TAMASHA (2015) Official Trailer: Can Imtiaz Ali Save Ranbir Kapoor’s Career?

Ranbir Kapoor had a bright career in Bollywood with roles that right away veered away from the expected ones that most leading men in Bollywood start with. More recently, the talented actor has been down and out with 3 back to back commercial and critical failures. Not that that means anything given the actor’s lineage, however, with ‘Tamasha’, the once promising actor looks to return to the limelight with an introspective role that could lift his career, and his spirits along with it.

Check out the official first trailer for ‘Tamasha’, and let me know if you still have faith in the Kapoor Khandaan’s heir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN_qxutU_qc 

‘Tamasha‘ is all about Ved, (Ranbir Kapoor) a young man burdened by the expectations of society, and wanting to break free to live the life he wants. He gets an opportunity to do so during a vacation, where he becomes someone completely different. During this real life role play, Ved meets the love of his life, Tara, (Deepike Padukone) but doesn’t follow through on it, as they agree to never be honest with each other, you know, for adventure! When they reunite after a certain time, she sees him for how he really is; buttoned down and by the book; boring basically. The conflict of the story seems to revolve around this premise of Ved being too restrictive in his life to be the man that Tara fell in love with during their escapades, which seems like a lofty premise at best.

the cute-meet came off kind of cliched.

‘Tamasha‘ is written and directed by the highly popular Imtiaz Ali, who previously worked with Ranbir Kapoor in his rock and roll musical epic, ‘Rockstar‘. Arguably Kapoor’s best movie to date, ‘Rockstar‘ solidified his status as an actor with range. Ali is known for his stories that feature troubled lead characters who are unhappy with their current lives, (‘Jab We Met’, ‘Highway‘) and an encounter with their romantic lead in the movie, changes their perspective or gives them the courage to act upon their dormant desires. It’s an Imtiaz Ali formula for sure.

Ranbir Kapoor has already done a similarly endearing film very early in his career with ‘Wake Up Sid’. Even ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani‘ with the same director, featured a character who at one point had to ‘discover’ himself. So it’s difficult to see where ‘Tamasha‘ will expand on that trope that we’ve already seen multiple versions of from Kapoor himself.

The trailer shows us glimpses of what is probably going to set the film apart from those other depictions. Ved is said to love stories, and the film has him and Tara becoming part of a troupe that performs plays during their adventures. Ali will probably use that plot device and setting to thematically connect Ved’s identity crisis and love story and help him overcome it. Ali did the same with the fame of being a musician as the backdrop for a love story in ‘Rockstar’ and the plot device of being kidnapped to bring about self actualization in the main character in ‘Highway’.

At this point, besides looking bright and crisp with amazing music by A. R. Rahman, it’s hard to get excited for ‘Tamasha’ without knowing where the story is going, or even a clear cut premise. A girl hooks up with a guy on vacation, and is surprised to find out he is not how he pretended to be during their hook up… Is probably the story of every vacation hook-up that fails to survive beyond the plane trip back home.

‘Tamasha’ releases November 27th, 2015.

Do you think this is the same from Ranbir, or do you have faith in Imtiaz Ali?

Comment below or defend the movie to me on Twitter @theshahshahid