Namaste Wahala Nigerian Movie: Latest Netflix Nollywood full movie Review (2021)

Namaste Wahala is a Pidgin-Indian term that translates to ‘Hello Trouble’, and it basically sums up the storyline of this Indo-Nigerian movie.

This movie hammers on an interracial and cross-cultural love story between an Indian investment banker, Raj (Ruslaan Mumtaz) and Nigerian lawyer, Didi (Ini Dima-Okojie). A love story that encounters obstacles from both parents who are stuck on cultural differences.

The movie was initially released in December 2020, but it’s viewing was limited to private theatres and critics before it was officially released on the global streaming platform, Netflix on 14th February 2021.
Being a merger between Nollywood and Bollywood, two of the biggest movie industries globally, the movie starred famous Nollywood acts like Richard Mofe Damijo, Ajoke Silva, Ini Dima Okojie, Ibrahim Suleiman, Anee Icha, Koye ‘K10’ Kekere Ekun, Osas Ighodaro, Imoh Eboh, Frodd and Broda Shaggi.

From Bollywood we had Ruslaan Mumtaz, Sailesh Ahuja, Sujata Segal, Hamisha Daryani Ahuja .

In this romantic comedy, Didi’s parents and Raj’s mother got off the worst foot after their children decided to take their love home to family. For parents who have been hounding their kids to find partners, they didn’t seem very happy.

Didi’s father, Ernest (Richard Mofe-Damijo) and Raj’s mother, Meera (Sujata Segal) played the pivotal roles of the warring generals opposed to the idea of their very diverse but madly in love kids being together.

Weathering the storm, Raj and Didi eventually navigate this love story to the point that both parties agree to the union that was aligned by destiny.

Review of Namaste Wahala Production
The movie had a solid casting with heavy names in both Nollywood and Bollywood. It is worthy of note that all the cast looked age-appropriate for the roles they were to play, making it a better experience for the viewer.

Yolanda Okereke, who was the Nigerian costumer on the production seemed to be deeply in love with bright colours as we notice throughout the movie and who else could have perfected the Indian costume if not Rahil Raja. Both costumiers brought cultural versatility that blended beautifully.

The cinematography in Namaste Wahala was good, especially seeing that some scenes were set to capture the Nigerian and Indian details which the cinematographer did not neglect. There were also amazing long shots that gave more details to the scenic stories.

Film Colorization in this movie was not out of place, and you could notice that necessary adjustments were made to suit the mood of various scenes. Some scenes that were already very colourful could have been toned down a bit, but nothing the eyes could not handle.

The namaste Wahala story is a typical love story and would correctly be described as cliche. Making it more cliche is good old Bollywood singing and choreographed dancing. Seeing that this is Hamisha’s debut movie as a scriptwriter, producer and director, there is certainly a large room for development.

English was the predominant language in this film with some scenes in Hindi. There was a dash of Nigerian pidgin here and there especially in the airport scene with Broda Shaggi and Meera, Raj’s mother.

Here is the score board for the Namaste Wahala movie production;

Cinematography -8
Casting 9
Message Delivery – 6
Costumes – 8
Story Screenplay – 7
Directing – 6.5
Language – 9
Music – 7
Film Colorization – 9