This year two movies were released – Sanjay Lila Bhansali’s launch pad for two star kids – Saawariya and Farah Khan’s Shah Rukh Khan vehicle – Om Shanti Om.
The story starts in 1970s - Om Prakash Makheja(Shah Rukh Khan) a junior artist in Bollywood film industry is madly in love with the dream girl star heroine Shanti Priya(debutant Deepika Padukone). After Om rescues Shanti from blazing fire during a shoot, they get to know eachother. But a producer Rakesh Mehra(Arjun Rampal) whose child Shanti is bearing kills Shanti. Om tries to rescue Shanti but he too is killed by Rakesh’s goons. But Om’s spirit is born again as Om Kapoor(Shah Rukh Khan). In this reincarnation avatar Om is a super star himself and slowly gets to know the mystery of his previous life’s killings. To find revenge he finds a girl Sandhya(Deepika again) resembling Shanti Priya to play the ghost to seek out the truth from aging producer Rakesh.
OSO is a scenes which are light remake of 1970s hit movie Karz. It gives credit of that during the first shot itself by showing the Rishi Kapoor’s song Om Shanti Om. The movie is quite over the top – like Director Farah Khan herself. Too loud, too jazzy, too colorful, too festive in nature – quite suitable to Indian front bencher’s taste.
Shah Rukh Khan Rockssss. New girl Deepika is good – too tall, too slim, everything is long in her – her fingers, her nails, her legs – but a good launch pad for Deepika. She has done a good job in acting and looks. Shreyas Talpade as a side kick of Shah Rukh is cute and funny. Arjun Rampal as a villain has acted well and reminds us of 1970s movie bad man like Pran.
There are some film actors appearing as guests; the list is long(I read about 30-35) and I would only mention a few that made me notice them – Dharmendra, Jitendra, Mithunda, Rekha, Abhishek and Akshay Kumar.
The whole movie is shot on gaudy sets and to create laughter everyone overacts – like in old movies. It surely creates a tickle.
The best feel good part of the movie when the end titles starts rolling and the whole OSO team is shown walking past the red carpet. The movie will entertain you for 3 hours as long as you do not comprae it to Karz or anything else. I went with my little sister, who did not know much about the older movies, and I just heard her giggling and enjoying all the time.
One song has received a lot of hype in the media, and that’s the “Om Shanti Om” title number, which affords several simultaneous cameo appearances by industry heavyweights. In an attempt to outdo the excitement of all cameos before and after, the song crams 31 major stars in the same room for dance number, packing them in like kids in a cafeteria fire drill. But what a show! Some of these actors haven’t been seen together in the same frame in over ten years, some never before at all. In its own way, it’s historic, and the audience is suitably dazzled.
The movie delights in the illusory pleasures of the past without providing a lot of emotional substance. But it’s entertaining in the way that a good musical comedy, whether it’s Singing in the Rain, or Hairspray, is entertaining. Full of color, energy, and unpretentious confidence.