Better to watch ''Nine Months'' Read it here. Review on Salaam Namaste

Salaam Namaste has all the makings of an incredible disaster. First, its star (Saif Ali Khan) in real life has not done justice to his kids and Amruta (she is struggling to appear even in TV serials with help of 'cat' musics). Second, it's a remake of ''Nine Months'' which inturn is a remake of a French film (Neuf Mois), always a huge negative.

Finally, it's a comedy decidedly for adults.

Imagine my shock; Nine Months is pretty good but Salaam Namaste

The success of the film ''Nine Months'' was entirely due to the radiant presence of Julianne Moore as Rebecca, a woman who finds herself unintentionally pregnant and with no clue as to what to do. Grant plays Samuel, the world's most neurotic boyfriend, who has to ''grow up'' and come to grips with the fact that his convertible has no room for a baby seat. The film drags a bit at times, and the film never becomes really engrossing, but whenever Moore is on screen, none of that seems to matter. The emotion and power she puts into her performance make every second of the film worth watching, if only to get to Julianne's next scene. It might not be the best way to make a film work, but in this day and age I'll take just about anything.

Same is shown in Salaam Namaste, but left to the mercy of watching Preeti Zinta.

Nine Months hits the metaphor pretty hard... never missing a moment to tell us just how great the pregnancy-childbirth experience is, and Samuel is constantly rebuked for his beliefs that the world is overpopulated and (more importantly) that he will be incapable of being a good father. The result is a pretty heavy-handed ''message'' movie that will not stop beating its theme into the viewer.

Can our director bring out such metaphors with ''desi songs being played in between'' ?

Salaam Namaste is a film with a huge identity crisis. The director obviously couldn't give up slapstick, filling what could have been a touching romance with antics that are entirely out of place here. Again, this is not a kids' movie, as the mother of the child who sat behind me at the screening can attest to (when he asked what a particularly explicit piece of anatomy was).

I won't call it a waste of money if you have not seen ''Nine Months'' and if you don't understand English, otherwise yes.