Story is good,it revolves around Katrina Kaif(jasmeet, Jazz), A London born and raised Indian girl,She wants to live her life her way and not according to his parents but movie takes a twist with entry of Akshay,whose love forces Katrina to marry him.Besides movie also shows friendship of Indians and Pakistanis in London.Some dialogs and scenes showing greatness of India are also there.Katrina is looking fabulous in movie.Punjabi people will have great fun watching movie. on the whole a nice time pass.Rishi kappor has also done a great acting.Upen is also good.the only thing that sounds insane in movie is Akshay falling in true love with Katrina on first sight and whole story moves further on this base.
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webmgt28 March 2007
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graffitiworks23 March 2007It makes you feel good about your country. Endorses the family values which are fast disappearing in todays world. Reaffirms that if you love selflessly, without expecting any returns, you truly get what you set out to achieve. Brilliant performance by Akshay. He is very restrained yet very strong and emotive. The part where the Englishman from the erstwhile East India company rants about India being a nation of snake charmers and the answer that Akshay politely gives him would gladden any person's heart. Katarina looks ravishing and communicates very well with her eyes. Her Hindi has also improved tremendously. Rishi Kapoor brings in a whiff of fresh air from his yesteryear's. Watch it with your better half. It'll make you both fell good about yourself.
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ranzzit24 March 2007First and foremost, Namstey London is a treat to the eyes. The modern day London has been captured very well. Namastey London comes across as a pleasant surprise in more ways than one. Be it the characterization, the well executed script or the breathtaking visuals of London.... it succeeds in capturing your attention. All the characters are well written and the screenplay is very tight, keeps you interested throughout the movie. This is undoubtedly Vipul Amrutlal Shah's best work till date. His last venture 'Waqt' was termed as very melodramatic. The movie is sentimental make no mistake about that, but it works. It works brilliantly.
Manmohan Singh (Rishi Kapoor) is settled in London for the past 20 years or so. Jazz or Jasmeet (katrina Kaif) is Manmohan Singh's spoilt daughter. Manmohan Singh brings Jazz to India and gets her married to Arjun Singh (Akshay Kumar), a rough and tough Punjabi who can barely speak English. But Jazz too is equally determined to marry her British boyfriend Charlie Brown. Arjun is helplessly and hopelessly in love with his beautiful but unyielding wife.
The first half is pacy with many moments which tickle your funny bone. Rishi Kapoor is marvelous in his role as a frustrated father of a spoilt girl. Katrina Kaif looks stunning and does her part quite well. The second part is longer and belongs completely to Akshay Kumar who has matured immensely as an actor. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry. Akshay Kumar truly exceeds expectations. The scene where he explains what India is about to the foreigner is unarguably the scene of the movie.
All in all Namastey London is a must watch. Don't miss it. -
pawanpunjabithewriter24 April 2021Akshay Kumar! Akshay Kumar does such an incredible work in this movie, he becomes the heart and soul of it. A simple yet loving character played by him is so sensational couldn't describe in more words. Anybody would be in love with the character he is in the movie. Rishi Kapoor was amazing, magnificent. From the best of the cities to the simplest of the villages, the culture, the beauty, the nature, you'd learn it all in this movie. You learn how much impact the culture has on a person growing up. You learn the simplicity. You learn acceptance. You learn you haven't got the best, but you and your loved ones are the best. You see two different kinds of humans getting along with each other so beautifully but the modest one with his simplicity making sure he goes through the tough times, has patience and stays positive without losing the hope till the end. You will be in love not only with the plot, the characters and the whole story but more with the culture of the society. I loved even the songs in this movie, Rafta Rafta tera Afsana tera huaaa, rafta rafta, it suits the moment so much. It's not only gripping but made me cry like I was the last person watching this incredible work of art. We're obliged a team was able to create such a wonderful peace of work with enormous brilliance and magnificence. I loved Katrina's role too. I'd watch it with my kids sometime, tell them this is Akshay Kumar for you sons. Although he's the meme king of India, he's always in our hearts for the wonderful work he has committed to over the years with proper discipline. Thank you for reading it this long, you must've got to know I'm an Akshay Kumar fan, if not I'm drunk. Only the former is correct, but what I love is such work performed with absolute brilliance, be it comedy, be it action, but it's my hat off to this perfection. Talking about perfection, Welcome is a perfection in Comedy genre. I have my review over there too folks. Take care and enjoy every moment of life. No go don't waste much time, I'm a Writer I just wanted to pen down my thoughts. Thanks.
