The President is Coming is a take-off on President Bush’s visit to India in 2006. There is a situation where a PR firm has been hired to shortlist an Indian below 30 years of age to be the face of the New India before The American President.
A low budget film, shot in a ‘Documentary’ style, is a satire on the quest for the ‘Young Indian’ who would get a chance to shake George Bush’s hand, during his visit to India. The President is Coming movie review…
Six candidates are short listed and they are subjected to a round of bizarre tests where they are put through various tests to determine their skills and aptitude. Yes, there is elimination, sans drama, and the winner will shake the President’s hand.
Maya Roy (Konkona Sen Sharma) is a Bengali novelist from Kolkata, who is fascinated by the midget tribes of Assam.
Rohit Seth (Vivek Gomber) is an accent trainer from Gurgaon who hates people with fake accents. He has this motive of getting a chance to go back to his homeland – the US.
Ramesh S (Namit Das), a womanizer, is a computer software engineer from Bangalore. He likes to watch American tv shows like Will & Grace and Seinfeld. His dreams are to get married in the United States.
Ajay Karlekar (Satchit Puranik) is a social worker from Nagpur. He is self taught in several Indian languages and also English, which he actually hates, and uses only to compete with The English-speaking elite. He thinks of impressing the US President and persuade him to donate a huge sum in aid to our farmers.
Ira Dubey is Archana Kapoor, an heiress to the Kapoor empire and CEO of Lipservice cosmetics. She is a daddy’s girl and a Delhi socialite.
Kapil Dev Dholakia (Anand Tiwari) is a gujju from amchi Mumbai. An obsessed stock market trader dreams of inducing Bush and get his statements manipulated to make money in the international markets and make a killing in the stock markets.
The winner will get a chance to shake hands with the President will shake and each one is desperate to win and will resort to any means to do so. Towards the end only Kapil and Maya are left as finalists. While, Kapil is caught cheating in the final round, and though Maya is selected, there are bizarre turn of events she is not the one who shakes the Premier’s hand.
Director Kunaal Roy Kapoor has shown finesse for typical situations in this pleasantly entertaining and original film – The President is Coming. Above the average caliber of acting and the great on screen chemistry between the characters is visible in this flick which at its core, pokes fun at both India and the U.S. and the strange relationship that exists between these two great countries.
The President is Coming is funny and witty in some places and there are a few memorable punch lines thrown in. Like “If you were a stock, madam, I would buy you” is a typical one quoted from the film. Konkona Sen Sharma is most impressive in this film. Also, Anand Tiwari is to be watched out as he is just absolutely hilarious.
This low budget film pushes the boundaries of conventional storytelling in Bollywood.
Cast of The President is Coming-
Maya Roy – Konkona Sen Sharma
Ramesh S – Namit Das.
Archana Kapoor – Ira Dubey
Kapil Dev – Anand Tiwari
Rohit Seth – Vivek Gomber
Samantha Patel – Shernaz Patel
Ajay Karlekar – Satchit Puranik
Mohammed Aslam – Imran Rasheed
Ritu Johnson – Shivani Tanksale
Nun – Faezeh Jalali
President’s Chef – Akarsh Khurana
Michael Frayn – Paul Knox
Credits & Crew of The President is Coming:
Presenter: Ramesh Sippy Entertainment
Directed by Kunaal Roy Kapur
Produced by Ramesh Sippy, Rohan Sippy
Writer – Anuvab Pal
Executive Producers – Akarsh Khurana, Hussain Shaikh, Anand Tiwari
Cinematography by Keshav Prakash
Film Editing by Jabeen Merchant
Production Design by Ayaz Basrai, Payal Wadhwa
Costume Design by Shilpa Bhatia
Assistant Directors – Raj Acharya, Rohit Gaba, Prabhudatta GuruParamjit Singh Chall, Anand Tiwari
The President is Coming, movie review