Salaam- E- Ishq

Director Nikhil Advani's debut effort Kal Ho Na Ho set him above the rest, but with Salam-e-Ishq, it is evident that Advani is missing Karan Johar's influence as he struggles to convincingly put together six love stories. The format of the film is influenced by Love Actually with six stories running parallel to each other, but the screenplay is far from compelling. Advani has bitten more than he can chew and should ideally have concentrated on three to four crisply narrated stories. The screenplay has its moments, though some brilliant scenes mixed with some absurd ones, leaves you with mixed feelings.

Story 1: Tehzeeb (Vidya Balan) and Ashutosh (John Abraham) are happily married and working with a television channel. Their life takes a turn when Tehzeeb suffers from amnesia after a train accident.

Story 2: Raju (Govinda), a taxi driver finally meets his dream girl Stephanie (Shanon Esra), but Stephanie is in India to find her boyfriend Rohit (Kushal Punjabi) and marry him. Meanwhile, Stephanie falls in love with Raju, despite their linguistic problem.

Story 3: Shiven (Akshaye Khanna) is all set to marry Gia (Ayesha Takia) but he develops cold feet and refuses to commit himself to marriage, leading to a break-up.

Story 4: Vinay's (Anil Kapoor) marriage with Seema (Juhi Chawla) is a monotonous one, leading him to befriend a young attractive girl Anjali (Anjana Sukhani) and this causes a strain in his marital relationship.
Story 5: Kkamini (Priyanka Chopra), an item girl in Bollywood wants to become a lead heroine in Karan Johar's film by hook or crook. But her life takes a turn when Rahul (Salman Khan) enters her life and becomes her boyfriend.

Story 6: Ramdayal (Sohail Khan) is married to Phoolwati (Isha Kopikkar), but not able to consumate the marriage.

Out of the six stories, three stories work, while three fall flat. The Balan-Abraham story has substance and turns out to be the best. The Khanna-Takia story is interesting, mainly due to Khanna's portrayal of his character keeping you in splits many a time though the story could have developed better. The Govinda-Esra tale works due to perfect casting. The Kapoor-Chawla story is a good concept but poorly executed. The Salman-Chopra story is a disappointment.

The Sohail-Kopikkar story is corny, and has no substance whatsoever. Khanna is excellent. Govinda gets a role up his sleeve and plays it to perfection. Abraham is convincing. Kapoor looks stupid in the first-half but redeems himself towards the end. Salman sleepwalks through his role. Sohail's act is cheesy. Balan does justice to her role. Takia and Chawla are effective. Chopra hams. Esra fits into the multi-starrer with a good performance. Kopikkar is wasted. Sukhani makes a confident debut. Watching Salam-e-Ishq is like going for an unlimited buffet where some decent dishes crop up in the midst of many bad and tasteless ones.