India,
2003, 99 min
Shown in 2004
CREDITS
- dir
-
Rajat Kapoor
- prod
-
Rajat Kapoor
- scr
-
Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
- cam
-
Rafey Mahmood
- editor
-
Suresh Pai
- mus
-
Pritam
- cast
-
Vijay Raaz, Saadiya Siddiqui, Maria Goretti, Saurabh Shukla, Virendra Saxena
- source
-
Cinematograph, 14-A Willingdon Colony, Off SV Rd., Santa Cruz (W), 400054 Mumbia, India. EMAIL: rajatkapoor@vsnl.net.
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Rajat Kapoor in person.
OTHER
A poor waiter becomes obsessed with the woman of his dreams in this frenetic satire of television addiction and celebrity obsession. Playing like a Hindi take on Nurse Betty—complete with musical numbers and colorful choreography—this mixture of commercial and underground Indian cinema creates a world where fantasy and reality have blended into one another, and where some people don’t mind that at all. Thirtysomething Raghu lives in a slum with his mother, but spends much of his time as a waiter in a dancing bar, one populated with a few beautiful working women and a few too many dubiously employed men. A young dancer, Sweety, has a crush on Raghu, but Raghu has his eyes and his heart set on a gorgeous, wonderful woman named Neetaji—who is, unfortunately, a character on a television soap opera. When a chance arrives for Raghu to meet “Neetaji,” however, the opportunity arises for reality to finally meet fantasy; whether either survives, of course, is another matter entirely. Entertainingly assembled by director Kapoor (himself a popular actor) and sparked by some comically unbridled performances, Raghu Romeo whimsically stresses the dangers, and the thrills, of taking television too seriously, and serves notice of an independent, thought-provoking Indian filmmaking movement.
FACTOID #343
Director Sally Potter was the first person to be honored with the Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award. In 1993 she was interviewed onstage and her new film Orlando was screened. In 2005, she turned the tables by interviewing Peter J. Owens Award recipient Joan Allen.
