Salaam Namaste

Salaam Namaste
Movie poster for Salaam Namaste
Directed by	Siddharth Anand
Produced by	Aditya Chopra Yash Chopra
Written by	Siddharth Anand Abbas Tyrewala
Starring	Saif Ali Khan Preity Zinta Arshad Warsi Tania Zaetta
Music by	Vishal-Shekhar
Cinematography	Sunil Patel
Editing by	Ritesh Soni
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date(s)	9 September 2005
Running time	159 min.
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	13 crore (US$2.59 million)
Box office	57 crore (US$11.37 million)

Salaam Namaste (Hindi: सलाम नमस्ते, Urdu: سلام نمستے, English: Urdu and Hindi greetings, respectively) is a 2005 Indian Bollywood film directed by first-time director Siddharth Anand and produced by Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra. The film stars Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta in their fourth film together. Arshad Warsi and Tania Zaetta appear in supporting roles. Released on 9 September 2005, it was the first Indian movie to be filmed entirely in Australia.

The film tells the story of two young and modern Indians, Nick and Ambar, who have left their homes in India to make a life on their own in Melbourne, Australia. The story follows one year of their lives, dealing with their problems and relationships, from their first meeting at a wedding ceremony, to their decision to move in together without marriage, to their breakup upon discovering that Ambar is pregnant.

Salaam Namaste became one of the biggest box-office hits of 2005 in India, as well as India's biggest hit in the overseas market that year. On 24 September 2005, the script of the film was invited to be included in the Margaret Herrick Library, which is operated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Zinta received several nominations for her role in various film ceremonies, such as the Filmfare Awards, IIFA Awards, Star Screen Awards and Zee Cine Awards.

Plot

Two young progressive Indians, Nikhil "Nick" Arora (Saif Ali Khan) and Ambar Malhotra or "Amby" (Preity Zinta), have left India to live their lives in Melbourne, Australia. Nick fled to Australia to become an architect. After becoming one, he got a commission to design a restaurant, where he works as the head chef and the restaurant has been named "Nick of Time". His job allows him have a laid-back lifestyle and get up late in the morning, both aspects that he values very much. In Bangalore, Ambar was shown twelve men for marriage and she rejected each one. Her parents suspected that she did not want to get married, however, she denied it. She went to Australia for a one-year foreign exchange program and decided to stay and become a surgeon. After hearing this, her parents cut off all ties with her. To pay for her education, she works as an R.J. at a local radio station, "Salaam Namaste".

When Nick is supposed to do an interview for Salaam Namaste, he oversleeps resulting in him getting insulted by Ambar on the air. His boss, Dheka, demands that he go to the to radio station or he will 'kill' him. Nick oversleeps again and he is, once again, insulted by Ambar for being late. Nick gets work catering for one of Ambar's friends wedding. His best friend Rajeev "Ron" Mathur (Arshad Warsi) falls in love with Ambar's best friend Cathy (Tania Zaetta) at the wedding. Nick also feels a connection with Ambar, although they have no idea who the other really is. Ron and Cathy marry the next day and Nick and Ambar discover each other's true identities. Nick has the interview on Salaam Namaste, where he states, publicly, that he loves Ambar. They both end up at Ron and Cathy's house, where the two just had a fight. Nick persuades Ambar to move in together, where they fall in love. Two months later, Ambar discovers she is pregnant, Nick takes her to get an abortion that she later tells him she did not have, resulting in a break up.

