The President Is Coming (2009) User Reviews

Original, Hilarious, and brilliant performances!

[bretthicksmaitland · 8/10 · 19 November 2008]

I saw this film in New York City for the South Asian Festival. How wonderful to see the first of it's kind and an Indian mockumentary. The film was good fun - the audience loved it and laughed the whole way through. The actors were all very strong - and the script was fast paced and very theatrical.

Always a pleasure to watch Konkona Sen Sharma strutting her stuff. Anand Tiwari is absolutely hysterical - he's one to watch out for.

The cast work very well together as a whole - and the animated sequences are a real treat - that make you think that you are watching some sort of reality TV show - that people get voted out of.

I think this film will do very well in India and abroad!!!!

funny as hell

[sr240 · 8/10 · 13 November 2008]

I thoroughly enjoyed The President is Coming. It is funny and witty, although not necessarily in that order. There are memorable punch lines thrown in which makes you wonder why there isn't more of this humor since India and Indians lend themselves so well to a lot of this tongue in cheek stuff.

The script astutely mines the foibles of the middle class in their race for recognition and redemption on a global scale.

"If you were a stock, madam, I would buy you" is an instant classic. There is much more of these humdingers. If you like Wes Anderson and Christopher Guest, you'll be sure to like this one.

Pretty original low budgeted movie

[subirsinha · 7/10 · 6 October 2016]

I just stumbled upon this movie in a video parlor. Frankly speaking I never had any expectations on this low budged movie. I was quite a pleasantly surprised by the story line.

The movie is quirky, politically sarcastic and immensely hilarious. It has an interesting premise of the famously publicized visit of George Bush visiting India back in 2006. The American Embassy hires a PR Agency to shortlist 6 unique Indians and choose 1 India to "shake" hands with Bush. The choice would be make by going through few competitive rounds.

The movie shows these 6 candidate's personal funny moments, opinions and reactions and funny apprehensions in the competitive rounds. The film successfully depicts Indian crazy euphoria of their American Dreams regardless of how stupid they may be. Each of the candidates are desperate to win. The film successfully brings the best of the sarcasm in the entire socio-political circus.

I specifically liked acting of Anand Tiwari( the freaky financial broker),Konkona Sen Sharma(arrogant Bengali writer) and Shernaz Patel ( PR Co-ordinator).

Overall the film is a great home video entertainer with popcorn. Trust me, you wont regret it!

Reality TV meets India and U.S. Foreign Relations

[james-2769 · 9/10 · 13 November 2008]

I saw President at its NYC opening at SAIFF. I found it both pleasantly entertaining and original. As a non-Indian I may have missed some of the specific Indian humor contained in a few scenes but all in all I found myself laughing pretty consistently throughout the film. If you're looking for a film with great characters, witty dialogue, and a slick editing I highly recommend it. The other thing that stood out to me was the caliber of acting and the great on screen chemistry between the characters. At its core the film pokes fun at both India and the U.S. and the strange relationship that exists between these two great countries.

The hand of God....

[AvinashPatalay · 3 July 2009]

Michael Moore - Fahrenheit 9/11. What did he do? Collected pieces of facts, joined them nicely with his hypotheses to prove his point against George Bush in a documentary style format. Treading the similar path is Kunal Roy Kapur who takes Presidents visit to India and weaves a nice fictionalised story on the process of "hard man is good to find" for shaking hands with him.

¤ Vivek Gomber & Ira Dubey as "American Desi" Rohit and "I am like confused" Archana:: What good is a Bollywood story without a love-story? The bitter-sweet couple has a touch of love, sacrifice and lived- happily-ever-after.

¤ Namit Das as the "I want to have the cake and eat it too" Ramesh:: Looks wise very authentic. Until now I thought the actor was actually a South-Indian.

¤ Anand Tiwari as "Gujju trader" Kapil Dev:: Again splendid. Note the finer nuance when he racks his brains to demonstrate his knowledge the scrip codes of stock market. And his mentality of using money-power to buy the completion is well enacted.

¤ Konkana Sen as "crafty" Maya:: Falls short in terms of expectations perhaps because the other characters come about much stronger than her. Her attempts to ward off competition was not quite impressive and sheep in the wolves clothing was no surprise either.

¤ Imran Rasheed as "Security" Aslam:: Very short role. Pay attention how genuinely he does Salaam.

¤ Satchit Puranik as "the educated fundamentalist" Ajay Karlekar: His mannerism, costume and look gives a very authentic feel.

¤ Aakash Khurana as "Help, I am a celebrity - get me out of here": Was wasted. I think he was dropped or opted out during production.

