Salaam Namaste

Year: 2005
Director: Siddharth Anand

Notable Actors/Actresses:
Saif Ali Khan
Preity Zinta

Last Viewed: It's been awhile

Number of views: 4

Growing up, I've seen a good bit of Hindi films but they were old (like 80s and older), thanks to my parents. As a result, I have had a relatively scanted view of them and never got into them. I got married and for my wife, this is her world to an extent. This is the first Hindi film I credit to my wife for getting me to see and now I have a renewed sense for Bollywood films as they only get better and better now. Some of them anyway.

The film has some similarities to western culture, from style, to dialogue, and even the music is updated and enjoyable to listen to. What I found to be very, very interesting is how the film challenges culture to a certain extent. Our leads in this film are in a cat n mouse love story that starts out a little playful and the next thing you know, a baby is on the way.

Where the story goes next has some ups, downs. Comedy moments, serious moments, and everything works out well as these stories usually do. I found myself wondering how this film was received in India. Was there shock? Was there acceptance? After all, the culture has been transitioning from being very conservative in areas of public affection in these films - kissing etc... and now there is this concept of two unwed people having a baby somewhere in India. This is the aspect I focused on the most somehow. I really liked this movie overall and was glad that it was my renewed first of many Bollywood movies I have seen in recent times.