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Afzal-s20078 October 2007Namestey London is a refreshing film in that it gives centre-stage to a British woman of Indian origin, and does not portray her as a one-dimensional, rich-girl vixen, tempting the Bollywood hero away from his constant, truly Indian, girl-next-door. Instead the central character of Namastey London, Jasmeet 'Jazz' Malhotra, played by real British Asian Katrina Kaif, is being pressured into travelling to the Punjab to have an arranged marriage. Moreover, Jasmeet's Muslim friend Imran is in a similar position, a man with a white girlfriend who is deplored by his family.
Namesty London is an enjoyable film, with a quirky, engaging plot and characters. The cast is generally good, with comedian Nina Wadia fine as Jasmeet's mother, Javed Sheikh assured as Imran's dictatorial father, and Akshay Kumar suitably playing up to his zany character, but never overdoing it as Arjun, Jasmeet's arranged husband. But Rishi Kapoor deserves a special mention. His performance as Jasmeet's father is not only funny and delightful- he also manages to find real anxiety and confusion.
Unfortunately, with the exception of Kapoor, Namestey London as a whole attempts, but fails to achieve the deeper, more profound socio-political shades it seems to be aiming for, and it is with this that I take exception. Despite having a refreshing set-up and more than one-dimensional characters, Namastey London cannot quite shake off traditional, as well as superficial, Bollywood conventions about British people, whether Anglo-Saxon or of Asian extraction.
The first is the assumption that ethnic Indians raised in the west are more westernised than native Indians, fully absorbed into the dominant western culture, living the fast, modern, materialistic life- full to the brim with confidence, even arrogance. While some do, this is not a typical experience. Rather, it seems to me, native Indians can be more like this. Such Indians are likely to be wealthy, urbanised Indian residents. Go to a 'Café Coffee Day' in one of Bombay's more fashionable districts, in Bandstand for instance, overlooking the bay, and you may find young Indian women from wealthy backgrounds talking loudly, and self-consciously, about guys, jobs, fashion, and other girls, all in a vulgar way, as they try to imitate their image of westerners.
In my experience, no doubt informed by my being a British Asian, the majority of British Asians tend to have grown up in a fragmented cultural environment, divided between the dominant western culture outside the home, which has historically not been welcoming to them at times, and the insular, ossified, traditional culture that their parents stick to at home, trying to recreate an India which, rather ironically, is fading away.
I feel that the makers of Namestey London have tried to grasp this cultural fragmentation in Jasmeet 'Jazz' Malhotra's situation, not least in displaying her cultural fragmentation in her two names, the formal Jasmeet and her nickname outside the home, Jazz. She has a stern, backward-looking father and a forward-looking mother wishing for her daughter to become modern and westernised. I have no problem in understanding that people in real life have such backgrounds, except that I find Jasmeet's particular character, as explained by her family's circumstances which have produced her character's psychology, to be too simplistic and therefore unconvincing. 'Jazz' clearly comes across as the product of a preconceived, modern, urbanised Indian imagining of a young British Asian woman, rather than a fully researched and thought through British Asian character, rooted in a more secure sense of reality. True, the actress who played her, the fast-rising Katrina Kaif, is a British Asian, but strangely her performance seems to have been more informed by her years in the United States. Contrast her performance with Rishi Kapoor's, as noted above, and you will see that this doesn't help the film.
The second Bollywood convention that the film retains concerns its depiction of Anglo-Saxon British people. There is no doubt that many British people have had something of a colonial hangover in their relations with Indian immigrant communities, which has manifested itself at times in the form of racism. However, the British characters in Namestey London are nothing more than stereotypes of a jaundiced colonialist Indian imagination. It makes for unintentionally uproarious comedy- such as when Charlie Brown introduces Jasmeet and her arranged, but still unofficial husband, to his relative. Charlie's relative is, funnily enough, a descendant of an East India Companyman, who himself seems to have been transported from a cantonment at the height of the Raj. And though it is good to see, in the same scene, Jasmeet telling him of the many successes of modern India, something which needs stressing to many in the west too hung-up on India's continuing failures, this is lazy film making- they should show this through situation and character.
