By: Farhana Sultana

Monday, June 21, 2004

Cast: Vijay Raaz, Saadiya Siddiqui, Maria Goretti, Saurabh Shukla, Virendra Saxena, Vijay Patkar, Surekha Sikri, Ikhlaque Khan, Manu Rishi Chadha, Vrijendra Kala
Writer & Director: Rajat Kapoor
Producer: Cinematograph, NFDC IndiaScript
Dialogues: Saurabh Shukla

Raghu Romeo (Vijay Raaz), a waiter in a sleazy dance bar, is in absolute awe and in love with the ideal woman Neeta on screen Reshma in real (Maria Goretti). Raghu has lost distinction between fantasy and reality and is head over heels in love with the character in a long running soap opera, "Dard ka Rishta". The film of course has a love triangle. Sweety (Saadiya Siddiqui) a beer bar dancer secretly loves Raghu while a gangster and frequent visitor at the bar, Mario (Saurabh Shukla) is all eyes for Sweety. The plot thickens when Raghu learns that someone is trying to kill Neetaji. The hero gets scent of the plan and here begins Raghu's journey to save his love and screen idol. But Reshma, is far removed from the character she portrays in the popular serial. What happens when reality collides with fantasy? A must-watch madcap adventure.

The film stands as a resounding reminder that our young nation is surrounded like never before by the media where it is easy to lose ones grip on reality. And if it is sad, it is also funny. Actor, model, theatre person turned filmmaker Rajat Kapoor audaciously leaps on both sides of the fantasy-reality line. And despite the fantasy element, the film has an underlying realism, which is tackled in a humorous fashion.

The most enjoyable aspect of Rajat Kapoor's unpredictable satire is its portrayal of the effect melodrama on television has on the common man. No other Hindi film has used pop-melodrama in a satirical fashion to deride the culture of sentimentality in the visual arts. But the film knows its mind and keeps considerations of the heart out of satirical scheme of things.

The actors carry the film with their freshness and vim. Vijay Raaz is superb as the naive Raghu and comes across as vulnerable and likeable. Maria Goretti as the soap queen Neetaji spouting self-sacrificing dialogues in the serial seems miscast in the beginning. But as the film moves on you realize that Maria is effective as a woman of contrasts. Both Saadiya and Saurabh Shukla offer competent performances and do justice to their characters.

The film moves at a swift pace with loads of humour. The editing is crisp and Saurabh Shukla has done a wonderful job with the dialogues. RAGHU ROMEO is also a well-directed film. Rajat Kapoor has to be applauded for capturing Mumbai's gritty life with accuracy. A talented actor of repute himself, director Rajat Kapoor is equally brilliant.

RAGHU ROMEO has done the festival circuit - touring 15 film festivals from Locarno to Dhaka where it has received a great response and also won awards.

Critics all over the world are now touting RAGHU ROMEO as a must-see-film, but will Indian film audiences like a film that is so different from the usual Bollywood flicks? Like Rajat Kapoor put it... "Watch the film because it is fun". It is a rare film that has the potential to bridge distances between mainstream and alternative cinema ... a film to watch out for.

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