Not so independent after all...
Film: Namaste England (Romance-Comedy)
Critic’s Rating: 2/5
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra
Direction: Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Written by: Suresh Nair, Ritesh Shah
Duration: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Language: Hindi (U/A)
Story:
Param (Arjun Kapoor) and Jasmeet (Parineeti Chopra) fall in love and quickly get married. Their marital life hits a roadblock when Jasmeet wants to go to London to pursue her career in jewellery designing. Param manages to follow her to Britain but equations have changed for both. Will love triumph? Or will ambition override everything?
Review:
Namaste England is a wasted effort, wasted on all counts. In a 'beti padhao, desh badhao' ambience, it is lame beyond words when a film talks of not giving your daughter equal opportunities that you give your son. It seems so out of place! One is not saying that this is still not happening in parts of India. Of course, it is. However, to base a full script on this – my grandfather will not let me work – shouldn't be a basis for Vipul Shah to make a movie. It's regressive.
Secondly, being obsessed with a career is understandable. Wanting to migrate overseas and agreeing to a fake marriage to accomplish the dream is also understandable. But the way this film has treated both aspects is laughable. The script is shoddy, the direction is shoddier.
Arjun and Parineeti's chemistry is zilch. And their performances are something you will not stand for. Both actors are behaving like they are in “out-of-body” experiences; their acts are so dispirited. Wonder why? And to think that this is the jodi that had us applauding them in their first act together – Ishaqzaade (2012). Six years down the line, it looks as if the magic has waned. Boy oh Boy, it's a test of your patience to sit and watch them both through this two-hour-plus movie.
The plot devices of this romcom are no less bizarre. Param's well-connected jigri dost becomes his jaani dushman after a wedding night showdown and takes it upon himself to constantly thwart the couple's UK visa applications. Really now!
The music (Mannan Shaah, Badshah, Rishi Rich) has the Punjabi upbeat quality about it. But sadly, not one song stays in mind after you exit the theatre. The supporting cast, too, doesn’t offer any act that you can remember. In fact, Gurnaam Singh (Satish Kaushik) who is a thrifty travel agent with his innumerable ‘darlings’ is so bad; it makes you shudder.
Vipul, who has given us hits like Aankhen (2002), Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005) and Namastey London (2007), definitely knew the idiom of potboilers at one point. His hiatus seems to have taken him further away from today’s cinema. He has meandered all over this film (and we’re not talking about shooting in multiple beautiful locations), not focusing on any one salient aspect. The result is a mishmash of sorts.
Verdict:
Watch Namastey London instead.
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 "Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra's Namaste England review is out!")
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