Still, though it is weighed down by traditional Bollywood conventions, Namastey London does engage the viewer and attempts to shed light on the South Asian Diaspora in London, just don't take it too seriously. -
CanadianPrincess29 March 2007Namastey London, tells the tale of British-Indian young lady, named Jasmeet (Katrina Kaif), who is taken to India by her parents to marry a nice, Indian man, Arjun (Akshay Kumar). However, this marriage is in trouble from the get-go, due to the fact that Jasmeet (or Jazz as she likes to be called), is in love with another man. The movie is a mixture of mainly two other films, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,and Purab Aur Pachhim. However, despite the fact that this movie carries similarities to these other films, it has the ability to hold its own ground, and this is primarily due to four factors: the acting, the cinematography, the Indian patriotism, and the humor.
The majority of actors have done their jobs well. Akshay is relaxed and comfortable in his role, as usual. Rishi Kapoor, is a stand-out in his role of a very loving, yet traditional father. However, it is Katrina Kaif's acting which is the problem. Katrina looks beautiful, and her physical acting is well-done, but her voice and diction still need serious work. In this movie, she was allowed to do her own voice-over, despite the fact that her Hindi is poor. The director thought that since she plays a British girl, this would be fine. I disagree. Even NRI's can speak Hindi well to a certain extent, but Katrina's Hindi is horrendous, and after a couple minutes of the movie, becomes very annoying. -
muhammadusama28 March 2007It Endorses the family values which are fast disappearing in todays world. Reaffirms that if you love or work sincerely, without expecting any returns, you may truly get what you set out to achieve. Brilliant performance by Akshay. He is very restrained yet very strong and emotive. Katarina looks ravishing and communicates very well with her eyes. Her Hindi has also improved tremendously. Rishi Kapoor brings in a whiff of fresh air from his yesteryear's. Javed Shaikh of Pakistan also played good role. It'll make you both feel good about yourself. If you like light well paced romantic movies, this is excellent movie. If you like light well paced romantic movies, this is excellent movie.
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shrewnatalie3 April 2007I saw 'Namaste London' today and was pleasantly surprised. Ever since the Namaste London trailers began on b4u i have wanted to see it, just because it looked fun. Overall it was a lot better written and acted than i expected.
The film is set in London, the Punjab and then London again. The film starts off well and you really get a sense of how much fun jazz has.
However in my personal opinion the early nightclub scene was a bit much!. This scene was meant to display how westernised/uninhibited jazz and Imran were but it is guilty of making women at UK nightclubs look like prostitutes and the nightclubs like places for roman orgies!! (i have been to various nightclubs at home and abroad to feel justified in saying this!). With scenes like that it is not surprising that the father drags his daughter off on a family holiday.
The scenes set in India are beautiful and there is a lot of comedy as prospective husbands are introduced to jazz, in fact the India segment was so well written that i was sorry when the happy/unhappy couple return to the UK (now looking less vibrant after the Punjab).
Once home the heroine decides that despite everything she wants to get married to her English boyfriend. the love-struck hero meanwhile has the unenviable task of winning jazz's love, keeping his pride, impressing the British, reconciling Imran and his family (a nice little sub-story) and not falling into the trap of being too good to be true.
The music is good but not memorable. This movie seems to be a family film (comedy/love/sport/conterversial issues/family relationships).However this family film lacks the usual catchy songs. Not one song apart from 'Rafta Rafta' (which is no 'Aisa Des Hai Mera') is above average. With other films producing great songs ('Dhoom Again', 'Barso Re', 'Salaam-e-Ishq') you do feel disappointed.
The characters are a mixed bunch. The father played by Rishi Kapoor is at times endearing (with his family in the Punjab & at the end), but most of the time he is completely repellent and overbearing (as many have pointed out he is always unnecessarily humiliating his wife and daughter). The mother has a very small role but, when she does speak in Hindi, what she says is always true and for me she was the best character. The English boyfriend is good-looking but a bit of a jerk. In fact the British boyfriend is a very well written character just bad enough for you not to root for him, but not slimy enough to be a villain. Having said that there is no doubt, even from the beginning, which suitor jazz will end up with.
