80's, I think it would be better if bollywood animators would lay off the "cool factor" e.g. shades, motorcycles, high shirt collar and the Elvis hair do.The thing that impressed me the most about the movie was the details, the fur, the lighting and everything in between.
It really is not worth the effort to take time out, drive to the cinemas and dedicate a part of your evening for Roadside Romeo - it will be too much of a disappointment.The bad: - Animation might be a big step for audiences used to only Bollywood movies, but it's not really much for international audiences, even when compared to a decade older Pixar.
He will hit you with life!"Apart from this, there is one good idea of the dog-world in the movie, that explains why dogs love to howl so much in the middle of the night (it's a game they play!)All-in-all, an easy one to forego.
I guess the number of dogs in Disney's repertoire isn't enough, and this year they're looking to grow the kernel which houses the likes of the 101 Dalmations, Goofy, Pluto, Lady and the Tramp with Bolt, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and of course, Roadside Romeo and his pooch friends hailing from India.Touted as the first Indian full length CG-animated film, the end credits reveal just how much Disney's participation here likely amounted to, being primarily consultants to what was mostly work done by Tata Exlsi Visual Computing Lab. And it's a pretty fine job those guys there are doing, because if you were to strip away the Hindi language and end credit roll so as not to cue in on production details, you're more than likely to think that this was made by Disney themselves.
So it's absolutely not a bad effort at all, for a first film.Animation aside, this is as Bollywood a movie as it can get, with distinct song and dance sequences rooted in Bollywood spirit.
The characters too seem to leap out of a typical Bollywood film with over the top villains and their slimy incompetent henchmen, err, dogs, coupled with the propensity to switch to English with constant plurality and grammatic errors in efforts to impress everyone.Saif Ali Khan voices the titular character of Romeo, once a dog living the life of luxury, before given the boot onto the streets when his owners take off to settle overseas.
Left to fend for himself, he relies on his street smarts, suave ways, quick wit and smooth talking to garner himself a posse of abandoned dogs and one cat, putting into use his fashionable skills with the scissors to open a salon for the neighbourhood hounds.Adversary comes in the form of a Don Corleone Godfather type bulldog named Charlie Anna (Javed Jaffrey), who has three "angels" for protection (and to fuel plenty of tired Charlie Angels jokes and references) and to dish out torture, running a protection racket which Romeo and gang run afoul of given their new enterprise, and on a personal level, the rivalry for the affections of Laila (Kareena Kapoor), which becomes the centerpiece in the second half of the film.
The first half did seem a bit of a drag though, especially with the expanded introduction of Charlie Anna and subsequent scenes just to demonstrate what he's capable of, together with some repetitive threats of torture that definitely tested patience.Otherwise, once the seeds of romantic rivalry has been sown, with Laila being marked as Charlie Anna's romantic target, it led to a number of hilarious playful cross-exchanges between Charlie, Romeo and his gang Guru (Vrajesh Hirjee), Interval (Suresh Menon), Hero English (Kiku Sharda), and cat Mini (Tanaz Irani), which the victim given its focus on these characters was Laila, being reduced to an unfortunate supporting presence.For some strange reason, Roadside Romeo needed some getting used to as the dogs prance around on two hind legs most of the time, which brought back some memories of The Barnyard.
But once you come to terms with it (just like how the Barnyard's bulls all have udders), it's quite an enjoyable and light piece of animation that should do well with its intended demographic, though to an international audience, some nuances because of one pooch's frequent impersonation of Bollywood legends might be woefully lost in translation..
first of all o think Saif Ali Khan did a very good job his voice was fantastic.Karena was good.
After getting to watch it all the way, I think that it's decent for a Hindi animated film distributed by Disney, even if I can't understand half of what they're saying.I understand that it's intended to be a comedy film, but some of it was either confusing because of the Hindi dialogue, or wasn't funny at all.
The first and second songs on the soundtrack have been stuck in my head for a couple days now; The soundtrack is simply that fantastic.I would want to recommend the film, but somewhat terrible comedy, predictable story, and confusing dialogue makes such a decent film slightly not worth it to watch, but the great soundtrack makes for a great time with Romeo and his friends..
