Classics – Salaam Namaste
Cast – Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi,
Javed Jaffery, and Others
Director – Siddhartha Anand
Duration – 2 Hours and 38 Minutes
Where To Watch – Amazon Prime
9TH September 2025 marks the 20th
Anniversary of classic rom-com movie Salaam Namaste. The movie had Saif Ali
Khan, Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffery, in the lead role. The movie revolved around a
couple Nikhil and Amber decides to stay together.
Review
The movie a new age rom-com drama with fresh pairing of Saif
Ali Khan and Preity Zinta were leading the movie who had shown a solid
on-screen chemistry with a blend of elements like romance, drama and comedy.
The movie was very colorful and was a delight to watch on the big-screen with
presence of talented actors like Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi,
and Javed Jaffery at the same time
Siddharth Malhotra was debuting as a director with a light-hearted rom-com
movie like Salaam Namaste.
Chemistry of Saif Ali Khan and Preiy Zinta
The movie had a
talented lead pair of Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta shown a tremendous
on-screen chemistry also added a fun element in the movie like the character of
Nikhil Mathur (Saif Ali Khan) likes to be called Niks instead of Nikhil Mathur studying
Architecture in New York on the other side Ambar (Preity Zinta) whose name is
always wrongly pronounced by her South Indian manager “Hambar” so as by Nik. The conversation between Nik and
Amber added a fun element in the movie. This was phase when Saif Ali Khan was
love by audience in rom-com movies like this even Hum Tum in 2004 was a perfect
example of a movie like this.
Strong Supporting Cast
A movie is always incomplete without an
extraordinary supporting cast whereas Salaam Namaste had talented actors like
Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffery and a small cameo by Abhishek Bachchan in the
climax of the movie worked like an “Icing on the cake” for the movie. In the
movie Arshad Warsi played the role of a confused guy “Rohan” added a charm in the movie and it was for the first time
Abhishek Bachchan was seen in a kind of a role of a over the top doctor
Direction and Other Aspects
The movie was directed by Siddharth Anand and as we know he
is a stylish director and he proved this in his debut movie by shooting some
beautiful location of Australia. Melbourne and regional Victoria made the movie
a “Visual Treat” on the big screen, and the way Siddharth Anand showcased an
extraordinary chemistry between Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta was a “treat to
watch” with soulful songs like Tittle Track, Tu Jahan Main Wahan” were some of the songs “Worth Remembering”
Some Unknown Facts About Salaam Namaste
Salaam Namaste
was the first Bollywood film to be entirely shot in Australia,
specifically in Melbourne, which boosted Indian tourism in the region.
The movie was also
the highest-grossing Bollywood film overseas in 2005, especially popular
in Australia and the UK.
Saif Ali Khan and
Preity Zinta’s on-screen chemistry was highly appreciated, but interestingly, Abhishek
Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were initially considered for the lead roles.
Javed Jaffrey’s
hilarious character “Jaggu – Crocodile Dundee” became a cult favorite, even
though he had very limited screen time.
The film tackled live-in
relationships at a time when the concept was still considered bold in
Indian cinema, making it ahead of its time.
The title track
“Salaam Namaste” was among the first Bollywood songs to be extensively shot
at iconic Australian landmarks.
The film was
directed by Siddharth Anand, and it was his directorial debut under Yash
Raj Films.
This was also one
of the first mainstream Hindi films to openly show a pregnancy out of
wedlock as a major plot point.
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