Before dealing with the main characters, I would just like to criticise the portrayal of the British. When the Singh side won the rugby match I cheered too as the boyfriend had behaved appallingly, and I was glad when Imran didn't cave into his snooty prospective in-laws wishes. However the rest of it just irritated me, because I felt that there were things that had been needlessly dwelt upon. I didn't like the way imran's girlfriend at the beginning was portrayed as the easy white meat, nor the ways she dresses and acts. Call me oversensitive but even if British women are less conservative in their love lives than their Indian counterparts, the girlfriend in this movie is not your typical British girl in terms of wardrobe and blandness!. Another more important scene is the engagement party where the patronising, ignorant and plain rude white guy who is set right by the hero. Now these people do exist and the character deserved the put-down he got but why was this stereotypical display of racism and bigotry included?! The ignorant racist scene is obviously meant to show 1)jazz's realisation of how proud she is to be Indian 2)how the boyfriend doesn't respect her or her culture 3)how educated and eloquent the hero is. However is it really necessary?.
Yes, it makes you question, but not as the makers would have you question. Can jazz not appreciate her roots without this? Can the audience not see how wonderful India and her people are for themselves? Do we really need the whole 'Rang Basanti' / 'The Rising' / 'lagaan' element from Akshay?. I find it hard to explain but it all just seemed a bit gratuitous, and forgive me but the inclusion of this scene shows, that for all the Namaskar gestures Indians can not forgive or forget (probably justified though).
To give ashkay his due in terms of acting he made a very good job of what was a clichéd role and was very believable. Something which SRK & Salman couldn't have achieved. Only problem is I don't like the look of Akshay at all! The ORANGE hair and the smile in particular. Obviously the character was supposed to be attractive rather than handsome, but why could not the role have been played by someone a little younger than 40 year old akshay? The age difference between him and Katrina is not disturbing, but I would have rather seen a 'Funjab' BOY rather than an overgrown boy. Akshay needs to stop playing the 'loverboy roles' and do something more 'omkhara', more 'water' (more 'Don' even!). Katrina was very good and believable. -
daman_singh24423 March 2007It was a fun to watch. Akshay was amazing. It could have been better but all in all a good time pass flick. I only went to watch the film due to Katrina .. but ended up applauding the Character of Akshay Kumar The plot is simple yet so complex. Guy loves the girl. Girl doesn't but so much happens in between that you cant just help laughing. Rishi kapoor is very funny in his role of a worried Punjabi father.Katrina is gorgeous she and Akshay make a good couple. The acting makes this movie good although the first half was a bit boring before Akshay's entry.. I think this film should do well.... All in all a fun film.. watch it .. enjoy it..then forget it...
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Angelus229 June 2008This film is based on forced marriages, interracial relationships and the issues that arise in Asian families in the west. The script is really good but it is ruined by the actress Katrina Kaif, she cannot act, her overacts in certain areas and looks completely lost half the time. Akshay Kumar however provides the much needed comedy and will have you laughing.
The topics are very thought provoking and as a British Asian I find myself asking the question is love really important or the values that my ancestors have...
The English are portrayed as either party lovers or snobbish, which is totally incorrect. Howver like all Bollywood movies the music makes up for it. Chakna Chakna is amazing and will capture you.... -
bandhagi24 April 2015A narrow-minded, prejudiced and rather racist understanding of culture and love, this film makes every attempt at insulting Britons and young, westernised NRIs, whilst thinly disguised as modern and forward-thinking. It attacks Britishers in order to glorify India, traditional values and most of all, Akshay Kumar as a stellar love interest.
The main love story between Jazz and Arjun can be described troublesome at best, and it is very disturbing to think that Indians all over the world are romanticising this relationship. Never mind that he decided he was in love with her without knowing her or even speaking to her, any foreign woman who has ever been to India and been stared at pointedly by a full grown man would not find the characters' first meeting endearing, but rather, downright terrifying. Not to mention ever the second time they meet, when a drunk Arjun presses Jazz against the wall of her own guest bedroom terrace, and forces his hand over her mouth as he speaks. Perfectly innocent apparently, nothing predatory there at all. Oh and when asked if he was happy to marry her, he jests that if they didn't wed, he'd kidnap her instead. But no, this isn't borderline stalkerish at all: it is wildly romantic, apparently.
