Ta Ra Rum Pum - Movie Preview

Character Sketch

Saif Ali Khan as Rajveer Singh (RV)
Hi. I'm RV. The best race car driver in the world! Sounds nice to be able to finally say that, especially since I've wanted to be one, ever since I was a little boy, racing model cars around my room. Racing has always been my dream, and after Mom & Dad died, I worked even harder towards that goal. Since I never really had much interest in studies, I dropped out of college & started working in the pit-crew of a racing team: the only way I could be near race cars! My life seemed to be going smoothly along this loveless still-nowhere-near-driving-a-race-car track, until one momentous cab ride later, everything changed.

That's when I met Harry (my future manager) and Radhika (my future wife), all in the space of 5 minutes. One crazy trip later, I was the new race car driver for 'Speeding Saddles'; and a couple of chance encounters (and my first win in a race) later, I was in love: with the most beautiful & intelligent & talented & creative & …… (you get the picture…) woman who ever came out of West Bengal to live in New York. A music student & a racer don't somehow seem like the best of matches, but sometimes the cliché works. Opposites do attract and we were quite possibly the happiest couple in Manhattan. And that's how Rajveer Singh the pit-crew tyre changer became RV the racer. I was a man with a new job that I had been dreaming about my entire life, a love that I kept dreaming about and everything that I could have asked for. And then my kids arrived on the scene. Princess and Champ - the two people who suddenly gave my life a new meaning. I didn't think I could be happier, but I was! My career took off much like my car when the starter flag goes down, and my family was the backbone that kept me going. Seeing them cheer me on at every race that I won was what made the dream even more beautiful in its reality.

Until that fateful accident…
That one day changed things forever. I was forced to give up my dream career and my dream life. Everything came crashing down to a very painful and a very changed reality. A reality which involved giving up the wild and racy lifestyle that I had always followed. I tried to make it back… but it was never the same. But now, I have no choice. Something has happened and I need to win. But I don't know what will happen. Will I be able to overcome my fears on the racetrack? Will I be able to save my family? Will I once again become the best father, the best husband and the best racer that I have always been for my wife and kids?

Rani Mukerji as Radhika
Life can be the most unexpected journey of all. This is something that I have learnt over my many years with RV, the man who I never thought could be the kind of person I could fall for. My life as Radhika Shekhar Rai Banerjee started off with ambition and very careful planning. I always knew what I wanted to be and exactly how I wanted to get there. Right from when I was a little girl playing with my carefully organized & acquired dolls to when I decided to pursue a career in music - everything I have done has been well thought out and every step chalked along the way. My Dad, who owns one of the biggest software companies in the world, obviously approved. But everything changed when one sunny day I happened to get into a cab that took off with a bang & propelled me into a life that I had never thought I would lead.

RV exploded into my life with the usual madness & energy that I have now come to expect from him as an everyday trait. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the stands of the New York Speedway, cheering on with wild abandon a man that I had barely met 2 days ago. But that's what I mean about life being unexpected. Love too, in this case. I fell in love in a manner completely contrary to everything that I've ever done so far, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me! And suddenly Radhika Shekhar Rai Banerjee, the straight-laced girl became 'Shona', a woman in love. Life with RV was always a roller-coaster ride of emotions, and things didn't change even with the arrival of Princess & Champ - the two shining lights in my life. We were the ideal happy family that I never knew I wanted, but was so content that I had! But life, in all its unpredictability, had more in store for us…

RV's departure from the race track forced us to give up the idyll of a happy & content life, including our beautiful house. Suddenly we had to fend for a living using any means possible, all the while maintaining a facade of normalcy for the sake of our children. Will I be able to keep my family together while struggling against the vagaries of life? Will I manage to see us through yet another crisis?

Angelina Idnani as Priya
Welcome to my world… the world of Priya Rajveer Singh. I am 'Princess' to the people who are close to me. I have four important people in my world and without them I am lost - Papa, Mama, Champ and Bruno (our dog)… I love them all… strictly in that order! I love my school, Miss Peggy my teacher and my friends… not in that order... ha ha ha!!! I love when Papa races. He looks so good in his uniform, wow! Mama, Champ and myself we all go and cheer Papa!

Champ and I are good children, we never fight… well almost never :)
I am his big sister, and also his friend. But when Papa had his accident, we got really scared… and life is not like it used to be. I want my old world back a happy world in which there were smiling faces of Papa, Mama, Champ and Bruno!

Ali Haji as Champ
Hi. I am Ranveer Rajveer Singh but pyaar se everyone calls me ‘Champ’ - because when I was born, my Papa won a big big race. I like to go school, listen to Princess because she is always right. I also like to fight with her. My favourites are Cars and Burgers - I love to eat burgers. I also like to play games. I don't like to make Mama-Papa, Princess sad. I always want us to be smiling and happy. And I always sing the song they love “ta ra rum pum…”


Storyline

This is the story of one man, his family and how they overcome the obstacles that life puts in their way, together. It is the story of human spirit and how it ultimately prevails.

Rajveer Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a pit-crew worker in a racing team with a passion for driving who gets discovered by a team manager, Harry (Jaaved Jaaferi). The same day he accidentally meets a music student, Radhika (Rani Mukerji), who he falls for instantly. He gets drafted into 'Speeding Saddles' – a failing race team and transforms from Rajveer Singh to “RV” the race car driver. While his racing career takes off instantly, his love life also blossoms after a whirlwind romance. A few months later, he is both a happily married man and one of the country's best racers. Fatherhood and greater success both follow and soon he is the Number 1 race car driver in the USA, as well as the proud father of two precocious kids Priya (Angelina Idnani) and Ranveer (Ali Haji).

But as a result of a bad racing accident, RV is hospitalized for a few months. When he tries to make a comeback, he realizes that he has been mentally scarred by the accident and has lost his edge. His life now takes a turn for the worse and after a string of failures, he is forced to auction his house and move with his family to a run-down Bronx-style neighborhood.

However, RV and Radhika decide not to tell their children the truth and construct a skillful masquerade of a reality show where they have to live a poor life in order to win a mythical grand prize. The family struggles to survive a life that they are not used to, using a mixture of fantasy and cheerfulness to pull through in the face of adversity. But an incident forces RV to reclaim the life that was taken away from him.

Can he, once again and perhaps for a last time, face down his inner demons on the race track?

Can the family remain together in the wake of what could perhaps be their biggest challenge yet?

Ta Ra Rum Pum...in theatres on April 27th.