‘Namaste Wahala’ hybrids India and Nigeria from the title (Hello Trouble) to finish, but how impactful is its cross-cultural narrative?
The new Nollywood movie, is being touted as breaking new grounds due to its Nigerian/Indian cross-cultural narrative about two lovers, Didi (Ini Dima Okojie) a human rights lawyer, and Raj (Ruslaan Mumtaz), an Investment banker. Meanwhile, the relationship is being opposed by the parents. Didi's father(Richard Mofe Damijo) and Raj's mother(Sujata Sehgal) in particular.
The romantic comedy written, produced, and directed by a restaurateur, Harmisha Daryani Ahuja who also acted in the movie, seems to be far from that notion.
Even with a subplot about Didi's legal battles against domestic violence and rape against women which afford Didi an opportunity to confront her Dad who is against her relationship with Raj, the 1hr 40min feature-length flick still did not tie up properly with the main narrative.
The cast which included Osas Ighodaro, Anee Ichee, and newcomer, Koye Kékeré - Ẹkùn, did a good job but I kept wondering why Ajoke Silva had to play that insignificant minor role of Didi's mother. Whatever the reason, I think that is beneath her.
The movie also capitulates to a bit of poor stage management as you will notice how sparse the public places and restaurants used are. Whatever happened to throbbing locations and full house eateries, cafes, and all such?
Hamisha Daryani Ahuja certainly deserves to be congratulated on her directorial debut. However, this cross-cultural rom-com didn't break any new grounds at all. It's just another interesting movie filled with the usual Nollywood cliché.
In another world, the Times of India in its review of the movie slams it as an average rom-com with an Indo-Nigerian twist.
‘Namaste Wahala’ premiered on Netflix on Valentine's Day.
I just stumbled on this movie, and thought OMG, Bollywood x Nollywood, it's a must see.
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased I watched it. I'm very mooshy, so loved every minute of it!