Indian-Nigerian restaurant proprietor Hamisha Daryani Ahuja gave up her long-running enterprise to pursue her dream of constructing motion pictures. 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 Good day bother, 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 needed to do one thing that will likely be extra relatable so it’s a full-on Nollywood film, however I introduced in some Indian actors to make it a bit of bit extra enjoyable,” Daryani Ahuja, who directed, govt produced and acted within the film, informed Reuters.
“What I attempted to do is the ‘90s model Bollywood … the singing and dancing round bushes. Now we have all of that. It’s a very tacky, mushy romantic drama.”
Born of Indian mother and father, Daryani Ahuja has lived most of her life in Nigeria. “I’ve lived in an Indian home, I do know the Nigerian tradition, the pidgin, the meals and it’s so attention-grabbing how although all people thinks with Namaste Wahala the cultures are totally different, we are literally so comparable,” she stated.
“We are literally all one, and that’s the entire theme of the film.”
The 110-minute movie stars Indian actor Ruslaan Mumtaz and Nigerian actress Ini Dima-Okojie within the lead roles.
“It is vitally vital to make movies like this once you present cross-cultural love tales, as a result of in each nation … folks simply separate one another so far as faith is anxious,” Mumtaz stated. “Particularly in India, you possibly can’t marry someone if they’re from a unique faith or from a unique 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
Primarily shot in English, the film had a manufacturing group of greater than 60 folks throughout India and Nigeria. Manufacturing was accomplished earlier than lockdowns made making motion pictures tough; the unique launch date was April.
“The factor I really like essentially the most are the underlying messages which is the sweetness in embracing your similarities, the sweetness in embracing love even if you’re from totally different backgrounds,” Dima-Okojie stated.
Placing out a whole lot of films and tv episodes a month, Nollywood is the world’s second most prolific movie business 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.
