The President is Coming 2009 Review

Picture this: the ultimate Indian reality show, where the best young Indian will be chosen to shake hands with George Bush. Now imagine this: six contestants, two judges, 19 hours – caught in a hall of the American consulate. What could that lead to?

You can guess!

The President is Coming  is one of those new age movies that aren’t made so commonly in India, yet is gradually growing more and more acceptable to people. I don’t have any idea how this turned out to be a box office failure, for simply, this is one of the most hilarious movies I’ve seen ever.

This is a very well-scripted and well cinematographed satire on a complex India suffering from hallucinatory images of success and freedom, and employing all possible techniques to relentlessly climb the global ladder in a pro-American world. The characters are delightfully complex, yet hardly stereotypical; and it’s good to have at least one film that explores the variety of Indian youth without passing any judgment on them. A bossy kleptomaniac, a sexist social worker, a wannabe firangi, a spoilt rich scion and an assassin-in-waiting – where are there such an incredible diversity of characters in a film?

The dialogues are singularly well-written, witty and well-timed. But the film doesn’t rely on the dialogues alone – and for this, particular credit must go to the cinematographer. As the film is made as a pseudo-documentary, from time to time certain interviews are inserted – and all charmingly replete with the irony of modern India! Take special care to listen to all the absurdities of how to take care of a President – they’re sure to crack you up!

The film is filled with unknown faces (except Konkona Sen Sharma), but the cast does a very good job – especially the guys playing Ajay, Ramesh and Rohit (sorry, I don’t know you names!) Contrary to expectations, I’d say Konkona doesn’t take as much part in the humour of the storyline as she should have – maybe because she’s not intended as a funny character? Parts of her role definitely stand out – like when she says “Don’t touch my breasts” or when she explains the similarities between Americans and Bangalis. But I still can’t digest how she was disqualified – that’s one major flaw in the entire script. Also, her books could’ve been made more nonsensical. Then the relation between Sam and Maya – I know, it was only one day, but was it going anywhere near a lesbian relationship, at least on Sam’s front (we all know Maya is a determined swindler)? No idea.

The guy playing Md. Aslam was… stiff, quite so, most probably unintendedly. Now if he had just been a more versatile actor, the ulterior message of the film would have gone down better.

There are serious points in the film too; points when there are slight breaks from the breathless laughing. But they’re not out of place – in fact, they help in explaining the complexity of the characters. And they bring out the irony and comedy much better. I simply cracked up when in the end, I saw Samantha’s fate, or when Maya and Sam were fighting on the floor.

All in all, the President is Coming is a mature situational comedy, with a good, tight script. It is not for all, because much is to be read between the lines and you need to appreciate some dark humour and sex jokes from time to time. Is it much of an irony to say that this film is more American than any of the characters in it could ever be? One of the best films released in 2009.

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