Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif-starrer romantic drama Namastey London (2007) clocks 15 years of its release today. Though the chemistry between the lead pair and the music album continue to remain etched in the minds of the audience till date, the film opened to mixed reviews before it could travel by word-of-mouth and become a box-office success.

Filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah recalls, “Some of the reviewers really criticised the film. I, especially, remember one reviewer who said that two of the worst films of the year were Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) and Namastey London.”

What also makes the film special was that it marked the first successful collaboration of Kumar and Kaif. Shah says, “When I was about to start shooting, a lot of people told me that their last film (Humko Deewana Kar Gaye; 2006) didn’t do well and asked if I was sure about casting them. But I couldn’t imagine anyone else. Eventually, their chemistry really sizzled on screen, which became the heart and soul of our film.”

Quiz Shah about what he thinks has made the movie memorable over the years, and he says, “We wanted (director of photography) Jonathan Bloom to look at the film through a lens, which was not typically an Indian way of looking at cinema. This gave it a different visual quality.”