Namaste England
Namaste England Is An Extremely Poor Fare Don’t Waste Your Time Money & Energy
Banner: Pen India Limited, Namaste Production, Reliance Entertainment & Blockbuster Movie Entertainers
Producers: Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Dhaval Jayantilal Gada, Akkshay Jayantilal Gada, Reliance Entertainment, Aashin A Shah & Reshma Kadakia, Kushal Kantilal Gada, Firuzi Khan & Sameer Chopra
Director: Vipul Amrutlal Gada
Star Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Parniti Chopra, Aditya Seal, Alankrita Sahai, Anil Mange, Satish Kaushik, Mallika Dua, Shreya Mehta, Shivendra Mahal, Anjum Batra, Pratik Dixit, Hobby Dhaliwal & Vinod Nagpal
Music: Manan Shah, Badshah, Rishi Rich & Prasad Sashte
Times have really changed when it comes to women
Empowerment & gradually, the people on the whole are realizing that equal opportunities are a must for people of all the gender. Yet, a lot needs to be done especially in the places which are away from the mega cities. Namaste England, which marks the return of Vipul Shah as a director after 8 years, throws light on this aspect and also promises to be a beautiful love story. Moreover, it’s the 2nd film in the franchise, the 1st ever being the much loved Namastey London released in the year 2007, starring Akshay Kumar & Katrina Kaif.
The scripted scenario of Namaste England reveals that it is the story of a couple torn between love & their dreams. Param (Arjun Kapoor) & Jasmeet (Parineeti Chopra) reside in a tiny village in Punjab. Both fall for each other. Meanwhile, Jasmeet, who’s interested in jewellery designing, gets a job in Amritsar. She has to work there for 3 days a week. Jasmeet’s grandfather (Shivendra Mahal) is strictly against women working. So Jasmeet hides this bit from him but one day the truth comes out. Param at this point asks Jasmeet to get married to him and asserts that she can work then without any problem. Param’s family visits Jasmeet’s house to ask her hand in marriage. Jasmeet’s grandfather agrees but he has a condition, Jasmeet should not work once she ties the knot. Both ultimately get married and a year later, Jasmeet meets her friend Harpreet (Mallika Dua). She lives in UK with her husband and is very happy & settled. Seeing her, Jasmeet gets a desire to leave India and settle in England so that she can work there and have an independent life. Param is even ready to move there with her and his father also has no issue. The issue however is that Param can’t go out of India. On his wedding day, Param has an altercation with his friend Gurpreet (Anjum Batra), who’s well connected, and the latter vows that he’ll not let Param get a visa of Europe, where the couple was planning a honeymoon. Jasmeet hence devises a plan, she’ll move to UK alone at first and after securing residency, she’ll be entitled to let Param enter UK. Param is fine with the arrangement. However, Jasmeet hasn’t been completely truthful to him. What happens next forms the crux of the rest of the film.
Ritesh Shah & Suresh Nair’s story is very weak and silly and rests on a wafer thin plot. The story has too many flaws. Ritesh Shah & Suresh Nair’s screenplay is juvenile and does nothing to hide these glitches. It’s shocking that the duo is associated with some fine films of recent times like Airlift (2016), D-Day (2013), Raid (2018), Mardaani (2014) & even Namastey London and yet they collectively penned this apology of a script. Ritesh Shah & Suresh Nair’s dialogues are also terrible & outdated.
Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s direction is haywire and it seems like he has lost his touch. The scenes begin & end all of a sudden and he tries to incorporate a lot. He also tries to repeat the magic of Namastey London, be it during the intermission point or during the scene where Param delivers a patriotic speech. But while the latter sequence was powerful in Namastey London and is still remembered today, the one in Namaste England looks forced.
Namaste England has a bit of an awkward beginning. The lovers are shown meeting each other during varied seasons and it takes a while to understand that. At this point, Param forces his friend to marry a girl from Jasmeet’s group just so that he gets a chance to meet Jasmeet again! This scene itself gives viewers an idea that this film is not going to make any sense. The entire bit of Jasmeet’s grandfather refusing her to work even after marriage seems unconvincing but works nevertheless. But the scene that doesn’t work at all in this hour is Gurpreet’s drama at the wedding. Param-Jasmeet’s romance post marriage is cute and the scenes of Gurnaam (Satish Kaushik) help in keeping the interest going although the film has still not gone on a high. The intermission point comes across as a shocker but not for the right reasons. The 1st ever half comes across as disappointing while post interval, the film falls further. Param entering UK illegally is an engaging scene but doesn’t make any sense. Even worse is Param pretending to marry Alisha (Alankrita Sahai). These scenes, besides being nonsensical, are not even funny or moving. Also the film gives a very wrong message and tries to project that immigration is a bad idea and that’s certainly not true. Also, the film ends at an abrupt point and all the conflicts of the film don’t end even when the credits roll.
Mannan Shaah’s music is okay with some songs working while the others being a disappointment. “Dhoom Dhadakka” is very catchy & foot-tapping. “Tere Liye” comes next. Bhare Bazaar” doesn’t work and it’s abruptly cut into half. Prasad Sashte’s background score is over dramatic. Yiannis Manolopoulos’s cinematography is appropriate but nothing special. Sriram Kannan Iyengar & Sujeet Sawant’s production design looks superficial, especially the houses in Punjab village. Aki Narula, Sanjana Batra & Gayatri Thadani’s costumes are nothing special initially but the ones worn by Parineeti in England scenes are appealing. Amitabh Shukla’s editing is horrible.
Performance wise this isn’t Arjun Kapoor’s best act & his performance leaves a lot to be desired. He looks haggard & a bit overweight in some scenes. Parineeti Chopra is however better and puts up a great act. Sadly, she is letdown by terrible writing. Aditya Seal as Sam has a fine screen presence and makes an impact. Alankrita Sahai as Alisha, last seen in the recently-released web film Love Per Square Foot, looks sizzling and does fine. Satish Kaushik is over the top and the way he says “Darling” in every sentence is not funny. Same with Shreya Mehta as Mitthi who makes a sound at the end of each sentence, a la Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Kick (2014)! But she puts a confident act. Anil Mange as Iqbal Khan is decent.
On the whole: Namaste England is an extremely poor fare and is riddled with a terrible script & a juvenile screenplay.
Tail Piece: At the box office turnstiles, Namaste England will face a tough time and will not find favor with the audience.
