Namastey London

Namastey London

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Screenplay by Suresh Nair
Story by Suresh Nair
Starring Akshay Kumar
Rishi Kapoor
Katrina Kaif
Clive Standen
Upen Patel
Javed Sheikh
Music by Songs:
Himesh Reshammiya
Background Score:
Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematography Jonathan Bloom
Dariusz Wolski
Edited by Amitabh Shukla
Distributed by Adlabs Films Ltd
Blockbuster Movie Entertainers
Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Release dates
 23 March 2007
Running time
 128 mins
Country India
Language Hindi
Box office ₹120 crore (equivalent to ₹178 crore or US$26 million in 2013)

Namastey London is a 2007 Indian romantic drama film directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and stars Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif. It also stars Rishi Kapoor, Upen Patel and Clive Standen in supporting roles. Riteish Deshmukh has a cameo role in the film. The concept of Indians being born in foreign nations and forgetting their Indian roots and instead trying to become like people of that nation is drawn from the Manoj Kumar starrer Purab Aur Paschim. The film is made for an Indian audience in India, with most of the topics being controversial in India, like openly kissing in public and alcohol abuse. This film was a box office hit and also earned a Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination for Akshay Kumar.

It was remade in Bengali, as Paran Jai Jaliya Re starring Dev & Subhashree Ganguly which was a massive hit in West Bengal.

In June 2015, unofficial sources announced a sequel titled "Namastey England" was in talks and Akshay Kumar has been roped in as the lead once again. The makers are currently looking for a lead actress to star opposite Akshay Kumar. The team begins the race soon and will be seen camping in Punjab and London from January 2016 and are eyeing for a late 2016 release.

Story

Indian-born Manmohan Malhotra (Rishi Kapoor) re-located to London, England, established himself, returned to India, got married to Bebo (Nina Wadia), and after four years got a visa for her so that she could live with him. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to Jasmeet (Katrina Kaif). Manmohan was always embarrassed by Bebo as she was fat and could not speak English. As a result, he always left her out of important occasions, while he socialised. Bebo did not want Jasmeet to end up like her, so she got her educated in an English school, encouraged to mingle with British friends, and Jasmeet was transformed into Jazz – a beautiful young woman, modern in looks, talk, habits, and heart.

Her father had set her to meet a young lad, Bobby Bedi (Ritesh Deshmukh), though the date turns out to be a disaster and Bobby rejects her. Manmohan thinks that it is impossible to get him an Indian son-in-law, although his friend, Parvez Khan (Javed Sheikh), is in a similar situation with his son, Imran (Upen Patel), who has a blonde girlfriend, Susan (Tiffany Mulheron). Manmohan takes his family for a tour in India and forces Jasmeet to marry Arjun Singh (Akshay Kumar) who does not know how to speak English.

On their return to London, Jasmeet announces that she is getting married to Charlie Brown (Clive Standen), who is well educated and has good friends and connections, even with Prince Charles. She refuses to recognise her marriage with Arjun as there is no proof of the wedding. When Jasmeet is introduced to the friends of the Brown family, she is subjected to considerable racist abuse (snake charmers, Indian rope tricks, tandoori chicken) as well as a quote from Winston Churchill: 'When we leave India, the country will be in the hands of goons'. During this period, Jazz becomes close with Arjun who still supports her. Charlie Brown then has a rugby match against the Indians and Arjun, the English lose and Brown is verbally racist to the Indians. Imran is then asked by Susan's parents to leave Islam, become a Christian, change his name to Emmanuel or Ian, as well as provide written proof that his family is not associated with terrorists. The film ends on a happy note when Imran decides not to be a Christian and Susan is accepted by Imran's family; Jazz realises her love for Arjun, runs away from her wedding to Charlie Brown, and goes with Arjun back to India where they are seen riding Arjun's motorcycle. While they are on the motorcycle Arjun reveals that all along he knew how to speak English.

