This was published in Nxg - The Hindu
Director: Jugal Hansraj
Roadside Romeo is a rich-rag-happy ending tale of Romeo (a dog) who finds a way to live in the gutter and in the process finds love in the form of Laila and wins her over the obstacle called Charlie anna. With Road side Romeo Yashraj has found a way to make money out of their poor scripts. Remove the dogs and make actors play the roles they voiced; then Roadside Romeo will end being damp squib. One wonders if Yashraj knows anything else than DDLJ, proving yet again Chak de! India was a flash out of the pan.
All said, yet this being an animation film all the clichés and nostalgic moments which we all have gotten bored of doesn't look that bad. Look for the scene that comes after Romeo does a Raj of DDLJ by lending his hand from train; intelligent script writing. But is there anything original in this script? The director answers that too with the game the dogs play at night to wake the humans- clever again. These interesting moments though very good are very few and far between. Even scripting wise in the first half, the director seems to be in a hurry to say everything, making us feel distant from what is happening on the screen.
Technically Roadside Romeo is a good attempt by Indian standards but can never be called a revolutionary. The voice sync is not that great especially for Laila. Kareena fails to bring life to the wonderful body language created for Laila. Of all the actors Javed Jaffery stands out which his marvelous command over the character. One can't stop smiling at the way he pronounces Row-meow (Romeo).
On the whole a time pass film not for the kids but only for the teen.
Verdict: 3/5 stars
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