¤ Shernaz Patel as "The Devil Wears Prada" Sam:: Was loud and hammed. Should have watched Meryl Streep for homework.

¤ Shivani as "underdog" Ritu:: Miscast and perhaps didn't utilise the potential the character had to offer.

The characters are very much true-to-life as each one of them is distinct leaving a lasting impression on the viewers mind. The actors deserve special mention for they literally get into the skin of the character with the mannerism and accent. Wonder if they are very much same in real life.

The last 15-minutes deserved better writing for it was kind of coming especially the part when the penny is dropped.

Anyways, brave attempt.

Watch this only if it's confirmed that you've been given a one way ticket to Purgatory

[kunalpuri-in · 2/10 · 27 January 2009]

I trembled while resisting the worst possible rating for this film but in all fairness I've seen worse. At least the promos were creatively misleading and since it's important to actually sit through the ENTIRE film before laying claim to a comprehensive review, I admit I threw up and walked out on this one within the first hour. Let's take it up one by one:

The Acting: is at best shoddy and reminiscent of a self-congratulatory, Mumbai-based English-theatre performance. For those who don't know what this means, it's the equivalent of Timothy Dalton playing Bond or Arnie playing a mother. (Maybe I'm cribbing because I've seen some of these performers botch a perfectly good script on the Mumbai stage as well). The characters are so cocooned in caricaturisation that they you can't connect with them any more than you would with Puff-the-magic-dragon.

The Direction: is amateur and unimaginative. Sorry KRK but the reality- TV style is losing its sheen unless you bring something to it. Those forced silences and awkward moments just don't work if you're not going to bring an element of the panopticon to it.

The Production: Cut, cut, cut. I read someone say this film is slick but in my opinion you could trip on the gaps between cuts. I could hear myself grind my teeth between bad performances because for some reason the producer wanted me to notice they were BAD.

It pains me to write this because I actually knew KRK back in college and loved his stage performances and steady supply of off-stage wit but I'm thoroughly disappointed at the hack job that's been put together with "The President is Coming". Let this be a lesson to all foreign dignitaries to steer clear of this country just so we don't have to be subjected to another one of these abominations.

Good Story ..... Bad Movie

[RamReddy · 2/10 · 16 February 2009]

The story idea was decent. But the movie was bad, very disappointing. I felt the director didn't do a good job because the screenplay was lacking. There were a couple of good scenes that made me laugh. But most of the jokes were contrived.

You can't get away from criticism by calling it a documentary (i.e. low budget). It needs to be compared to a commercial movie. My test is simple - Was it an entertaining movie? After sitting through the whole movie - the answer is No. I felt cheated because the movie could have been better than the final product that was presented.

Konkona Sen Sharma was a waste. I decided to watch the movie as I saw her name in the titles.

Yes, An Indian Mockumentary, and It's Lovely Too !

[elshikh4 · 29 May 2009]

This is funny movie for sure. Firstly, (The President Is Coming) reminded me of an earlier Egyptian movie named (Zeyaret el-Sayed el-Rais - 1994) or (Mr. President's Visit). Both movies got nearly the same main happening, but with totally different plots and characters. However, the 2 movies meet in many perspectives.

Producing an Indian movie as a mockumentary, that makes fun of the American president, policy and the American dream's mania, yet in English, is an unmistakable message, that shows internationally a different Indian cinema and certain viewpoints as well. Its smartest point was dealing with the whole characters as no body is perfect. That left no room for any partiality, giving a plenty of space to mock but in objective style where all is questionable, hence ready to be mocked at.

It has many interesting points; on the top of them is the main idea. It's all about who will shake the American president's hand in his first visit to India. So the competition to select the Indian young man or women that will have the honor of shaking the no great shakes!

At some parts, I felt how it's a witty parody of reality TV shows, especially (The Apprentice) and (Survivor), where the backstabbing and the shadow conspiracies are on. But you'd feel that the movie relayed on the dialogue a bit much than the action, despite how lively the events were. Moreover, maybe against the movie makers' will, the constancy of the place or set gave it a little sense of boredom, while I'm positive that the budget wasn't there to hold things out.

Another problem, the logic of the movie as basically a documentary was broken. Simply, scenes like the one of offering the bribe could be understandable while the deceitful competitors, a la (Survivor), know by heart that there is a camera shooting them nonstop. But with other scenes, it didn't make any sense at all. For instance, the moment when the arrogant manager steals things from the embassy wasn't believable since she naturally knows that she's on camera! Plus the scene of exposing the plan of the assassination!! How the winner girl dared to declare all of that in front of the running camera?! Actually, when we see the whole room later, from another angle, we discover that there is no camera shooting at all! So, while the whole movie has been filmed by steadicam, the direction failed utterly to divide the moments that were in front of the "documentary's camera" from the ones which weren't; where the characters speak freely or deal frankly. This was a fault that confused the viewer, which has been avoided in not too far experiences like (Drop Dead Gorgeous - 1999) in which the whole thing is from the running camera's point of view, where we don't watch the conspiracy or the conspirator, only the results.

