Monday, September 19, 2005

Salaam Namaste




My suggestion to all - Salaam Namaste magar door se! A pain to watch it in a theater with dolby digital effects - all you can manage to notice is the painfully loud shoutings of Preity Zinta and the funny coughs of Saif Ali Khan ( I sometimes feel, his voice is very similar to Rani Mukharjee)

Ok, the concept of living in without marriage is sort of bold for Indian audiences, but what I fail to understand is, why such a sensitive and commercially viable topic needs to be manhandled so badly? I mean, throughout the movie you see females shedding clothes and jumping on beaches pointlessly, the guys doing Salaman Khan patented Shirtless Arnold-kind-gross-body showoffs, and third rate shallow dialogs trying uselessly to make it all seem convincing.

Fine, if your intension is to grab a feast for your eyes(there is plenty of it for both the sexes), go ahead - this is the movie for you. But if you have been fooled by the pre-release promotional stunts claiming that the movie is one from a totally different genre, you would be disappointed.

No doubt, the topic is fresh - a tad different from the regular pyar-ishq-mohabbat and the duniya-against-the-couple kind, but even by the most liberal viewpoints, keeping in mind the directorial debut of Siddharth Raj Anand, the movie fails to live up the image it's promotions created. The director seems to have potential, but I am sad to predict so, he is one of the many apirants joining the Karan Johar genre.

The storyline is convincing to some extent - finally we have Indian heros doing something other than being the business tycoons - but still, the directors must sometimes try to be realistic - come on - a chef and a radio jockey wont have enough cash to live such a lavish and posh life! But considering it's a masala movie, this much liberty can be granted!

Cinematography is mediocre. Actors are all ordinary. Saif must realise, he can't go on acting the same dumb cool dude all the time. After DCH, Kal Ho Na Ho, and Hum Tum, this is the fourth similar role(barring Parinita in b/w). Preity Zinta is too loud in the movie, irritating to the core, seems snooty sometimes. Arshad Varshi is fine, has managed to do justice to his role. Not that the lead pair hasn't done anything convincing, the movie is good in parts, there are a few touching scenes, a few very funny ones too - but all this too sporadic to make it enjoyable on the whole!

The best part of the movie to me was Javed Zafery's "EXACTLY"... he is really funny, has managed to entertain viewers for a change. The way he delivers those witty and extremely funny English dialogs makes you laugh your heartout.

Abhishek Bachaan's small presence is chaotic but funny - the viewer is lost in the chaos and by the time one manages to enjoy the joke, there is some more chaos to digest.

Overall, the movie is nothing of a pathbreaker. A normal Sharukh Khan genre movie with loads of skin show, and faltu ke emotions.

As stated earlier, watch it only if you want "Nayan-Sukh", because beyond that you will only get headaches.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I heard its very similar to the "Ross-Rachel" story from FRIENDS - I bet they could'nt have done a better job than FRIENDS - so, yeah - my blind eye towards it!

Pooja Subramanya said...

Actually its quite similar to a movie called "nine months" starring Hugh Grant and Juliane Moore. Especially the second half...including the Abhishek Bacchan enacting a maniacal doctor (played by Robin Williams)scene.

It was a coincidence that I watched the movie just 2 weeks before watching Salaam Namaste. So, the second part of the movie was very predictable...

Keshav said...

@Srinivas: I don't really am a regular watcher of FRIENDS.. so no comments!

@Pooja: I know about this movie, though haven't seen it myself. Heard a lot about the things you just said from many others too!! Now I must watch Nine Months!!

the lost one... said...

Hey me too believe that it was a great skin show with the faltu ke emotions but on the other side great to see a women being so stronger than men one need to have guts to take such a decesion.

Keshav said...

Hmm... I see! But don't you think we had a better Hindi movie about this aspect called Kya Kehna?

This was not at all about that issue!

the lost one... said...

I never said it was the best way to show tht...

Keshav said...

Ya!! I know.. I get your view.. But I just felt the movie lacked maturity!!

greatbong said...

The point about Saif's and Rani's voice sounding similar---I think you are onto something there.

Art said...

Totally agree with u... Movie is not worth watching in theatre... Only thing i loved in the movie was the house they lived in.. wish i could afford such a house...

There were very few things which were good in the movie... Many times relationships seem good in the beginning.. but as u go on,u come to know what u r actually into.. And Abhishek bachan was totally not neccessary in the movie.. Ending was total confusion..

kunjala said...

i do agree with yr views on saalam namaste.. lacked the maturity is the right thing to say..