The movie Namastey London, starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, is one of the most popular Bollywood rom-coms. One of the major highlights in the film was the patriotic scene where Akshay tells a British man about the rich history of India. In an exclusive conversation with Pinkvilla, director Vipul Amrutlal Shah revealed that Akshay and Katrina both got ‘emotionally worked up’ during the scene’s filming.
In a recent interview with Pinkvilla, filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah revealed that the last draft of the scene was finalized on the morning of the shoot. He shared how Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif reacted after reading the final version. Vipul said, “Akshay and Katrina had read the script, and they were aware that this scene was there. And I kept telling them, don’t go by those dialogues; I am going to get you a better scene. So when they read it, they said, ‘Vipul, this is a killer; it’s terrific, and it’s going to be huge.'”
Talking about his instructions to the duo, Vipul stated, “My instruction to both of them was just keep it very simple. We don’t need to push any histrionics in it. Just say it as politely as possible, and it will deliver, and that’s what Akshay and Katrina did.”
The director added that they concluded the scene very quickly. He said, “I finished the entire shoot of Akshay and Katrina’s dialogue part in less than 2-3 hours because they were so emotionally worked up.”
Vipul Shah continued, “And all we wanted to do was keep it simple, keep it nice, keep it polite, say it with a smile on your face. We don’t need to insult them; we just need to talk about us, so just say it with that Indian civilization, which is at the core of this dialogue. And then it was very simple for them to execute it, and then we just took 2-3 hours and we finished it.”
When asked if there were any improvisations done by the actors, he said, “Not in this scene. I didn’t allow.”
Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif’s Namastey London was released in cinemas in 2007.