There is a moment of course, back in London, where we feel badly for him, when it turns out that Jazz had tricked him in order to save herself. But, sorry to say, it is quickly dispelled when Arjun pointedly ignores her wishes and chooses to trail her all around London, including on bridges and trains, in case she should break her heel or forget her train pass, hoping that she will fall in love with him. And how convenient it is, that her fiancé, Charlie Brown is such a player, how perfectly contrived it is that there is no such thing as a good, handsome, successful British man that she could ever be happy with.
Ridiculous, I'm sorry to say. -
I fell in love with you since the first time i saw you and the commitment Akshay made that he won't leave until he saw her getting married that makes that character my hero,as a guy who went through same similar circumstance my only saying to all the fan of this movie is to only let them know that if you love someone truly never give up. No matter what the up's and down is there anyone could overcome it.Look at this, some guy from from native village in India never loose his hope for the girl who is truly westerner in every aspect. If he can get the love of his life than if anyone can but funny thing not everyone can be Akshay and so not everyone could fall in love Katrina.
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nilaytaneja13 April 2007The movie came as pleasant surprise. Akshay Kumar, Katrina kaif and Rishi Kapoor gave excellent performances.
Comedy was great, best of which was the part when they search for grooms in India. The music by himmesh reshamiya was good but awfully similar in feel. I felt as if the same song was playing again and again. The thee of the film was really realistic but the story was not. The ending was very very easily predictable. The very first scene tells you what the ending would be. Although the scene said something else , but one can tell instantaneously.
Upen Patel also gave a great performance. I don't usually like his movies but I think it was his best performance to date.
Overall a good movie with a predictable ending. The idea is not impossible but still not worth believing. -
baaziger8 April 2008Had I read the reviews of this beforehand I wouldn't have touched it. As a film it failed to grip me in any way and I couldn't wait for it to end. Apart from being badly made and failing cinematically, it is full of the nastiest, most vicious little stereotypes which leave a bad taste in the mouth and the toes curling. Whilst a satirical look at behaviour can be done successfully, this film failed to achieve it and came out looking like a piece of undisguised racism and sexism. It wasn't only the Brits who came in for a lashing either, but also younger NRIs. Whilst cinema does not have to carry a moral message, it should at least be entertaining in a way which does not demean its audience. Shame on you Vipul Amrutlal Shah, I only hope your next film will not be so unpleasant.
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prithwish-ghosh00126 February 2014This movie is a delight to all Akshay Kumar Fans as well as non-fans. From the first frame its funny, lovely as well as well made! You do not feel bored. Akshay plays his role with absolute dedication and does justice to the character. Its a worth watch for all. I strongly recommend it!
Other characters like Rishi Kapoor and his wife impresses in their roles. The chemistry between Akki-Kat is another reason to watch the movie. Upen Patel doesn't make any mark in he movie. Over all the screenplay, the dialogs, the direction and the Acting are all superb and classy! Go for it any day , anytime and in any mood! You will feel life starting! -
This film reminded me of so many others produced by Bollywood (or Indian) directors...Bride & Prejudice, The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding - each carry similar themes of the strained relations which arise between Indian immigrants living abroad and Westerners, and portray tensions within Indian immigrant families between first and second generations as well.
Why is it that the Westerner love-interest in these fims is always wealthy? A wealthy Brit (Charlie Brown of Namastey London), a wealthy American (W. Darcy of Bride and Prejudice), or a wealthy New Yorker (Jacinda Barrett in The Namesake)? Why do Indian films usually show the prejudice of the upper classes of Westerners?? Perhaps it makes for more interesting story-telling..
Unlike other Punjabi fathers portrayed in similar films, I found the father figures disturbing in Namastey London. There was a violence, rage, and anger in their characters, acted out towards members of their family in debilitating and humiliating ways, which made the fathers completely unbecoming individuals. Jazz' father humiliates her, and his wife; and, Imran's father does the same. I much prefer the gentle Punjabi fathers portrayed in films like, Bride and Prejudice, and Bend it Like Beckham, over these two gentleman.
