I had the great fortune of watching "Namastey London" yesterday night. Its a hillarious movie I must say! I watched it on a "local maal" DVD so I had the privilege of subtitles too. I must congratulate the guys who have done the translations for this. They have not only added value of making this movie reach all language audiences but also added to the quality of the movie itself. Did you ask how? See, the subtitles added the sense of comic timing which was otherwise missing from the movie. The translated english texts at the bottom of the screen were generating more laughter than the actual hindi dialogues itself. And the whole thing made greater sense because one couldnt understand much of Akshay Kumar's english or Katrina Kaif's hindi to begin with. There were large parts of dialogues where one felt like a "Duffer" because one couldnt follow the conversation at all! Akshay Kumar has acted like a proud peacock strutting around throughout the movie. You can almost see the feathers behind him in excited "Khiladi" display. Rishi Kapoor to his credit has a role which does not mock his bloated look. The director has taken care to keep him drunk through many scenes. Well chosen! Same to same with Upen Patil who plays a confused playboy. Na ghar ka na ghaat ka kind of role which also reflects to a certain extent his presence in Bollywood. There are lot of extras in the guise of character artistes which adds shine and polish to their careers as well. All the best! Katrina is the real find of the movie. The babe can show a few expressions on her face. She has also managed to not look like she doesnt belong to the movie. She also has appropriate amounts of emotions for the correct situations! The director I must say has done a great job.
With a round of applause and whistles I leave you with a jem of a scene from the movie :
Akshay is telling a story to Katrina about how they will talk to each other when they meet after many many years, and they are no longer each others partners
Akshay [on the phone in dream sequence] : you have to come and see me
Katrina [on the phone in dream sequence] : I should not come, its not correct, i am too old
blah blah and blah later Katrina comes to meet Akshay
Akshay [in dream sequence] :why did you come
Katrina [in dream sequence] : some undecipherable sentence in hindi
Me [turn to my hubby] : what did she say?
My hubby [shrugs] : i dont knw
Katrina to Akshay [out of dream, real]: What did I just say?
Akshay : What do I know? You should know, you said it!