Worth a Watch. Review on Salaam Namaste

I watched this movie on DVD last night and though I am neither a fan of Preity nor Saif, I must admit that I did enjoy the movie though. I know this movie is supposed to be a rip off of Nine months, but since I don't remember much of Nine months (having watched it long time back) I really can't compare the two.

The story is all about how two people meet, fall in love, do the unmentionable, face the consequence of doing the unmentionable and finally agree to get married to legalize the unmentionable act.

By Bollywood standards, the movie was a refreshing change because as promised by the teasers one didn't have to witness hordes of overdressed and overjwelled family members offering their two penny worth as also the mandatory shaadi number. It was in the portrayal of the female protagonist that the movie truly differed from the usual Bollywood movies. The heroine unlike most bollywood movies was not shown overly weeping, overly coy or overly dependent. Fortunately no suicidal thoughts crossed her mind when the hero rejects her suggestion for marriage. There were also no larger than life characters (except maybe the landlord) and no over the top costumes.

The only problem with the movie was that at times it felt too sitcomish. The song Salaam Namaste came at a wrong time, did not make any sense and neither flowed with the movie. Preity's exposed pregnant belly was very revolting and artificial. Found it difficult to accept the fact that the boy meets girl and promptly asks her to move in with him without first going out on a few dates as would be natural. Similarly saif's sudden change of heart from lover to cad to lover came across as slightly abrupt.

But overall the movie was still much better than many bollywood movies including yash Raj's Veer Zaara.

Acting wise both Saif & Preity suited their roles to a tee. Saif is a very very good actor. He manages to convey complex emotions without overacting very effortlessly. In terms of acting, I definitely feel he is one of the better Khans around. The movie is mainly a coming of age movie for Saif's character and he makes the transition from a boy to a man very convincingly. His outfits though were not as cool as his acting. Both he & Preity made a very believable couple.

As regards Preity, this is the kind of role which seems to be tailor made for her. Preity I belive is a limited actress who fails miserably anytime she has to convey any complex emotion. Fortunately for her all the complex scenes in the movie were given to Saif. Therefore Preity's histironics was limited to being happy, sad or angry which she conveyed perfectly, though one could do without her screeches. Her outfits were cool and overall gelled with the movie.

Arshad warsi was very good. Tania AXN was a good background prop. Jaaved jaafrey was o.k. Preity's boss was over the top. Ness wadia looked cute, Arshad Warsi's kid though was cuter. And finally Abhishek Bachchan did justice to his cameo.

First time director Siddharth Anand has done a good job. The scenes especially the unmentionable ones could have been controversial had they not been executed properly.

on Final analysis Definitely worth a watch!