Film review: Salaam Namaste: what's new ?<br /><br />Today we have a ready audience who are seeking uncharted territories with films based on diverse themes. In such a scene, a concept of 'live-in" relationship looks promising but when you dig further what you are subjected to is another guys are guys and gals are gals type of Harry meet Sally clone very much on the lines (and influences too) of  Hum Tum, Saathiya, Chalte Chalte, Kal Ho Na Ho et al. Surprising again it is coming from country's No. 1 movie production factory. Debutant writer-director Siddhartha Raj Anand, tried to delve into a mature topic and somehow manages to hold interest till interval with his some witty, smart, one-liners and hilarious situations when the film is still finding its premise. He should be applauded for dealing with topic of sex before marriage without being pretentious. All that took care of metro-based multiplex and NRI audience. Lead characters are very similar to Hum Tum ones and supporting characters' introduction is very KHNH type. All supporting NRI characters are made buffoons. Guys are naughty and irresponsible and Girls are street-smart, today's woman. Oh please, not again. Also, when heroine cries there is a Ganpati idol in the foreground and a Alaap in the background score. Gimme a break ! Do new generation directors require all this ? Post-interval everything goes haywire when director gets into story-telling and tried to deal with too many themes and subplots without doing decent justice to even one of them. Thus you get to see, extra-marital relationship going sour, pregnancy before marriage, women liberation, evolution of fatherhood in hero, numerous forced situations to get couple back together and so many other done to death scenes and dialogs that film follows a very predictable path and ends at same common oft-repeated note. At one point film even goes to the territory of Kya Kehna. Worst of all is the climax based in an operation theater where giving birth situation is made a mockery and sequence is completely dedicated to gallery. Overall film could not rise above mediocre. Though, performances are neat, the subject requires a much younger couple and not the same repeated pair. At least, Preity Zinta should be given some decent pregnancy costumes. Though Javed Jaffrey is a surprise packet keeping audience in splits and so is Arshad Warsi. Except first song, rest all songs are forced. Now, this is for the producers, please pull up your socks before it is too late. Agreed that initial hype, encouraging reviews and record no. of prints gets film terrific openings and it manages to cover itself under "hit" tag yet everyday is not Sunday. Better, watch out !