Roadside Romeo - Charlie Anna Rocks!!.
Roadside Romeo I loved the movie and Charlie Anna rocks in the movie.
More so, as he says in the movie, "easta, westa, Charlie Anna besta".
Sanjai Mishra as Chhainu's character who is the right hand man and the most beaten character in the movie.Of course, there was Saif Ali khan playing Romeo and Kareena playing Laila.
Laila as Kareena Kapoor didn't have much to speak just look pretty even in the animation, not much to talk about her, other than her fluttering her eyes and specially looking at Romeo with dreamy eyes.Animation and the story of the movie actually reminded of The Lady and Tramp and All dogs go to heaven.
The best about this animation was that it was too the detail unlike the Hanuman and My friend Ganesha types from the Indian Animation companies, it was as good as Finding Nemo, Cars.Coming Back to Charlie Anna, where he is being introduced and there is the dog licking his paw that clearly reminds you of Godfather, plus you have DDLJ rip off scene in the movie.
Tata Motors logo being flashed with the municipality van (dog catcher's) , that's OK since Tata Elxsi was part creation team to create the movie.Even sat till the last credits that were flowing where they actually make the animated characters goof up, that was pretty nice, only thought Jackie Chan movies would that.
This is a light-hearted funny movie with top notch animation sequences.
altogether the film is very entertaining and enjoyable.I saw some people at theater stepping back as they realized this was a total Kid-Movie..scram..well what's wrong if you become a kid again for less than 2 hours in the darkness of the theater!
Besides, it also reminds you of Godfather!Most of the dialogs and comedy are Bollywood-Type that one not so familiar with Hindi movies might not fully understand though.
Go watch this little cute movie with your family.P.S. There is nothing satirical..
Just stepped out of this movie,my 50 cents:Strong Points:Charlie Anna by Javed Jaffrey.
Released on the Festival Diwali.Weak Points: Weak/No - Story Line,Dialogs,Character Study Dialogs copied from Yashraj Movies Should have had a better voice than Saif for the Character Romeo (He Lacks the Variation in his Voice),so at least the main characters could hold the audience in the theater!Conclusion: Walt Disney, please live up to the expectations that have been set by Legends like WALL.E. One word to sum up the film.
I was really looking forward to this film, the start was quite captivating but then you're told this guy lived a life of glam but never actually see it and then from there I think it's just to raunchy and the dogs are too much in human form to really call it an animation.
I was really looking forward to this film, the start was quite captivating but then you're told this guy lived a life of glam but never actually see it and then from there I think it's just to raunchy and the dogs are too much in human form to really call it an animation.
It is like a Yash Raj films parody.
The hi-jinx in the movie is totally like cheap comedy from 1930s animation.
So overall not good not bad but somewhere in between with lots of mistakes to learn from to make a better movie later on..
This film starts with a vain and spoiled male dog, the title Romeo, singing and dancing, in a very sexist performance, with bitches kissing him like he was a king.
Romeo is attacked by a gang of stray dogs (plus a cat and a rat), which start fighting each other for no good reason, instead of beating the hell out of Romeo.
Romeo becomes an Eddie-Scissorhands-like and trims the dogs, for no reason, making them his friends (I wondered where he kept those scissors hidden).
Romeo meets a bitch on a roof top (yes, those dogs climb up house roofs like cats, and sing horrible pop songs), harasses her and is (obviously) ditched.
It is about an hour and a half long, with about half of that filled with horrible musical performances (awful pop songs with ridiculous choreography).And when you think the musical acts are the worst part of the film, you just find out that it's also a comedy!
Actually, the fourth wall is put down a lot, with Romeo talking to the camera, annoyingly.
And when it reaches "The End", and you think nothing else could make it worse, the credits roll and you are presented with "deleted footage", like in the credits of a Jackie Chan film, except that they manage to be even less funny than the original scenes!
They are like bad jokes that someone (that didn't "get" them) makes worse by trying to explain them, with more unfunny jokes...It's absolutely unbelievable that this is a Disney production.
I simply cannot understand how this has an IMDb score above 5, as it is as bad (or maybe even worse) as other computer animated disaster, like "Plumiferos" (2010).