FILM REVIEW: SALAAM NAMASTE (2005)

Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Tania Zaetta, Jugal Hansraj, Kunal Vijaykar, Abhishek Bachchan (Guest Appearance)
Director: Siddharth Raj Anand
Music: Vishal-Shekhar
Producer: Yash Raj Films

Brand Yash Raj is back with another exciting movie, ‘Salaam Namaste’. Feel good flicks from the house of Chopra’s keep coming up with amazing regularity. Never before in history of Indian Cinema has any Production House attained such stupendous success rate.

A romantic-comedy shot entirely Down Under (in Australia) by debutant director Siddharth Raj Anand, the film stars Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta who previously lit up screens in 2003’s New York-set “Kal Ho Naa Ho".

Salaam Namaste is about two people in a live-in relationship. But that’s the only aspect where Salaam Namaste is different from other Yash Raj Films. You have seen it all in ‘Hum Tum’ and ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and yet it’s different, entertaining and GREAT FUN.

Ambar Malhotra (Preity Zinta) is a perky and bubbly RJ (Radio Jockey) working part time at the ‘Salaam Namaste’ radio station in Australia. She has a past. She ran away from Bangalore and her nagging parents to complete her degree in medicine. At ‘Salaam Namaste’ she interviews all the Indians living in Australia. During one such interview she comes across Nikhil Arora a.k.a. Nick (Saif Ali Khan).

Nick is an architect-turned-head chef who is an easy going person who wakes up late every day and is always late to work.

Nick was an invitee to Amber’s radio station for an interview with her and he misses her show because…well he’s a late riser. This carelessness of Nick annoys Ambar a lot and a small argument takes place between them. The two eventually encounter each other. What begins as a spat turns into a mutual liking after a night at a party.

Nick asks Ambar to move in with him, to see if this relationship can stay afloat. She decides to give him a chance, and agrees. So for three months, they have the best time of their lives, each sacrificing a bit every other day to make each other happy and getting to know about each others quirks and general habits. Things seem to go smoothly until one fine morning; Amber discovers that she is pregnant.

Nick, who is in no state of taking responsibility of being a husband and a father asks Ambar to abort the child, but Ambar decides that she will go on with giving birth to the child.

Finally after some dramatic moments, Saif realizes life is just not about fun. He accepts Preity in a funny climax in a maternity ward.

Barring its theme, Salaam Namaste is similar to Hum Tum and Kal Ho Naa Ho (and for that matter Saathiya). While the first half is fast, laced with jokes and interesting situations the second half where Preity realizes about her pregnancy suddenly turns serious.

The film is cleverly penned by Siddharth Anand. He lets the viewers settle in, in the initial 40 minutes and then gets down to point. Though the screenplay looses some steam in the second half, it more than makes up for it in the last 20 minutes where Saif confesses his love on radio and then the fantastic finale, it’s magic. Siddharth manages to drive home his point and steers clear of poking fingers in your eyes and making the proceedings overtly emotional (Thanks God! It was not Kya Kehna revisited).

The dialogues (Abbas Tyrewala) in the movie deserve a special mention as they are brilliant. Sunil Patel, the director of photography has done a wonderful job.

Saif as Nick is the best thing about Salaam Namaste. You will love and hate him at the same time. He has matured as an actor over the last few years and he delivers one of his better, sensitive performances in this one. This is the type of film that he is very good at. His comic timing was always perfect and a Parineeta and a National Award later he aptly handles sensual situations doled out to him.

Preity Zinta makes a comeback after a long time and a long wait but the wait was worth it. Preity as Amber is fantastic. She’s very vivacious and hot-headed and her performance is very believable. She handles the emotional scenes well. What is great about her is that she has amazing screen presence in the film.

Arshad Warsi’s goofy facial expressions and tongue-in-cheek one liner’s hit the spot. Maria, Arshad’s wife, also makes a cameo with their son Zeke. Jugal Hansraj makes his presense felt. Javed Jafferi ala Crocodile Dundee in the role of a landlord shines throughout the film and his comic timing is also brilliant. Abhishek Bachchan cameo as doctor towards the climax fails to strike a chord.

The only downside is the music, by Vishal-Shekhar, which is a bit of a letdown (Considering it’s a Yash Raj Production). Thankfully the songs are few and take a backseat.

On the whole,’Salaam Namaste’ definitely lives up to the expectations that one has from a film of this magnitude.

Gear up for the biggest party of 2005. Don’t miss it for the World!

RS Rating: 7/10

Credit: This review was submitted by Ankit Jain of Footprints.in. They run their own movie Blog at DCECinemas. To submit your own review for posting on radiosargam.com please email.

Your Reviews

"For me, Saif was the best thing about the movie! HE was totally awesome, and he bought that real touch to the movie! Saif exels amazingly at roles like this. And this performance was no exception at all! Great dialouge delivery, amazing expression" - Crazy4Uday.

"Coming from a debutante, this direction was absolutely SUPERB! He handled all the situations with subtlety, maturity and well each scene was handled how it should be, and even the performances he extracted from everyone was top-stuff" - Dreamz Unlimited.

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