Om Shanti Om movie rating and review

Om Shanti Om (2007) Movie Rating and Review :
Two Oms. Two Shah Rukhs. Two Deepikas. Two halves. Two very different films. “Ladies and gentleman”, Om Santi Om is parhapes Bollywood’s first “grindhouse” experience. OSO is very much a two-in-one movie, a double feature…matlab bole toh ek ticket mein do picture mamu. Sachchi? Muchchi!

Film One, set in the 1970s, is about a junior actor called Om, born toparents who are junior actor and named after Om Prakash. But Om wants to be a superstar and more importantly Romance Shanti, Bollywood’s new Dream girl. Aise kaise? Rule 1: Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to poori kaynath use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai.

Film two, after the interval, is set is present-day Bollywood and is about a star son called Om Kapoor. He is the biggest superstar in the country but also one of the worst actors around. “Overacting to mere Khaandaan mein hai,” he quips. When OK is not salvaging films with item numbers and hobnobbing with other stars in the cine sky, he has fire phobia.It;s his past because one lifetime is not enough for some love stories. Aise kaise? rule 2: Hamare filmon ki tarah hamari zindagi Mein bhi end tak sab kuch theek hi ho jata hai aur agar Theek na ho, to who The End Nahin. Picture abhi Baaki hai mere dost.

Kaash picture baki nahi hoti.

Half one of OSO, right from the original and eponymous Karz number with SRK in Chintoo’s white shoes, is so fab that how you wished it went on and on till the end credits rolled. We keep harping on how in Kill Bill Tarantino used the whistling from this movie and the sushi recipe from that movie and wagera wagera but what Farah Khan has done here is equally emphatic.

Like the badminton sequence which pays homage to the Leena Chandavarar-Jeetendra Humjoli number Dhal gaya din or the first fire scene that happened on the sets of Mother India or how a young Sooraj Barjatya got the idea of Maine Pyar Kiya. The eye of detail is superb.

The song picturisations are even better – Farah even manages to give SRK and Deepika long moments of solitude in the crowded red carpet sequence of Ajab si adaayein hain. Main agar kahoon has the two of them romancing in the still car while the roads pass by on the white screen behind them. Yes, just like on those good ol’ movies.

And then there is “anna rascala”! SRK as quick gun Murugan is a riot. A mustachioed SK flying in the air and fighting a stuffed tiger with wild shouts of “naughty pussy”!

Farah wants to hang on to the comic book tone of the 70s but at the same time take digs at everything from the indispensability of the item number to the bias towards star children to the craze for superheroes. And suddenly, SRK again becomes SRK, which perhaps is a good thing for his fans, but not for the film.

The two gimmicky songs – Dard-e-six-pack-Disco and Deewangi-spot-the-star-Deewngi- try to keep the interest going but why could not Farah develop the love story between OK and Sandy? The emotional connect of Karz is just not there.

But there are a couple of great moments in the second half too. Like on the sets of Apahij Pyaar where OK plays a deaf-and-mute hero without limbs and eyes. And then at the awards ceremony when fake movie trailers (just like Grind House) are shown for the nomination announcement. Wish Farah actually goes on to make Return of the Khiladi with Akshay.

SRK the actor is brilliant in Half One but in Half Two he is SRK the star. So if you love him, you will love the film even more and if you hate him, you will struggle in the last 90 minutes. But it is SRK the producer who sets new benchmarks with his VFX team at Red Chillies.

Deepika Padukone smashes her way to glory in her bollywood debut, sometime father Prakash would have been proud of on a badminton court. Also Arjun Rampal is very good as the 70s Mukesh but as Mikey he is all ham.

Technically, OSO is right up there- from Manikandan’s camerawork to Srirish Kunder’s editing to Vishal-Shekhar’s score.

But it’s three Cheers for Farah Khan, who’s done what no woman director in India has ever been able to do – make two back-to-back commercial blockbusters.

As someone puts it in OSO, the Satyajit Ray angle and the Guru Dutt angle are fine, but it is the Manmohan Desai angle that does the trick. Samjha kya?

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