Namaste London Starring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Ka

Great Supporting Performances by Rishi Kapoor and Upen Patel

Jul 9, 2009

Namaste London belongs to the romantic comedy genre. But it is a startling revelation of attitudes and beliefs of first generation Indian immigrants versus their progeny.

Jasmeet (Katrina Kaif) is the only daughter of Indian immigrants, romantically involved with her British boss Charlie (Clive Standen). She leads what her father perceives to be a rather wild lifestyle, frequenting London pubs and discotheques, and late nights are a habit.

Her father (played by Rishi Kapoor) is skeptical of the forthcoming match, given that Charlie has a history of three failed marriages. He whisks her off to India on the pretext of a vacation, with the real motive of looking for a bridegroom back home.

The hunt turns out to be a bit of a wild goose chase, as several eccentric characters turn up as prospective grooms. It ends when Jasmeet and her family visit their ancestral village in Punjab. Jasmeet's father bonds with an old time friend, whose son Arjun (Akshay Kumar) takes an instant fancy to the British born beauty.

Jasmeet is vehemently opposed to an alliance to a village rustic. But her father prevails, and she submits to an arranged marriage. She goes through the traditional ceremony on the advice of her good friend Imran (Upen Patel), the British born son of Pakistani parents. Imran reasons that the best course of action is to agree to a farce of a marriage, since it cannot be deemed legal under British law without court sanctions.

Jasmeet returns to the UK with her family and Arjun, and finally reveals her real motives to all concerned. She is still serious about Charlie, and Arjun faces an uphill task to win her back.

Namaste London Criticized for Perpetuating British Stereotypes

The single glaring flaw is the one-sided characterization of Charlie. The British are portrayed as generally ignorant of their former colony's past and present sitiations. The film consequently tends to become didactic, as exemplified by Akshay's famous speech to his British audience.

Akshay and Katrina share a vibrant chemistry that is the saving grace of the movie. Katrina Kaif is tailormade for her role. Akshay looks rather old for the role of a young Punjabi village lad, but he plays his part well. Rishi Kapoor comes up with the strongest performance in the movie as the confused bride's father, who is settled in the UK but disapproves of a British son in law, obsessed with a traditional arranged match for his daughter.

The film works largely due to the director's skillful interposition of minute details that highlight the cultural metamorphosis of Indian immigrants. The film incorporates several songs and Bollywood style dance sequences that will appeal to traditional Hindi movie buffs.

The copyright of the article Namaste London Starring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Ka in Asian Films is owned by Biswita Mozumdar. Permission to republish Namaste London Starring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Ka in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.