Om Shanti Om
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan,
Prakash Makhija, Deepika Padukone, Shantipriya, Arjun Rampal, Kiron Kher, Shreyas Talpade
Director: Farah Khan
Rating: ****
Deepa Gahlot
Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om is an affectionate tribute to the cheesy cinema of the seventies — a Bollywood buff’s movie, in which you have a blast laughing at all the throwaway inside jokes, snigger at the awful fashion of the period and marvel at the cheeky use of special effects that allows today’s heroine to dance with the heroes of the seventies — the Caravan and Humjoli take-offs alone — are worth the price of a ticket.
Farah spares no one — not Subhash Ghai whose Karz is the reference point for Om Shanti Om, not Manoj Kumar, Sooraj Barjatya, Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rajesh Khanna, Mithun Chakraborty, Rajnikant or Shah Rukh Khan himself. (He looks short in real life, comments an autograph hunting fan). But the spoofing is like a gang of buddies ribbing each other, not at all mean-spirited.
Om (Shah Rukh Khan) is a junior artiste in 70s Bollywood, the son of junior artiste parents, who dreams of being a hero — but as his best pal Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) reasons, his name Om Prakash Makhija comes in the way of stardom. (Will Govind Ahuja do? asks a brightly-clad struggler. And Govinda is born!)
Om is in love with reigning movie queen Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone), and befriends her after saving her from a studio fire (a la Mother India). After a beautiful dance sequence on a shooting floor, he discovers that she is secretly married to film producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal), who sees his big movie dreams go down the tube when she gets pregnant. So he cruelly locks her up on a set and burns it. In trying to save her, Om dies too and is reborn as Om Kapoor, the son of a star Rajesh Kapoor and, 30 years later, a successful superstar.
Like Rakhee of Karan Arjun, like a real life character in Shah Rukh Khan’s life the dead Om’s mother (Kirron Kher) beats on his car window claiming him as her son, but it’s an awards speech that makes Om remember his past life, and plan an elaborate revenge against Mehra, who is now "Mike," a Hollywood producer.
The first half of the film is laugh out loud comedy, the second gets a bit serious, but Farah sprinkles it with enough light moments, though the revenge portion could have done with a bit of trimming.
Still, OSO has a clever screenplay, witty dialogue and an all-stops-pulled-out costume and set design, plus a fabulous dance sequence (like Naseeb) in which top stars of the industry today turn up to celebrate.
It goes without saying that only Shah Rukh Khan could have fulfilled the myriad demands of a film like this — the sweetness of the 70s Om, the media-fuelled arrogance of the present-day Om, the pointless Dard-e-Disco item number, and the complete OTT-ness of the corny scenes we so loved in the old movies, that we never stopped to question how and why. OSO requires that same suspension of disbelief, that same acceptance of luridness and the same sense of wonder that we had as kids at the weekly movie treat.
And finally, Deepika Padukone is a find — she has a radiance that reminds us of an early Hema Malini.
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**** Excellent
*** Good
*** Above average
** Average
* Poor; TT (Truly Terrible)