Nollywood meets Bollywood in Netflix rom-com Namaste Wahala

Indian-Nigerian restaurant proprietor Hamisha Daryani Ahuja gave up her long-running enterprise to pursue her dream of constructing films. Two years later, the 36-year-old will see her first function movie, the cross-cultural love story Namaste Wahala, debut on Valentine’s Day on Netflix.
The movie, whose title interprets in Hindi and Nigerian pidgin as Hello hassle, tells the story of a Nigerian girl who falls in love with an Indian funding banker dwelling in Lagos. The younger couple face a sequence of challenges – together with their households – to be collectively.

“I wanted to do something that will be more relatable so it is a full-on Nollywood movie, but I brought in some Indian actors to make it a little bit more fun,” Daryani Ahuja, who directed, government produced and acted within the film, informed Reuters.
“What I tried to do is the ‘90s style Bollywood … the singing and dancing around trees. We have all of that. It is a very cheesy, mushy romantic drama.”
Born of Indian dad and mom, Daryani Ahuja has lived most of her life in Nigeria. “I have lived in an Indian house, I know the Nigerian culture, the pidgin, the food and it is so interesting how even though everybody thinks with Namaste Wahala the cultures are different, we are actually so similar,” she stated.
“We are actually all one, and that’s the whole theme of the movie.”
The 110-minute movie stars Indian actor Ruslaan Mumtaz and Nigerian actress Ini Dima-Okojie within the lead roles.
“It is very important to make films like this when you show cross-cultural love stories, because in every country … people just separate each other as far as religion is concerned,” Mumtaz stated. “Especially in India, you can’t marry somebody if they are from a different religion or from a different caste.”

I’ll be spending my Valentine’s Day watching Raj and Didi falling in love 🥰 #NamasteWahala ❤️ pic.twitter.com/oPCEA61hRr
— Netflix Naija (@NetflixNaija) February 11, 2021
Mainly shot in English, the film had a manufacturing workforce of greater than 60 folks throughout India and Nigeria. Production was accomplished earlier than lockdowns made making films troublesome; the unique launch date was April.
“The thing I love the most are the underlying messages which is the beauty in embracing your similarities, the beauty in embracing love even if you are from different backgrounds,” Dima-Okojie stated.

Putting out tons of of flicks and tv episodes a month, Nollywood is the world’s second most prolific movie trade after India’s Bollywood.
Nigeria has a rising base of Bollywood followers, who watch its sitcoms subtitled in English, and Namaste Wahala is making a buzz on-line.
Daryani Ahuja says she hopes to make a sequel within the coming months.