Monday, Dec 09, 2024 | Last Update : 11:11 PM IST
Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra came together in Ishaqzaade and wowed us all with their crackling chemistry.. Cut to today, the jodi makes a comeback with Namaste England. Taking the franchise of Namaste London forward, director Vipul Amrutlal Shah has come up with a new age conflict, in the same milieu as the last, that revolves around the phrase "love can travel any distance."
In Vipul Amrutlal Shah's Namaste England, Arjun Kapoor plays a traditional, country-loving desi farmer Param, who falls head over heels for a goal-oriented Jasmeet, played by Parineeti Chopra. The film has moments that take you back to the 2007-released Namastey London, starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif but they aren't even a tad bit closer to the magic woven by the original film.
There is an unsaid ease between the lead pair and that gels well. It is padded with beautiful outdoor locations that lets one gasp too. Special props to Arjun's character which is fleshed out to be a man of the age who is supportive and understanding. Not to patronise, but it's good to see macho being equated to sensitivity. But an underused premise and shoddy screenplay spoils it for us. That, and clichéd dialogues that fail to strike a chord. Even the climax is forced where emotions are all over the place. Not to mention the music that sounds like it is from the '90s. No tune manages to capture the register barring one.
One of the major reasons why Namastey London worked was because it was something fresh and something the viewers couldn't help but be glued to. Namaste England, on the other hand, doesn't feel that fresh. The makers also recreate Akshay Kumar's goosebump-worthy monologue, wherein he reminds a British the value and the standing of Indians and India, and sadly, fail miserably at it.
With a wafer-thin plot, a week screenplay and nothing that will hook you to the film, Namaste England is a dramatic love story that falls short on both – the right kind of love and a story - and leaves you feeling that the film is way behind time.