DYK Saif Ali Khan-Preity Zinta's Salaam Namaste Was Planned As A Love Story Between Indian Boy And Pakistani Girl

Salaam Namaste is one of the most critically acclaimed movies featuring Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta in the lead roles. Directed by Siddharth Anand, the film released in 2005, earned praises for the unique plot and the spectacular on-screen chemistry between the lead actors. However, in an old interview, the filmmaker revealed that the movie had a completely different plot when it was initially planned.  

Salaam Namaste's original plot was an India-Pakistan rom-com

In a 2024 interview with Bollywood Hungama, Siddharth Anand, who made his directorial debut with Salaam Namaste, shared the original plot of his film. The filmmaker shared, “Salaam Namaste was a very different story initially. It was the story of an Indian boy and a Pakistani girl. Preity Zinta’s character Ambar, was supposed to be a Pakistani. They meet and fall in love in Australia. They live in together. The interval point is when their parents from India and Pakistan end up at the same house. They had to pretend that they are roommates, who happen to share the rent. Then their fathers stay with them. They have to pretend that they are not in love and that they are just roommates! That is the reason why this film is called Salaam Namaste.”

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Interestingly, Preity Zinta had featured in a similar film, Veer Zara, which was centred around a cross-border love story.

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For the unversed, Salaam Namaste narrates the love story between a carefree architect turned chef, Nikhil Arora and a radio jockey, Ambar Malhotra. The duo begin dating and move in together. All goes well between them until Ambar's unexpected pregnancy disturbs their relationship. How they navigate through the tough times and reunite becomes the rest of the plot. The film is available to stream online on Amazon Prime Video. Preity won several accolades for her performance in the film, which was the third-highest grosser of the year.