Minor points: at the end, we saw the novelist living her life without any problems? How is that while she was about to kill the American president, and more than one person already knew about it? Maybe the things were kept secret, yet the movie didn't allow us to catch on that appropriately, even by swift hint at the end's boards. Or how they're doing exams, selecting the shaker just one night before the handshake?!

On the other hand, the performance was perfect. This cast made the best indeed. They are all brilliant, having both the charisma and the talent. I've been fascinated in particular by (Konkona Sen Sharma) who played the role of the novelist. And the fact that none of them delivered an overdone acting is something assures partly the quality of this director.

Speaking of which, (Kunaal Roy Kapur) made a fine job. I liked the try to create a graceful pace with the camera moves, and the clever editing. The very good animated commenting helped that, and assured the movie's jovial personality. Suffice it to say that there were some cadres which were singly funny; a character says an opinion to the camera, while less important opinion is being said in the same cadre yet its sayer is down half-apparent, and so on.

There is a nice satiric spirit all over it. This script managed to discharge its writer's anger well. The lines, the gags, even the soundtrack's songs all are intense and bitterly derisive. It's just the sexual tone that was somehow superfluous, but not that copious anyway. I liked some obvious remarks yet lovely: the march of "shake the American president's hand, and you'll go to promise land", line like "Inside every thief is an honest man" and where it was said!, or the Indian way of dealing with things "by the American way" which isn't "democracy", it's "reality TV"!! Let alone the wicked using of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" song while seeing (George W. Bush) for the first time! And last but not the least, the quote of (Gordon Gekko) from (Oliver Stone)'s (Wall Street - 1987): "Greed is good" as the best line that will be said while shaking the American president.. Excellent!

I loved the dramatic change, or rather disclosure, of the inordinately Americanized guy. The moment of him finally expressing his long curbed emotions towards America during his facing with (Bush)'s statue was outstanding and the highest moment of this movie, despite that I didn't admire its monologue.

(The President Is Coming) is simple, clear, and compared to the general production of the Indian cinema lately--refreshing and most of all: original. So I have a message for this movie's makers, and I hope it reaches them: Keep up the good work, WE NEED MORE!

Actor-director Kunaal Roy Kapoor's satirical mockumentary is too incredulous to work as a satire or mockumentary, and edges on farce with non-stop tomfoolery.

[sashank_kini-1 · 4/10 · 20 August 2013]

When we were kids, we played a popular game called 'Simon says'. In this game, one kid from the group became 'Simon' and issued instructions to the rest of the group, like 'Simon says sit' or 'Simon says jump'. The person who failed to perform the action immediately lost the game and sat out until the winner was declared. The six contestants who compete in a reality show that offers the winner a chance of the lifetime to shake hands with President George Bush (now former President, of course) are so hare-brained and crotchety they'd all fail in first round of a Simon Says game, forget making the list of NDTV's top entrepreneurs (as the film states. The only way this can be justifiable is if NDTV is equally harebrained) or worse, representing India to greet a President. It isn't just the contestant choice that's ridiculous but the selection committee itself which includes two unhinged women who conduct a series of absurd tasks in elimination rounds. It's really a stretch to believe that the US consulate would these circus freaks to work for them, who seem fitter as inmates of a mental asylum. The only reality shows that fits the bill for these cartoons is the garish 'Timeout with Imam', the Indian 'reality show' (though it's obviously scripted) that's currently polluting MTV India. For those unfamiliar with the show, think Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag.

Actor-director Kunaal Roy Kapoor's satirical mockumentary is too incredulous to work as a satire or mockumentary, and edges on farce with non-stop tomfoolery. The characters in 'The President is Coming' are so in-your-face obnoxious and in-each-other's faces offensive that they put you off so much, you'd wish that carnivorous plant from Cadbury Bournville commercial would devour them up. These aren't likable caricatures, like Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory or Meryl Streep's wonderful Camilla Bowner in 'Web Therapy', whose verbal darts during their repartees are sharp but don't hurt. In 'The President is Coming', the characters want to draw blood every time they open their mouths. At one point, a guy asks a girl 'Are you a sl*t?... A wh*re?' (later, it is found that the girl had recorded a sex-tape with another male contestant in the past) like he's asking about weather. Even the wicked Barney Stinson from comedy series How I Met Your Mother would've been more tactful.

