Movie Rewind | Salaam Namaste: When charming Saif Ali Khan and sparkling Preity Zinta brought zing to romcoms
Salaam Namaste was just fun, enjoyable and ridiculous at points, maybe what we need
If there was a time in Bollywood to just relive and soak in, maybe I would choose somewhere after 2002 and between 2014.
This particular timeframe might come across as strange, but in retrospect, it was when Bollywood was transitioning from the colourful, loud 90s where melodrama ruled the roost, to a period of new attempts at perceiving complicated relationships.
The villains were no longer the gun-toting gangsters, but one’s own demons. The obstacles had moved beyond poor girl-rich boy class divides. The sugary romances were less sugary and confessions didn’t always arrive in full view of the public, as they did in Dil Toh Paagal Hai and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
Some worked, like the fun and winsome Hum Tum. Others flopped, but later found a place in the “so-bad-it’s-good” hall of fame (Mujhse Dosti Karoge). And then there were the in-betweeners, like Salaam Namaste, where the soundtrack, the Saif Ali Khan–Preity Zinta pairing, and a standout Abhishek Bachchan cameo often papered over storytelling that was occasionally a little too padded and contrived.
Overall, Salaam Namaste, adapted from Nine Months, is still an enjoyable, fun fare. The premise almost seemed revolutionary at the time: A live-in relationship and an unplanned pregnancy. The summary itself scandalised half the elders in my family who heard about it at that time.
But Bollywood tried to also play it safe nervously too: After much enemies-to-lovers banter, Nikhil (Saif, playing a chef) is interested in fiery Amber (Preity), and asks her to ‘live’ with him as flatmates as first.
It financially makes sense, they believe (it doesn’t, they’ve rented out a duplex and paid a staggering advance). Amber agrees and lives with him, as friends. And then they fall in love of course, the dil goes mmm on the streets of Australia, all is very pretty till Amber gets pregnant, which appears to be a template of most Preity Zinta films. Nik doesn’t want to be a father, and Amber wants the child. The chasm between them runs wide, and yet the two must live together (cue some unexplained rent agreement).
And as the film progresses, love doesn’t always conquer all, not immediately. Amber’s pregnancy turns the romance on its head, and the real fears begin to explode. Nik’s cool charm cracks as he realises that he might have to shoulder a responsibility that he had never wanted, while Amber is weighing each word that he says.
The tensions erupt between the two: The romance slinks away and hostility is another roommate. Neither can quite move on of course, as a heartbroken Amber later says, “Those were the happiest months of my life. How do I accept that I was in love with the wrong person?”
Yet, just as the tension threatens to overwhelm the story, Salaam Namaste pulls you back with rushes of comedy. This is the film that gave Bollywood one of its most delightfully absurd running gags: Jaaved Jaafery's "Egg-jactly". Jaafery plays the eccentric landlord, complete with cowboy boots and a hat, who seeks his companion's opinion on every matter. Her response is always the same: "Sorry?"
"Egg-jactly," he replies.
There’s also Arshad Warsi and his wife Tanya’s marital problems that are a parallel subplot: Warsi plays Saif’s hapless friend who got married on a whim and now has to deal with the consequences of his decision.
The humour in Salaam Namaste is quintessential early-2000s Bollywood: messy, broad, and occasionally ridiculous, but funny enough to keep you laughing. It's the kind of comedy that has found a second life as social media reels today. At times, it's unabashedly silly, but that's part of its charm. And when the film finally leans into full-blown melodrama in its closing stretch, it makes the eventual love confession feel all the more satisfying.
It's messy. But it was a loveable, amiable mess. It’s the friend that you invited for dinner knowing that they might say something inappropriate at the wrong time, but 20 years down the line, you still want them around.
