This film was supposed to be a balanced take on the NRI. But it was as silly as any other film that has showed NRIs in a bad light. Katrina Kaif plays Jazz, a British born white-wannabe. Her voice is dubbed and the Hindi is spoken with a strange Martian accent, the English in a FOB faux American accent. Neither language is enunciated clearly and I was left with the feeling that maybe she was deaf person who had just learnt to speak - kind of like Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God! Akshay Kumar was his usual annoying self, here through no fault of his own but rather due to very poor writing he ends up as a pretend Punjabi from Hicksville. When he laughs he is OK, but when he cries you want to cry in pain from the hideous acting job. His behavior is irrational - if he wants Jazz to love him for himself then why does he speak to her in English as he is leaving? And that is what makes her change her mind? So this is yet another vilification of the NRIs as ridiculous, vain, self-centered, shallow people! Upen Patel was most pathetic, Rishi Kapoor did a decent job, rest of the cast kind of muddled along. Music was strangely unappealing to me. And the members of the cast that played the Britishers were atrocious - ruling the heap was the Charlie Brown fellow. If the NRIs were somewhat spared the Brits were soundly vilified and slammed as religious bigots and racists. 1947 is long gone guys, it is time to move along!
Review of Namastey London