Jazz' character was extremely believable in terms of her unwillingness to see herself as Indian, and Arjun's character does a tremendous job of turning her around...The best feature of this film is the gentle, genuine, and honorable manner in which Arjun's character slowly wins her over.
Worth seeing for this reason alone - enjoy! -
steffycyril2 September 2016A beautiful ride of a lady from city of London to India.Its visuals are entertaining and adds flavor.It shows both cultures in an elegant manner.There is a great mismatch between the characters but in vain.The cameo roles are taken very carefully.There is a good plot and a dose of laughter.There are some great lovely moments when he does everything for her to make her happy. One of the best movie of entertainment and relation. Every time a parent is born in India,they always wish that even if they go far,they always be closer to Homeland.To me,they are special creations of Vipul Shah. The father of heroine is none other than Rishi Kapoor.Really he is a very good father. The soulful melodies and the hip hop is evergreen.OLove is blind but true love is when u let the other be happy. It would be bad if i did not tell about Katrina.She was too cute as she was at that time.At the same time ,she is witty to marry and not let them sign official documents.She is also courageous to decide and run the last minute for Akshay.
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dhruvinthakkar6 September 2019After jab we met this romcom really stood for me ..music , plot , location , performances every thing is amazing...Himesh's best music
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dsoumya26 March 2007After watching duds like Salaam-e-ishq, I went to this movie with very low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised. A respectable storyline, very bankable stars who do justice to their roles and some very hummable music made this movie a lot of fun.
The movie relies on some very blatant clichés like the very biased views of how foreigners regard India and Asians, but you tend to forgive the director by the end of the movie. I have always thought Akshay Kumar to be one of the most entertaining actors in the industry and he proves it here again, though he very weird with his auburn hair. There are no surprises in the movie and the script religiously follows the standard formula. The only surprise for me was how much I enjoyed it even though I knew exactly what was going to happen.
The supporting cast is a lot of fun too. Rishi Kapoor should definitely be tapped more often for comedic roles. All in all by the end, when Akshay Kumar sets the world right and all Indians are proud of their heritage, you are happy you came to the movie. -
rajansharma-855827 March 2021I am watching it again in 2021 great experience to watch.
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HeadleyLamarr31 March 2008This film was supposed to be a balanced take on the NRI. But it was as silly as any other film that has showed NRIs in a bad light. Katrina Kaif plays Jazz, a British born white-wannabe. Her voice is dubbed and the Hindi is spoken with a strange Martian accent, the English in a FOB faux American accent. Neither language is enunciated clearly and I was left with the feeling that maybe she was deaf person who had just learnt to speak - kind of like Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God! Akshay Kumar was his usual annoying self, here through no fault of his own but rather due to very poor writing he ends up as a pretend Punjabi from Hicksville. When he laughs he is OK, but when he cries you want to cry in pain from the hideous acting job. His behavior is irrational - if he wants Jazz to love him for himself then why does he speak to her in English as he is leaving? And that is what makes her change her mind? So this is yet another vilification of the NRIs as ridiculous, vain, self-centered, shallow people! Upen Patel was most pathetic, Rishi Kapoor did a decent job, rest of the cast kind of muddled along. Music was strangely unappealing to me. And the members of the cast that played the Britishers were atrocious - ruling the heap was the Charlie Brown fellow. If the NRIs were somewhat spared the Brits were soundly vilified and slammed as religious bigots and racists. 1947 is long gone guys, it is time to move along!
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xpics24 March 2007Namastey London attempts to discuss the regular issue with NRIs. They all want their children to be born and brought up in the foreign lands but when the question of their marriage arises they all want the prospective bride or groom to be an Indian. While Namastey London brings up this genuine problem in its story, the solution it offers is simply ludicrous.An NRI father Manmohan Singh (Rishi Kapoor) wants her pampered spoilt daughter Jasbeer aka Jazz (Katrina Kaif) to get married to an Indian. So he gets her to India where he starts hunting grooms for his daughter. One day he sees a man flirting with his daughter (and while this would appall any father), Mr. Singh instantly decides that this guy would be the perfect match for his daughter. While Jazz is justifiably not interested in this gaav-ka-gawaar (Akshay Kumar) because of the vast cultural difference, Singh, much against his daughter's wishes gets the two married. And the audience is supposed to support the father because the village simpleton groom he chooses is none other that our hero Arjun (Akshay Kumar).
