When choreographer Farah Khan made her directorial debut with the SRK starrer ‘Main Hoon Na’ most people viewed her with skepticism. But, the movie became a huge hit and her future as a director was completely secure. After a hiatus of about 3 years, she returns once again behind the camera with ‘Om Shanti Om’ a somewhat modern take on Subhash Ghai’s hit movie ‘Karz’ which deals with reincarnation. OSO stars Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher and debutant Deepika Padukone(daughter of badminton ace Prakash Padukone).
The movie starts in the 1970’s where Om Prakash Makhija(SRK) is a junior artiste in Hindi film industry but is aspiring to become a huge star someday. He is in love with the hugely popular actress of the time Shantipriya(Deepika Padukone). His best friend Pappu master(Shreyas Talpade) and his mom(Kirron Kher) adore Om and his quirkiness and his love for Shantipriya. Om saves Shanti from a real fire on the sets of a film and the two become fast friends. Om hopes to disclose his love to Shanti but is shattered when he comes to know that Shanti is secretly married to top producer Mukesh Mehra(Arjun Rampal) and is pregnant with his child, a fact unknown to the world. Mukesh Mehra has a film titled ‘Om Shanti Om’ with Shanti in the lead, but is shattered when he finds that she is pregnant, for he knows that the cinema viewing public would never accept a mother as a leading heroine. Enraged, he takes Shanti to the sets of his film and kills her by setting fire to it. Incidentally, Om happens to be there at the same time but is unsuccessful in saving her and he too dies in an ensuing accident.
Cut to 2007, where Om Kapoor or OK is the superstar of the current generation. OK starts receiving visions of his past life and slowly works out the events which eventually led to his death. He finds Om Makhija’s mother and friend and with their help decides to take his revenge on Mukesh Mehra. Helping OK is Sandy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Shanti. What follow is OK’s efforts to bring Mukesh Mehra to justice.
The story resembles Karz on a concept level but is different in terms of treatment and execution. The distinctness in the 2 generations is brought out extremely well by the director. Note the sets, the costumes and more importantly the themes of the movies of the 2 times. In the 70’s portions you get to see silly dream sequences and in the 2007 portions you get to see superhero films and SRK’s six pack abs. There are some brilliantly creative scenes like the filmfare award nominations where OK is nominated with Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. The screenplay is just right with the correct amount of song and dance placed at proper intervals. However, in the second half you do get the feeling that some scenes have been edited which kind of affects the flow of the movie in some parts. The climax is interesting but extremely unbelievable. Also, the film ends rather abruptly with no conclusion to the relationship between OK and Sandy.
The music by music duo Vishal -Shekhar is extremely good. The melodious songs like ‘Ajab Si’ and ‘Main Agar Kahoon’ are extremely soothing to hear whereas the fast paced songs such as ‘Dard E Disco’ suit the current mood and trend. The sets by Sabu Cyril and cinematography are extremely good and show the wonderful distinctness between the 2 generations covered in the film.
All the actors put in commendable performances and most of them will be definitely up for some awards at the end of the year. Shreyas Talpade is excellent as Pappu Master and so is Kirron Kher as Om Makhija’s mother. The noteworthy thing about these 2 characters is the way they use dialogue from the 70’s in their real life which is definite to guarantee many laughs. Arjun Rampal for the first time in his acting career gets a decent role and lives up to it quite well. This movie is guaranteed to take him places. Deepika Padukone gets an excellent launch vehicle and she takes full advantage of her role and lives up to it, though one must say there isn’t much of an acting scope to it.
Finally, the movie belongs to the king khan Shah Rukh Khan who lives and breathes both characters. Watch out for his take on the superstars of the 70’s like Manoj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna and even Rajinikanth. He excels in all scenes, be it comedy, action, romance or emotional. This movie truly brings out the best in Shah Rukh Khan after a long time.
In short, OSO promises to be a 2 and a half hour joy ride. Check out for the entire Mumbai film industry making guest appearances, which shows the star power that SRK commands. One comes out of the theatre thoroughly entertained and with the feeling of money well spent.
Om Shanti Om gets 3 out of 5.