Namaste Wahala (2021) is a Nigerian rom-com in English that is about an inter-racial couple (Indian and Nigerian) falling in love and the hurdles they face from their families to get together. The film was made by Indian-Nigerian filmmaker Hamisha Daryani Ahuja as her debut attempt, and she has got it right. Though there is nothing new in the plot, I am bumping up my rating for the film to “Ripe” for the novelty of the location (Nigeria) and showing Indian-African cultural ties – I would love to see more Asian-African films. Available on Netflix.
Raj (Ruslaan Mumtaz) is a young and smart Indian investment banker working in Nigeria. One day he meets a charming lady Didi (Ini Dima-Okojie), a lawyer and they both fall in love. As expected there is resistance from Raj’s mother and Didi’s father for the couple to get married – did it get resolved forms the story.
The film has strong female characters, which I appreciate a lot. The heroine character Didi is shown to be brave against odds, not the one who gives up when faced with adversity. Apart from the couple getting together, there is a subplot of a harassment case involving the father and daughter tussling it in the board room for their respective clients – this could’ve been more engaging had some courtroom drama was included. The dialogues between the two mothers when they meet for the first time were simple and felt natural.
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