Salaam Namaste - Movie Review
Published: February 11, 2010
Starring Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Tania Zaetta
Nick (Saif Ali Khan) and Ambar (Preity Zinta)—hip, young Indians living in Melbourne, Australia—do everything out of the usual order. First, they move in together. Then, they fall into bed together. Then, they fall in love. Next thing, Ambar’s pregnant. But marriage doesn’t automatically follow.
It certainly isn’t the best way to go about romance—bypassing all the fun of courtship and plunging right into the difficult adjustments and compromises that come with living together. But they dig each other all the same. And how could they not? They’re an engaging couple—and so, the atypical trajectory of their relationship is engaging, too.
Ambar is a bubbly med student moonlighting as a host for a morning radio show called “Salaam Namaste” (which means “hello” in Urdu and Hindi). Before moving Down Under, she rejected all the suitors her parents picked out for her because her sister’s harried married life scared her out of wanting to wed. Nick came to Australia to study architecture, per his father’s wishes, but ended up pursuing his love of cooking and is now the head chef at a trendy restaurant. Nick is supposed to be interviewed on Ambar’s show, but he oversleeps and never arrives, so she slams him and his restaurant on the air. They meet later at a beach wedding—she’s a bridesmaid and he’s the caterer—and they bond over their mutual distaste for marriage and their bewilderment over the spur-of-the-moment wedding of their friends, Ron and Cathy (Arshad Warsi and Tania Zaetta). They get over their initial friction and he goes after her ardently. But she doesn’t have time for a relationship, and she points out, neither does he. So he proposes they move in together—strictly as roommates with separate bedrooms—so they can get to know each and see if it’s worth pursuing. It’s a crazy idea, but he makes a convincing argument—plus, he promises to do all the cooking (what woman would turn down that offer?). Two blissful months later, she’s expecting a baby. He vehemently doesn’t want it, and she decides she does, which changes her feelings about marriage, too. The impasse puts an end to their romance, and they have to figure out how to do the very first thing they skipped over—be friends.
This is the third time Khan and Zinta have been paired in a film, and it shows in their easy rapport. Aside from some excessive silliness, especially involving the minor characters, the film is well-written, and the crisp dialogue between the leads is well-delivered. The film’s biggest flaw is there’s too much effort to make everyone look cool—and it ends up having an opposite, cheesy effect.
Salaam Namaste is rated Worth Watching.
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