The President Is Coming

Given that original ideas are becoming more limited in Indian cinema, Kunal Roy Kapoor's satirical comedy 'The President Is Coming' comes as a breeze of fresh air. Not only that, but it is one of the funniest films of recent time. The writing is just terrific. The themes are well introduced with a touch of humour and the clever dialogues are laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Kapoor has also finally exposed the hidden comedic flair of Shernaz Patel (she actually looks quite hot here) and Konkona Sen Sharma (very sexy too). These two actresses are known for their portrayal of intense characters and it was a pleasant surprise to see them in comic parts. While Patel's role demands her to be more physical with comedy, Sen Sharma's role demands both subtlety and 'physicality'. The women are a riot. Would love to see these two in more comedies. Shivani Tanksale as Samantha's pushover rival and Anand Tiwari are hilarious. The rest of the cast also get to draw their fair share of laughter and they are just as wonderful.

The film was made on a low budget which works in its favour and it is suitably executed like an episode of a reality show. Thus, the editing and cinematography might not be the kind you witness in slick high-tech movies but that's pretty much the point.

Kunal Roy Kapoor proves to be a talented director because he does a very commendable job. I would surely look forward to his future projects if he stays on the same track. As for, 'The President Is Coming', I wouldn't recommend watching it with kids or parents but it's a great film for mature people looking for laughter (although ). Out an out howlarious!

I trembled while resisting the worst possible rating for this film but in all fairness I've seen worse. At least the promos were creatively misleading and since it's important to actually sit through the ENTIRE film before laying claim to a comprehensive review, I admit I threw up and walked out on this one within the first hour. Let's take it up one by one:

The Acting: is at best shoddy and reminiscent of a self-congratulatory, Mumbai-based English-theatre performance. For those who don't know what this means, it's the equivalent of Timothy Dalton playing Bond or Arnie playing a mother. (Maybe I'm cribbing because I've seen some of these performers botch a perfectly good script on the Mumbai stage as well). The characters are so cocooned in caricaturisation that they you can't connect with them any more than you would with Puff-the-magic-dragon.

The Direction: is amateur and unimaginative. Sorry KRK but the reality- TV style is losing its sheen unless you bring something to it. Those forced silences and awkward moments just don't work if you're not going to bring an element of the panopticon to it.

The Production: Cut, cut, cut. I read someone say this film is slick but in my opinion you could trip on the gaps between cuts. I could hear myself grind my teeth between bad performances because for some reason the producer wanted me to notice they were BAD.

It pains me to write this because I actually knew KRK back in college and loved his stage performances and steady supply of off-stage wit but I'm thoroughly disappointed at the hack job that's been put together with "The President is Coming". Let this be a lesson to all foreign dignitaries to steer clear of this country just so we don't have to be subjected to another one of these abominations.

I saw President at its NYC opening at SAIFF. I found it both pleasantly entertaining and original. As a non-Indian I may have missed some of the specific Indian humor contained in a few scenes but all in all I found myself laughing pretty consistently throughout the film. If you're looking for a film with great characters, witty dialogue, and a slick editing I highly recommend it. The other thing that stood out to me was the caliber of acting and the great on screen chemistry between the characters. At its core the film pokes fun at both India and the U.S. and the strange relationship that exists between these two great countries.

The story idea was decent. But the movie was bad, very disappointing. I felt the director didn't do a good job because the screenplay was lacking. There were a couple of good scenes that made me laugh. But most of the jokes were contrived.

You can't get away from criticism by calling it a documentary (i.e. low budget). It needs to be compared to a commercial movie. My test is simple - Was it an entertaining movie? After sitting through the whole movie - the answer is No. I felt cheated because the movie could have been better than the final product that was presented.

Konkona Sen Sharma was a waste. I decided to watch the movie as I saw her name in the titles.

Michael Moore - Fahrenheit 9/11. What did he do? Collected pieces of facts, joined them nicely with his hypotheses to prove his point against George Bush in a documentary style format. Treading the similar path is Kunal Roy Kapur who takes Presidents visit to India and weaves a nice fictionalised story on the process of "hard man is good to find" for shaking hands with him.

¤ Vivek Gomber & Ira Dubey as "American Desi" Rohit and "I am like confused" Archana:: What good is a Bollywood story without a love-story? The bitter-sweet couple has a touch of love, sacrifice and lived- happily-ever-after.

¤ Namit Das as the "I want to have the cake and eat it too" Ramesh:: Looks wise very authentic. Until now I thought the actor was actually a South-Indian.

¤ Anand Tiwari as "Gujju trader" Kapil Dev:: Again splendid. Note the finer nuance when he racks his brains to demonstrate his knowledge the scrip codes of stock market. And his mentality of using money-power to buy the completion is well enacted.

¤ Konkana Sen as "crafty" Maya:: Falls short in terms of expectations perhaps because the other characters come about much stronger than her. Her attempts to ward off competition was not quite impressive and sheep in the wolves clothing was no surprise either.

¤ Imran Rasheed as "Security" Aslam:: Very short role. Pay attention how genuinely he does Salaam.

¤ Satchit Puranik as "the educated fundamentalist" Ajay Karlekar: His mannerism, costume and look gives a very authentic feel.

¤ Aakash Khurana as "Help, I am a celebrity - get me out of here": Was wasted. I think he was dropped or opted out during production.

¤ Shernaz Patel as "The Devil Wears Prada" Sam:: Was loud and hammed. Should have watched Meryl Streep for homework.

¤ Shivani as "underdog" Ritu:: Miscast and perhaps didn't utilise the potential the character had to offer.

The characters are very much true-to-life as each one of them is distinct leaving a lasting impression on the viewers mind. The actors deserve special mention for they literally get into the skin of the character with the mannerism and accent. Wonder if they are very much same in real life.

The last 15-minutes deserved better writing for it was kind of coming especially the part when the penny is dropped.

Anyways, brave attempt.