Post marriage they all land up in London where Jazz disapproves of their marriage. The audience is now expected to sympathize with the hero because he was duped into a false marriage. What about the injustice done to the heroine by forcing her into a wedlock? Kindly overlook that. In fact you are now made to detest the heroine's decision of marrying a British who is divorced thrice. Obviously you know who will get the girl in the end. And how? Our hero doesn't fight back for all that's happened to him. He goes into the Shahrukh Khan mode of waiting with all the confidence in the world that one fine day the heroine will surely come back to him.
Namastey London is a standard NRI film which exploits foreign locations and Indian emotions to the maximum. The idea is simple shoot the film extensively abroad and patronize Indian cultures and values throughout. There is also a prolonged sequence where Akshay Kumar gives big gyaan to the British people about the greatness of India with lines like 'we have 24 languages, some 600 newspapers and 12 crore readers'. So what? And the scene has no connection with the story whatsoever other than invoking patriotic feelings and exploiting sentimental values.
The screenplay is replete with many such redundant scenes that don't amuse in any way. For instance, there is a scene where Katrina comes across Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace (duplicate, of course). The scene neither evokes excitement nor laughter and one simply fails to understand its significance. In another scene there is a gay smooch in a disco. What for? Nobody knows. The way in which Akshay Kumar plays rugby and even wins against the British is simply ridiculous. Then there is a song picturized in the fields on Punjab amidst tractors which could be awarded as the most 'unintentionally funny' choreographed song. Some scenes are blatantly incorporated only for brand promotions.
Now the much-hyped talk of whether the film is a remake of 'Purab aur Paschim'. The answer is 'No'. Because the film is not inspired from just one film but derives heavily from many films of the late 80s which dealt with the theme of an English mem getting married to a desi babu like Govinda's Banarasi Babu or Anil Kapoor's Abhimanyu. The scene in the climax where Akshay Kumar speaks English for the first time in the film is clearly inspired from Rekha's Biwi Ho To Aisi. A lot of Pardes effect is palpable in the second half esp. when Katrina refuses sex to her English lover before marriage. And Namastey London is the nth film that has a Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ending with the only difference that you can predict the end of this film in its first scene itself.
The next big hype on the film was the Himesh Reshammiya Javed Akhtar pairing coming together for the first time (unfortunately not for the good). Himesh is as nasal as usual. But what's disappointing is that the usually dependable Javed Akhtar goes on to write inanities like 'Aanan Panan', 'Chakna Chakna' to 'Rafta Rafta'. And what exceptional work did the much-talked about international cinematographer Jonathan Bloom has done in this film that our desi cameraman from Ashok Mehta to Anil Mehta can't do? We are so used to Akshay Kumar's on screen comic image by now that whenever he attempts to do emotional roles, he ends up making a mockery of his own image. The only saving grace is Katrina Kaif who is immaculately beautiful throughout the film.
In one of the dialogues of the film Katrina says, "I don't watch Hindi films". If Bollywood continues to churn more films like Namastey London, it won't be long when we all will be mouthing the same dialogue. -
derya_acar6 May 2018One of my favourite movies.. The chemistry between Akshay and Katrina is on point. It's one of those movies u can watch over and over again.
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kooleshwar2 April 2007The truth is I never really wanted to see this film, my friend probably called me when I was preoccupied with some work, and since the tickets had already been purchased I ended up going for this film.
The first thing that occurs to you in this movie is that this movie gives lots of importance to Katrina Kaif , Neither HER ACTING NOR HER DANCING HAS IMPROVED BUT THANKS TO SALMAN HER STOCK HAS SOARED AND THE FILM-MAKERS HAVE CASHED IN ON THE NEW FOUND STAR STATUS, besides that I'm sure Katrina's Diary had much more time that Akshays.
