Roongta Entertainment and Snigdhaa Movies Pvt. Ltd.’s Naam (UA) is the story of a young man (Ajay Devgan) who has a memory loss when his body is riddled with bullets. Under the new name of Shekhar, he marries Dr. Pooja (Bhoomika Chawla) who cures him but is unable to revive his memory. Dr. Pooja is a widow who has a little daughter, Muskan (baby Shriya Sharma). Shekhar, Pooja and Muskan are very happy in their space. But soon, goons start attacking Shekhar and even his family. Shekhar must now find out who he is and why there are people thirsting for his blood. For this, he leaves his family and comes to Bombay where he meets Lovely (Sameera Reddy). Slowly but surely, Shekhar gets to know who he is. What is the truth about Shekhar? What happens finally?
Humayun Mirza has written a story which was typical of the times when it was written — more than 15 years ago. But in today’s age and times, it looks like a dated story which went out of fashion more than a decade ago. Anees Bazmee and Humayun Mirza’s screenplay is clichéd and one of complete convenience. There are scenes which appear weird. For instance, Pooja’s shocked expression, when she sees Shekhar firing bullets like a thorough professional, is uncalled for. After all, when she first saw him in the hospital, his body was riddled with bullets. So she surely couldn’t have expected him to be a saint. Also, for a doctor to so easily marry a person merely because he has lost his memory seems strange, so what if she was a widow. The drama is devoid of the emotional quotient. The few family emotions, that are there in the drama, fail to touch the heart. It also lacks romance and comedy. The emphasis in the screenplay is mainly on action. Anees Bazmee and Humayun Mirza’s dialogues are routine.
Ajay Devgan does a fair job as Shekhar/Arun Kumar. But he looks so young that the staleness of the project gets underlined. Sameera Reddy is so-so as Lovely. Bhoomika Chawla gets limited scope and is average as Pooja. Baby Shriya Sharma is confident as Pooja’s daughter, Muskan. Sharat Saxena lends ordinary support as the CBI official. Rajpal Yadav tries to evoke laughter but doesn’t quite succeed because of the weak humour. Vijay Raaz is earnest as Shyam, but the impact is almost missing. Rahul Dev delivers a routine performance. Yashpal Sharma is sincere as the corrupt CBI officer. Mukesh Tiwari is okay. Sharad Ponkshe makes his mark. Varsha Usgaonkar makes her presence felt in a brief role. Vidya Malavade has been wasted in a tiny role. Mahie Gill is good in a very brief role. Shehzad Khan has his moments as the police inspector. Dipesh Shah (as the hawaldar) is natural. S.M. Zaheer and Yusuf Hussain are natural. Suresh Chatwal, Ahmed Khan, Sanjeev Sidharth, Santosh Shetty, Yunus Sayed, Abhijit, Amit Mishra, Archana Shukla, Raviraj, H.P. Pandey, Yogesh Chavan, Dev Malhotra, Krishna Prem, Kuldeep Rajput, Baba Shetty, Charmi Hasmukh Shukla, Sanatan Modi, Rajan Patil, Iqbal Khan, Virendra Sharma, Milind Joshi, Suresh Agarwal, Bittu Chandok, Priten Patil, Milind Patil, Piyush Patel and master Faizan Bazmee lend fair support.
Anees Bazmee’s direction is alright but, quite obviously, the delay of almost two decades in the film’s release has taken its toll on the film. Music (by Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid) and lyrics (by Sameer and Jalees Sherwani) are more functional than anything else, more so because the tastes of people have changed over the years. Song picturisations (by Rajeev Surti, Bosco-Caesar, Saroj Khan, Rekha Chinni Prakash, Bhushan Lakhandari and Bhupi) are quite nice. Amit Mohile and Buta Singh’s background music is average. Johny Lal and Aseem Bajaj’s cinematography is appropriate. Action and stunt scenes (Jai Singh Nijjar and Abbas Ali Moghul) are routine. Priten Patil’s art direction is fair. Prashant Rathor’s editing is okay.
On the whole, Naam will prove to be a non-starter at the turnstiles because it is too stale to appeal to the viewers.
Released on 22-11-’24 at Maratha Mandir (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Cinepolis India thru August Entertainment. Publicity: quite alright. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.