Cast

Release

Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif on the set of Namastey London

Reception

The reviews of the film were generally positive. Taran Adarsh of indiafm.com wrote, "Namastey London is addictive stuff. You watch it once, you wanna watch it again."[1]

Akshay Kumar has received almost unanimous praise for his portrayal of Arjun Singh, with a critic saying "Kumar certainly leaves his mark throughout the flick. One of the coolest performances of the star."[2] Adarsh said "One of his finest performances so far, Namastey London also marks the coming of age of an actor who was often dubbed as an action hero or a funster. Akshay not only wins the heart of Katrina on screen, he's sure to win the hearts of millions of moviegoers with a terrific portrayal in this film." On Katrina Kaif's performance he wrote, "she handles the complex part with remarkable ease. The pretty lass is only getting better with every film." Despite the generally favourable reviews, Prachi Singh of Moviewalah panned the film, with a verdict of 2 out of 5 stars.[3]

Box office

Namastey London opened to a good response and mainly picked up momentum after the second and third day of its release, a major reason being India's exit out of the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The film did extremely well in the northern parts of India especially in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.[4] It also did well in Mumbai and in the first week of its release collected Rs. 73,575,657.[5] The film was received very well in other parts of the country. The success of the film ended a long spell of box office failures since the release of Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love in January 2007. The film went on to become a huge hit & grossed Rs. 483,700,000 making it one of the top hits of 2007.

The film was a huge hit overseas. It debuted at number 9 on the UK charts and similarly debuted within the top 20 in the United States and Australian charts. The film collected £238,841 in the first week of its release[6] As of 27 July 2007 the movie has grossed an estimated $15,273,747 USD in five territories which included the United States ($4,149,772), Australia ($197,148), India ($17,267,662), Malaysia ($15,285), and the United Kingdom ($9,021,900).

Music

The soundtrack was released on 27 January 2007 and received good reviews.[7] The songs were composed by Himesh Reshammiya.

Salim-Sulaiman composed the film score. The song "Chakna Chakna" and its remix version were penned by Sameer, all other songs were penned by Javed Akhtar.

  1. Chakna Chakna – Himesh Reshammiya
  2. Viraaniya – Himesh Reshammiya
  3. Main Jahaan Rahoon – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & Krishna Beura
  4. Yahi Hota Pyaar – Himesh Reshammiya, Sunidhi Chauhan
  5. Rafta Rafta – RDB
  6. Annan Faanan – Jayesh Gandhi, Akriti Kakkar
  7. Dilruba – Zubeen Garg, Alisha Chinai
  8. Viraaniya (Mehfil Mix) – Himesh Reshammiya
  9. Aanan Faanan (Mehfil Mix) – Jayesh Gandhi, Akriti Kakkar
  10. Chakna Chakna (Remix) – Himesh Reshammiya
  11. Dilruba (Remix) – Zubeen Garg, Alisha Chinai
  12. Main Jahaan Rahoon (Remix) – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
  13. Yahi Hota Pyaar (Remix) – Himesh Reshammiya, Sunidhi Chauhan
  14. Aanan Faanan (Remix) – Jayesh Gandhi, Akriti Kakkar
  15. Main Jahaan Rahoon (Mehfil Mix) – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,
  16. Yahi Hota Pyaar (Mehfil Mix) -Himesh Reshammiya, Sunidhi Chauhan
  17. Viraaniyan (Remix) – Himesh Reshammiya
  18. Rafta Rafta (Remix-x) – R. D. Burman
  19. Main Jahan Rahoon (Bonus Track) – Krishna Beura

Sequel

In March 2011, Shah announced his intention to do a sequel, Namastey England.[8] Kumar has expressed his interest in returning for the sequel, which will shoot scenes in London, Punjab, Mumbai, Germany, and Switzerland.[9] The film's plot has not been fully revealed, but will not be a direct continuation of the first film.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Review of Namastey London from Indiafm.com". indiafm.com. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  2. ↑ "Review of Namastey London from bollywood-buzz.com.com". bollywood-buzz.com.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  3. ↑ "Review of Namastey London from moviewalah.com". moviewalah.com. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  4. ↑ "Box office report for Namastey London". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  5. ↑ "First week collections for Namastey London". indiafm.com. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  6. ↑ "Overseas response". indiafm.com. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  7. ↑ India FM: Music Review – Namastey London
  8. ↑ "Vipul To Do 'Namastey London' Sequel". The Times of India (NDTV). 18 March 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  9. ↑ "Akshay Kumar says 'Namastey London' again!". Zee News. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Sinha, Seema (8 June 2013). "Akshay Kumar gifts Vipul Shah 'Namastey London' sequel". Times of India. Retrieved 14 June 2013.

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