Covering Bollywood and the Hindi Cinema

Here is one the first few reviews of Salaam-E-Ishq to emerge online. This one is from Times Now.

So is Salaam–e–Ishq the desi version of Love Actually? Well, not actually. It is Marriage actually. The film is pretty obsessed with marriage – so (Shiven) Akshaye Khanna doesn’t want to get married, his fiancé Gia (Ayesha Takia) will pretty much marry anybody; Tehzeeb (Vidya Balan) has forgotten about her marriage with Ashutosh (John Abraham) – quite literally, Kkamini (Priyanka Chopra) is wondering if marrying Rahul (Salman Khan) is better than a film with Karan Johar, Vinay (Anil Kapoor) is married to Seema (Juhi Chawla) but has the 15-year itch, Ram Dayal (Sohail Khan) just wants to consummate his marriage with Phoolvati (Isha Koppikar) and Raju Taxiwallah (Govinda) has been dreaming of marrying a blonde woman for the last fifteen years! At close to four hours, Salaam – e – Ishq is also long. Very long actually!!!

First things first, if you haven’t got the point yet, Nikhil Advani needs to prune the film – by a good thirty minutes or so. He’s already dropped one song, Mera Dil Mera – which is a pity because it was a nice number, but well, never mind! He could have done without the Sohail- Isha track completely because it is unconnected to the rest of the film and not really needed except for the odd laugh or two, but now, well, never mind!

Never mind – because for the most part, Advani gets most things right in his second outing. The film works as a commercial mainstream entertainer – it is popular, yet at most times manages to be quite irreverent most deftly. Especially, Akshaye Khanna’s character which has an inimitable take on love and relationships – and has the audience laughing along in complete approval. Salaam- e- Ishq works because it doesn’t take itself too seriously – it is really not trying to be a deeply meaningful take on love – it is candy floss but with a great sense of humour. It is entertaining. It has some nice songs and stars – if only it were not so long, but then again, never mind!

So who in the cast works? Well, just about everybody. Salman Khan hasn’t bothered playing anything but himself for the last few years, and he does just that in this as well. Priyanka as the item queen, Kkamini is jerky to start with, but then settles down quite nicely. Juhi Chawla and Anil Kapoor are dependable. Vidya and John are quite earnest, and theirs is the most fleshed out love story, Ayesha Takia needs to watch ‘Dor’ over and over again and invest in make up removal tissues – she doesn’t need that pancake!!, Govinda is a pure nostalgia trip and is supported pretty ably by actor Shannon Esra – but the stand out performer in the week – the reason, you can watch this film a second time is Akshaye Khanna. This actor’s comic timing is super and his character, one of the best pieces of writing in the film.

So a good second film from the director of ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ – a film which ensures that Nikhil will have a pretty productive kal as a film maker in the industry .Go watch Salaam-e-Ishq, but just be prepared to spend a lot of time in the theatre, but for the most part, it is time well spent!!