Over the next five months, they have several comical disagreements. Nick finds a restaurant to buy, but the loan was not approved and he cannot afford the downpayment because he spent all his money on the house to live with Ambar. This results in another argument where the baby kicks for the first time and Nick realizes he still loves Ambar. Ambar asks Nick to take a blood test because Ambar is thalassemia minor and if Nick is a thalassemia minor too the baby would have a problem. Nick goes to the hospital where he has his blood test and the doctor gives him a sonography, and at the hospital Nick finds out that Ambar is baring twins. On the way home he thinks about what the doctor said to him and he realizes that he has left Ambar alone through the whole pregnancy, when she needed him the most. He goes home and and looks at the sonography and still realizes that he had loved Ambar since the beginning. He goes to buy an engagement ring and sees a eight-months pregnant Ambar trying on rings with her friend, Jignesh (Jugal Hansraj). Nick thinks that Ambar is marrying Jignesh and is devastated. He goes and gets drunk and takes an Australian girl home with him. When he wakes up, he is shocked, but the girl (Stella) is angry because he didn't do anything and was crying out Ambar's name all night. Nick is greatly relieved, but then Ambar sees her in the bedroom and is very upset and tells Nick she's moving out today. Then, Nick discovers that when Ambar was trying on rings, it was for Jignesh's girlfriend, Tina. He desperately searches for Ambar with the help of many devoted Salaam Namaste listeners. He finds her and apologizes but, when he is about propose, Ambar's water breaks, so they rush to the hospital.

At the hospital, Ron is there with Cathy, who's giving birth as well, and the nurse turns out to be Stella, the woman Nick had slept with. She tells Ambar that he didn't do anything that night and is in love with Ambar, who finally realizes Nick's true love for her. They then meet the incompetent obstetrician Dr. Vijay Kumar MDGGO (Abhishek Bachchan), who turns out to be a very comical and horrible doctor, but manages to deliver the children. Ambar gives birth to twins and Nick proposes to her to which she happily agrees.

Production

Several people have made cameos in the film. Abhishek Bachchan is the narrator and makes a special appearance as a doctor towards the end of the film. Director Siddharth Anand makes an appearance as the taxi driver towards the end of the movie. The mother and son in the bookshop Saif Ali Khan's character visits, are actor Arshad Warsi's real-life wife and son, Maria Goretti and Zeke. Preity Zinta's then real-life boyfriend, Ness Wadia makes an appearance as the man reading the newspaper, whom Preity sits by on the bus.

Cast

• Saif Ali Khan as Nikhil "Nick" Arora
• Preity Zinta as Ambar "Amby" Malhotra / Hambar
• Arshad Warsi as Rajeev "Ron" Mathur
• Tania Zaetta as Cathy
• Jugal Hansraj as Jignesh
• Kunal Vijaykar as Deepan Nair / Debonair (Owner of Salaam Namaste radio station)
• Ravi Khote as Aslam Dheka (Nick of time Restaurant owner)
• Jaaved Jaffrey as Jaggu Yadav aka Crocodile Dundee
• Abhishek Bachchan as Narrator / Dr. Vijay Kumar MDGGO (Cameo)
• Siddharth Anand as the Taxi Driver (Special Appearance)
• Maria Goretti as Lady at the bookstore (Special Appearance)
• Ness Wadia as the man reading the newspaper on the bus (Special Appearance)

Music

Salaam Namaste
Studio album by Vishal-Shekhar
Released	10 August 2005 (India)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Yash Raj Music
Producer	Vishal-Shekhar
Vishal-Shekhar chronology
Dus (2005) Salaam Namaste (2005) Ek Ajnabee (2005)

The film has seven songs composed by the duo Vishal-Shekhar. The music of the film released on 10 August 2005. The music includes four songs and two remixes.

Song	Singer(s)	Duration
Salaam Namaste	Kunal Ganjawala, Vasundhara Das	4.37
My Dil Goes Mmmm	Shaan, Gayatri Ganjawala	7.34
What's Going On?	Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan	4.41
Tu Jahan	Sonu Nigam, Mahalakshmi Iyer	5.15
My Dil Goes Mmmm (English Club Mix)	Shaan, Caralisa Monteiro	4.08
Salaam Namaste (Dhol Mix)	Kunal Ganjawala, Vasundhara Das	3.54
My Dil Goes Mmmm	Instrumental	4.08

See also

• List of movies set in Australia

External links

• Salaam Namaste at the Internet Movie Database
• Salaam Namaste - The Official Movie Site