In true Disney/Yash Raj tradition, the songs are nicely integrated. Cool Cool is incredibly cool! The only thing missing is Yash Raj’s trademark sigh-inducing romance.

Still, judging by the reaction of the kids and their parents at a preview screening in Johannesburg last week, young families will lap it up.

It is worth stressing that its appeal is far greater if you’ve been reared on Bollywood fare, as much of the humour is in-house. Hearing dogs mimic Shahrukh Khan, Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt is really funny only if one is aware of their work, and a spoof gag, like Romeo having Laila’s name tattooed on his arm, is hilarious only if one recalls that Saif did likewise for Kareena.

Animation has opened up new avenues for actors, with their voices replacing their looks, and this movie is blessed with two of the best in the business, Javed Jaffrey and Sanjay Mishra.

Mimicry is one of Jaffrey’s many talents, and he delivers a knockout performance as the voice of Charlie Anna, a bulldog with a distinctly south Indian accent who is the don of Mumbai’s dog-gie underworld. It’s so brilliant that it wouldn’t surprise me if it generated a trend among kids and adults alike. Mishra provides the rasping desi (Indian) voice of his trusty henchman, Chainnu.

They are the villain and his sidekick, and as in most Disney movies — Simba and the hyenas in The Lion King, Cruella de Ville and her two bumbling dim-wits in the Dalmatians series or Captain Hook and Smee in Peter Pan — their characters are distinct and defined, in this instance completely overshadowing the good guys.

Real-life lovers Saif Ali Khan and Ka-reena Kapoor provide the voices of the star-crossed mutts Romeo and Laila. It’s their relationship that upsets Anna, setting him on a trail of destruction that forces the rest of dog-dom to flee with their tails between their legs! I’m stretching it, of course — it’s not nearly as tumultuous, but my point has been made.

While Khan and Kapoor are required only to impart their cool personas to their characters, Jaffrey and Mishra are allowed to improvise with a barrage of great one-liners.

Mishra’s common-man tone is a treat and, for a slim and trim guy, Jaffrey as-sumes a gruff, booming voice that sits perfectly with his heavyweight character.

When Anna, who has difficulty pronouncing Romeo’s name, calling him “Room Mein Aao”, ominously tells him “See ya letter, yalligator,” it’s delivered with all the menace and arrogance be-fitting a don of his stature, but it’s so hilarious that it had me falling out of my seat.

Anna’s grossly mistaken notion that he is God’s gift to bitches is just as funny.

While Roadside Romeo may not match Hollywood’s increasingly high standards, it is a landmark for Bollywood animation and a definitive step in the right direction.

As a debut effort, that much needs to be welcomed and acknowledged, not knocked.

Take your family — there are many portions that will have them howling with joy.

Source The Times

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