The fact is though that she looks absolutely stunning in the movie and is THE MOST PERFECT EXAMPLE OF CASTING FOR THE PART OF THE SPOILT British DESI (probably because she is one), people may complain that she cant act (dubbing was perfect because she actually cant speak Hindi well and fit the part perfectly) or cant dance but WEAKNESSES APART I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH HER AND AT THE RISK OF BEING BEATEN UP BY SALMAN I SAY THAT I AM WILLING TO MARRY HER.
The story line is as filmy as it gets and is inspired from classics such as Purab aur Paschim mainly with lots of influence from others such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam Etc.
This movie clearly has the hangover from the films of yesteryear's with overacting from the entire cast especially from the side characters a particular scene is the one where Upen is thrown from the house.
The entire film is filled with stereotypes, the most annoying one was that all foreigners are bad and all Indians are good, and obviously THE Indian NARI CAN DO NO WRONG SHE MAY STRAY BUT IN THE END DESI SABHYATA WINS.
Some really annoying scenes were the monologues about the greatness of Indians and India, and the scenes where Katrinas foreign boyfriend was shown with enough flaws to the point of making him a criminal really we get the point to add to that we have scenes were a foreigner asks a Pakistani to change his religion etc etc. TALK ABOUT FILMY.
Overacting was decent all around no one really overacted enough to really get on your nerves.
This film has lots of moments though such as the Rugby match, Akshays entry and Katrinas awkwardness in rural Punjab, ALSO MY FAVOURITE SCENE WHERE KATRINA GOES TO SEE THE BOYS WHOM A MARRIAGE AGENT HAS CHOSEN THE TAKE ON SAAS BAHU SERIALS HAD ME FALLING OUT OF MY SEAT IN LAUGHTER.
Besides this movie has lots of feel good and fun moments and almost each one is as filmy as it gets.
The lesser that is said about the songs is better though the Song Chakana was brilliantly edited for the screen and the sound effects really made an otherwise unbearable 5th song tolerable.
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE EVER IS THE FACT THAT FOR ONCE THE Filmmakers HAD THE DECENCY TO HAVE STUFF WRITTEN IN Hindi AND A LARGE AMOUNT OF SUBTITLES TO EXPLAIN THE English DIALOGUES EXTRA CREDIT FOR THE SUBTITLES MAKING SENSE TO AND NOT USING HIFI Hindi.
Technically this movie was good with lots of experimenting with different types of colours and maybe even cameras. Again the beauty of India is too great for much credit to go to shots of India.
For a movie that is so filmy there is surprisingly less melodrama with only a couple of really melodramatic scenes.
At the cost of sounding Gay I must say that Akshays hair looks hideous.
Even though this is the most filmy movie to come out in recent times its actually a welcome change from the DIFFERENT FORMULA FLICKS this movie is filmy and it never tries to act otherwise.
Not for those who like their cinema serious or expect a high standard of acting, direction etc. THE MOVIE ITSELF IS ORDINARY BUT MANAGES TO RISE BECAUSE OF A COUPLE OF GOOD SCENES AND FOCUS ON Hindi ,but those who are sure they can enjoy a super filmy Hindi flick will definitely come out satisfied.
Good for family as well as friends viewing.
-s overacting all around, some really annoying and slightly melodramatic scenes, pathetic songs (god save me from Himmace).
+/-s super filmy, Katrina (is she the perfect Desi blonde MARRY ME PLEASE).
+s lots of feel good and some really funny scenes ,SUBITITLES AND Hindi CREDITS FINALLY, filmy but not overly melodramatic, good technically superb sound editing, never tries to be anything else.
total 5+2=7/10 (not factoring in the fact that it was above expectations the 2 extra points are for the focus on Hindi and the absolutely hilarious matchmaking scene and the take on the Saas Bahu serial I just cracked up some time back when I saw my mom watching the Mega Event of the merger of the big K serials). -
vickyuec5 April 2007This movie has a completely predictable storyline. Katrina Kaif is a completely British girl, but with a catch. She can do drunken dances till late nights, but won't have sex before marriage. Because she has some Indian hypocrisy still left in her blood. The girl who threatens to quit her father's home in London if she is forced to marry can think of no better way than to ruin poor Akshay's life when she is forced to marry him in India. And of course, Akshay is the eye-opener for this vilaaayti gal. I tried to find a single original scene in this movie but couldn't. So watch it if you have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do like the Indian cricket fans!!