Salaam Namaste

Watched the movie on Saturday, in Melody. It was the first time after coming to Chennai that I was watching a movie in a theater other than Satyam. I had been to Melody before, when I was in Chennai during my 11th standard, which was way back in the year 1997. I had been there to watch Gupt, the sound in the theater was amazing. Even now, the sound is good.

The first thing that amazed me was that the balcony ticket cost Rs.70/-. While if it were Satyam, one would have had to pay more than 100/- for a seat in the balcony.

Now, let me get into the movie. For the people who have not watched the movie, they can stop reading here. The movie is certainly worth a watch, so go watch it.

Since the movie is from the Yash Chopra stables, it’s not a surprise that it’s a love story. The story goes like this.

Location is Australia. The girl, played by Preity Zinta, is doing her higher studies in medicine, against her parent’s wishes. Her parents wanted her to get married, while she would have none of it. After she leaves home, her parents sever all links and she is left to fend for herself. So she takes up the job of a Radio Jockey at the local FM station, Salaam Namaste, which targets the Indian diaspora.

The boy, played by Saif Ali Khan, is an architect by qualification, but a cook by profession. He became an architect since his dad wanted him to be one, but he had more interest in cookery. After his course in architecture, his dad got him an offer to design a hotel. The owner of the hotel did not like his design, but liked the food that he cooked, so he was appointed as the head chef of the hotel. He soon grows to be the best Indian chef in the city.

The boy is a late riser. He has missed many classes, appointments and meetings due to this habit. One such appointment happens to be an interview by the girl at Salaam Namaste. Our girl hates people who are not on time and waste others time as well. The boy never turns up for the meeting as he is sleeping, and the girl is angry at him.

To take her revenge, she starts all sorts of negative publicity for the restaurant where the boy works as a chef. As a result, the sales of the restaurant go down. The girl vows that she would not stop the negative publicity until the boy publicly apologizes to her for coming late on her show. Thus starts the enmity, which no doubt would blossom into a love later in the movie. As of now, its hatred for each other, given a chance they would have gone at each others throats.

The boy and the girl happen to meet at the marriage of a friend of the girl. The boy comes there as the cook in the marriage. Not knowing their real identities, the boy and girl meet, sparks fly and they are head over heals in love with each other.

Soon after knowing that there is something between them, they get to know each others identities, but that does not prevent them from falling in love. The problem with this couple is that both of them do not want to marry. They feel that their freedom will be curbed and also if their choices are wrong, then they might have to repent later. But neither can stay away from each other.

So the boy suggests that they try a live-in relationship for sometime, so that they get to know how compatible they are with each other. The girl is reluctant initially, but agrees since she cannot live without him.

They find a house, and pay one years rent in advance. Both pitch in equal amounts for the advance. The boy puts the money he had decided to invest in a new hotel, while the girl takes a loan from Salaam Namaste, which meant that she would be working without any salary, until the loan amount in repaid.

After 3 months of staying together, the inevitable happens, the girl is pregnant. They also realize that they are extremely compatible.

When the girl reveals the news to the boy, he goes hysteric and asks her to abort the baby, since he is not ready to become a father as he has other plans to do. He also feels that the boy will spoil the future plans of the girl. In spite of all the pressure from the boy, the girl decides against aborting the baby.

The girl has to stay in the house, since there is so much money invested in it, so they stay in the house like two strangers, obviously in love with each other, but unable to cope up due to the child.

Finally, all’s well that ends well. The boy gets his share of Gyan, from his cook, his friends and from a set of strangers, and gets back on tracks. He realizes that his love for the girl is true and he should accept her as well as the kids. (I think I forgot to mention that the girl is pregnant with twins)

Overall a good movie. I loved the first half, the second half was overall manageable, but the final half hour is simply unbearable. The director has made a mess of the ending. I suppose he ran out of ideas.

The director, Siddharth, appears in a cameo role as a taxi driver. Abhishek Bachchan is good as the narrator of the movie, but the moment he makes an appearance during the last half hour, all hell breaks loose. His attempts at comedy fall flat. May be he should have stuck with the narration only.

Before I end the review, one word about Javed Jaffery. He is the house owner of the boy and girl. His acting, along with the dialogues makes one roll with laughter. He plays his role to perfection.