/> Starring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Rishi Kapoor, Upen Patel
Directed by Vipul Shah
Rating: ***

Trust Akshay Kumar to play the dependable noble man waiting for his wife to succumb to his charms even if it takes him, and her, forever.

He did it in Dhadkan. Now he does it with tranquil finesse in Vipul Shah's neatly-written film about a mal-adjusted British -Asian family in London grappling with the vagaries of a socio-cultural system that makes the children of Indians and yes, Pakistanis more British than the Britishers.

Or so believes Katrina Kaif, a direct and dishy descendent of Saira Banu in Manoj Kumar's finely patriotic cross-cultural dramas Purab Aur Paschim.

The Dargah committee can rest easy. Katrina's skirts are longer than Saira Banu's. Katrina brings into play all the undulating uncertainties of a generation that's caught between sabhyata and the pubs of Britain.

This, then, is the British-Asian diaspora as seen through the eyes of a director who has a keen sense of celluloid propriety.

Vipul Shah keeps his story of a Brit Bimbo's journey into the heart of Punjab and a Punjabi lover-boy, tightly reined- in. There's a certain thehrao about the projection of the cultural conflicts that Britian throws up for the migrant.

London is captured not as an exotic city but the hub of a hectic cultural conflict which at times reminds us of Gurinder Chaddha's Bend It Like Beckham. At times, Vipul just takes off into a world of comic candour, portraying the nucleur British Asian family in all its poignant parodic glory.

Suresh Nair's writing skills are on display in almost every scene. He brings parody and poignancy into picturesque play. Watch Rishi Kapoor's confrontation with his wife when he accuses her of her pathetic attempts at Britishness. ...

Or later, watch Rishi and his Punjabi son-in-law Akshay Kumar bond over beer and giggle on the dining table....These are scenes that move at a leisurely pace, graceful and warm, charming and mildly thought-provoking..

The narration moves into the streets of London with as much fluency as the dusty gallis of Punjab. This is Gurinder Chaddha's Bride & Prejudice finally getting it right.

Bringing the two Indian-British cultures together are the outstanding technicians and actors. Jonathan Bloom's camera captures London's ethnic underbelly with much pride and no prejudice. There's no look-cinema-no-hands kind of bravura technique applied to Namastey London. Instead we see the Asians on the street as they are, totally guileless and often defenceless.

Rishi Kapoor as the spoilt little London lass' worried father pitches in a masterly portrait of blustering disorientation. Katrina Kaif finally comes into her own. She's the portrait of bubbly brattiness. As a matter of fact, every actor lives a life trapped between a heightened realism and a muted melodrama.

Vipul Shah whose earlier films relied heavily on Gujarati theatre, comes into his own. He takes gentle but stinging swipes at the residue of rootlessness that characterizes the torn lives of Indians abroad.

The Indian diaspora becomes an occasion for a strongly drama-driven clebration of music (impressively structured background score by Salim-Sulaiman), songs (Himesh Reshammiya doing the banshee ballad with blistering feelings) and an ironic humour that pokes fun at those conventions which both irrigate and retard the growth of Indian cinema.

Akshay Kumar cheekily draws attention to the film's reference points like Manoj Kumar's Purab Aur Pachchim and Lagaan. What he leaves unspoken are those tell-tale yet wrinkle-free signs of dramatic, patriotic and romantic conventions in Namastey London that give the narrative its all-knowing aura and a zingy spin.

Only the Pakistani sub-plot (Upen Patel & Co) refuse to jell in the plot. You do sense Vipul Shah and his writer over-reaching at times, trying to give the plot darker shades than the genre permits. Thankfully these lunges at socio-cultural profundity do not scar the narrative or scare off the audience.

Watching this film is like chewing on a gum whose flavour retains its favour much longer than you expect.