Salaam Namaste is a lovable movie: go for it with your popcorn and lots of friends. You get sufficient laughs for your buck, great locations and some good music too. Paisa Wasool !
My expectations had been unfortunately raised by the hype surrounding the movie. I was surprised to find a sort of collage: shades, bits and pieces of other movies we have seen before, put together rather skilfully, though.
It could well have been called HUM TUM 2 as far as the girl-guy bickering in the first part is concerned. Then they predictably fall in love, and start living together, adjusting for each others’ quirks, when you expect them to bicker again in Hum Tum mode. There was a better chemistry between Saif and Rani, or perhaps she is just a better actress. There is even a girls v/s boys song again here ’’My Dil goes Mmmmmmm’’ reminding one of the Hum Tum context. Despite all that conceptual repetition, there are a lot of sitcom-like funny moments.
So, they live together: pointedly sleeping in separate rooms initially and over a few days inevitably landing in each other’s arms. And then comes is KYA KEHNA 2 where Preity finds herself pregnant by Saif, who quite helplessly can only suggest an abortion. Priety goes to get an abortion too, without the usual fuss that this theme attracts in movies. But finally she decides to carry the child, despite Saif’s disagreement, ending up unmarried and alone. Priety has burnt her boats and chosen to live in Australia, without any support from her parents (in India), to avoid getting married and to pursue her education.
One is left to wonder how Preity always ends up at this point in movies where she teams up with Saif. Jugal Hansraj plays the role that Chandrachud had in Kya Kehna, namely the supportive, selfless male friend, another cinematic cliche. (Only he is supportive, but marries a different girl.) Though a serious moment , it does not drag into pathos at this point. In fact even at unhappy moments in the movie, there is no real pathos at any point, nothing to make you cry. You can think ahead of the movie’s plot, though and the only surprise is how will the particular cliched plot line be dealt with. The answer: understatement and humour.
The rest of the movie has many a Comedy of Error, with Saif and Priety resolving their differences and getting back together again, after an agonisingly long time. All along Arshad Warsi and his (married) Australian wife offer a contrast to Saif and Priety’s relationship free of conventional marital ties. What ties the two lives of Amber and Nick (Priety and Saif respectively int the movie) together is the extravagantly expensive (and breath-taking) house that they have rented for a year, and cannot afford to move out of, despite their differences.
Climax and conclusion: 9 monthsin Hindi: Some scenes of this Hugh Grant/Julianne Moore starrer ’’9 Months’’ have been copied directly, creating an overcooked last 15 minutes in the delivery room of a hospital. Saif finaly gets to propose Lethal Weapon 4 (and is accepted) while Priety is in labour, and assumes the responsibility of a husband that he always should have (according to the logic of the plot). They beget twins (appropriately called ’’Salaam’’ and ’’Namaste’’ respectively. Just kidding- the name of the movie comes from Salaam Namaste 101.5 FM, the radio channel that Priety works at as an RJ - the conduit to their inital acquaintance at the beginning of the movie: Saif is late for her show, and she goes ballistic against him On Air etc. etc.)
The second half frankly drags quite a bit, even parts of the first half, and I wondered whether this movie would have been any poorer if one unnecessary song ’’What’s going on!’’ and some 30-45 minutes of farce had been edited away. The antics of Javed Jaffrey with an hot Australian babe for a wife, for example, as well as Amber’s (Priety’s) Malayali boss who mispronounces her name and Nick’s (Saif’s) high-strung Bangladeshi boss could hae been entirely dispensed with. In fact a lot of the viewers will not even remember them.
The problem with the movie is stylistic: the director is unable to figure to decide between social drama, farce and genuine comedy. There are strains of all three and one gets a feel of two kinds of TV serials and cutting edge music videos too, in one movie. In fact without the exquisite locations, and the extended songs, it could well have been a TV series in 3-6 episodes.
Pure, light-hearted entertainment that manages to look and feel original despite the rampant plagiarism. Go for it!