Namastey London (Drama)

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Rishi Kapoor, Upen Patel, Clyde Stenden and Javed Sheikh

Direction: Vipul Amrutlal Shah

Showing at theatres near you

Kathmandu:

We have been witness to live-in relationships, extra marital relationships and all kinds of relationships under the sun. And though the topic of orgies is tempting and even frequently mentioned, Bollywood still cannot take the big leap. So what we see in Namastey London is a regression to the romantic stories of yore, with a deficient blend of romance and mawkish sentimentality and sprinkles of humour showered in slapdash fashion.

Namastey London follows the story of a Punjabi family settled in London, who find that their young brat of a daughter Jazz (Katrina Kaif), owing to her British upbringing, is unwilling to settle for a geek Indian as a hubby. She’d rather marry a three-time-divorced British hunk Charlie Brown (Clyde Stenden). But her Punjabi father Manmohan Singh (Rishi Kapoor), despite his years in London, is desperate to get her a docile Hindustani husband. And that’s where Arjun (Akshay Kumar), the buffoon, steps in.

Pre-intermission, the story moves at a lightning speed and grabs your eyeballs with the peppy and playful Katrina stealing most of the screen time. Much as the British brat of an Indian family goes boyfriend bumming, it’s the Brit environ that keeps your eyes glued to the screen. However, the pace slackens post interval even as we expect Akshay to add that requisite pinch of chutzpa.

Moreover, it is the script that haunts you with a ‘been there done that’ feel. It is time that Bollywood offered us something more than some trash based on clash of cultures.

Not that Akshay fails in his forte, but the plot gives him very slim scope to do better than his characteristic buffoonery. Nevertheless, he still steals the show and manages to tickle the funny bone. Katrina is more than an eye-candy, in fact, she is a revelation and startles you with the panache with which she carries her role. But what works most of all throughout the movie is the Akshay-Katrina chemistry.