There are seven contenders fighting for the title of 'The Most offensive character' in the film. Let's begin with the host Samantha Patel, a bossy uptight always-Miss-Right anchor who dons Barkha Dutt's bob cut. There's hardly a moment where we don't see her putting down her timid protégé Ritu Johnson and telling her who has the last word. She's later found to be a kleptomaniac stealing cutlery and statues from the location of the reality show. It's surprising that this character, who wants to remain in the spotlight always, doesn't ask the reality-show's camera-man (who's off-screen, holding the camera, through which we view all the action) for close-ups, or come too close to the camera only to block others from view.

The six contestants include Maya Roy, an author who loves the works of Ernest Hemingway, except she thinks she's better. A strong-minded forward-thinking divorcée, she is irked by the misogynistic, homophobic, antediluvian thinking of co-contestant Ajay Karlekar, a Hindutva social worker who believes he and George Bush share the same qualities (he's got that right, at least). She is also very shrewd, using contestants' weaknesses to get them eliminated. One victim is South Indian Ramesh S., a closeted homosexual who is learns all the rules of straight-flirtation but never gets them right. Then there is billionaire's daughter and budding entrepreneur Archana, a scatterbrained brown skin Paris Hilton without the puppies, and Rohit Seth, an accent trainer running the unimaginatively named 'Speak easy'; this is the couple that was involved in the sex tape scandal. The guy who asks her whether she's a sl*t is Kapil Dev Dholakia, a stockbroker who can speak stocks and shares very easily but nothing else. When asked what the capital of US is, he replies 'Dow Jones'. The film gives this painful guy a sweet revenge by dressing him up as Madonna in the Round 'American Masquerade'.

You just can't choose some who calls Osama Bin Laden as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as one of the top six contestants of any quiz based reality show, especially one where the winner meets Mr. Bush. One just can't be so ignorant, so offensive and so ludicrous unless paid handsomely by the TV to act this way. There's also some obvious blunders for which no explanations are provided. Firstly, where's the entire crew that's shooting the event? Are we to believe one that there's only person shooting AND operating the boom mic (a device to capture sound. Oftentimes makes special appearance in films due to careless editing) and there's no security except one mousy watchman? And why would one character reveal a maleficent hidden agenda in front of TV cams and security cams? All these annoyances and blunders rob the spotlight from moments of mild delight.

Ernest Hemingway once said 'The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof sh*t detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it'. Anuvab Pal may not even make it to the long list of such writers. His film reeks.

Good story but not professional

[swanbaupro · 4/10 · 18 June 2013]

The best thing about "The President is Coming" is that its story is original. In this regard, it has to be commended. Unfortunately, being a low-budget film, the overall product is not of a high quality. The dialogues and acting are amateurish. The English spoken by the Indian actors is not properly enunciated and the accent is thick most of the time. It would have been better if the dialogues had been in Hindi.

I would say that it is worth a watch but don't expect a high-quality work. The jokes may make you chuckle at regular intervals but be prepared for the uneven quality of the acting. The ending is special and that leaves a somewhat sweet after-taste in your mouth.

My verdict: good try; do better next time.

Novocain With Some Brain

[Chrysanthepop · 21 March 2009]

Given that original ideas are becoming more limited in Indian cinema, Kunal Roy Kapoor's satirical comedy 'The President Is Coming' comes as a breeze of fresh air. Not only that, but it is one of the funniest films of recent time. The writing is just terrific. The themes are well introduced with a touch of humour and the clever dialogues are laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Kapoor has also finally exposed the hidden comedic flair of Shernaz Patel (she actually looks quite hot here) and Konkona Sen Sharma (very sexy too). These two actresses are known for their portrayal of intense characters and it was a pleasant surprise to see them in comic parts. While Patel's role demands her to be more physical with comedy, Sen Sharma's role demands both subtlety and 'physicality'. The women are a riot. Would love to see these two in more comedies. Shivani Tanksale as Samantha's pushover rival and Anand Tiwari are hilarious. The rest of the cast also get to draw their fair share of laughter and they are just as wonderful.

The film was made on a low budget which works in its favour and it is suitably executed like an episode of a reality show. Thus, the editing and cinematography might not be the kind you witness in slick high-tech movies but that's pretty much the point.

Kunal Roy Kapoor proves to be a talented director because he does a very commendable job. I would surely look forward to his future projects if he stays on the same track. As for, 'The President Is Coming', I wouldn't recommend watching it with kids or parents but it's a great film for mature people looking for laughter (although ). Out an out howlarious!