Review : Om Shanti Om

[amazon_link id=”B00124ONSI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Below average (2.75/5)
Genre : Comedy / Drama
Year : 2007
Running time : 2 hours 48 minutes
Director : Farah Khan
Cast : Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shreyas Talpade, Arjun Rampal, Kiron Kher

OM SHANTI OM : SPOOF ME SILLY !

Farah Khan is all about delivering entertainment – nothing arty-sharty about it. “Main hoon na” was enjoyable, if a bit inane (and that’s probably brother Sajid’s influence). So when she, along with producer SRK goes all out to promote OSO, one believes that a good three hours of mindless fun are to be had, rubs one’s hands in glee, and proceeds to the ticket-counter forthwith. The Sunday morning show that I went to was pretty full, for a Sunday morning show. I mean, who really wakes up to watch a Hindi film at 11 o’clock in the morn, except for yours truly ? Thus, duly impressed, and untainted by the perusal of Internet reviews, I found myself looking forward to the film. And really I hadn’t lost hope in the first half. But, hai! Those illusions – how they shatter !

First things first – OSO was almost a direct plot copy of Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal starrer Karz. Granted that that had a female villain, and this has a male version, OSO still pitted good against evil with the evil-doer brought to justice by the re-incarnated hero. Shahrukh Khan plays junior film artiste Om Prakash Makhija, in love with superstar ShantiPriya (Deepika). When on saving her from a set fire, he earns her gratitude, he also discovers she’s in love someone else. When her lover attempts to kill her, and succeeds, Om dies attempting to save her. Om is reborn, and on coming face-to-face with the killer, tries to mete out justice, the dramatic way. Unfortunately I don’t care a whit by this time, because he seems more passionate about dancing with the 31 stars in the title song, than in avenging the crime.

The first half of the film is set in the 70s and is laced with spoofs. As if the hair-dos, and the bell-bottoms weren’t enough, Farah’s got SRK on a giant LP, a la Rishi Kapoor, doing jiggly dance moves to the original OSO (Karz) number. There’s not a trick in the book she hasn’t used, from giving the super-star hungry masses their daily fix of Bollywood by way of the star-studded “Om Shanti Om” song, to the creatively titled Dard-e-disco number, to putting SRK in a red Superhero costume and sending him flying around rescuing damsels in distress (read Malaika looking all pouty in a red gown). Cliches scatter like confetti as Farah laughs at the film industry – there’s the all-suffering Nirupa Roy like Maa, played by Kirron Kher, the none too subtle digs at the Govinda Ahujas and Sooraj Barjatyas of Bollywood.

So you think what’s wrong with spoofing it up ? Nothing really (I enjoyed them), except I’d like to see the spoofs held up by the plot, and not the other way around. Too many spoofs, too little story – the meat’s getting a little thin on the bones, what ?

Still, to be fair, the first half breezes past quite quickly, and I’ve winced only a couple of times. Now, in the second half – I’m so bored. Farah’s running out of spoofs, and the film, it must progress. And progress it does. Very slip-shoddily. The scenes in which re-incarnated Om hatches his plan to make the criminal confess, are so lacking in finesse, that they look like rough takes. And I can’t help the comparisons; where in Karz the overtly dramatic replay of events engineered to scare the killer, seemed plausible (going by Bollywoodian plausibility standards), here it seems so hare-brained that it reminds me of the pathetic who-dun-its that once screened only on DoorDarshan.

There’s also a massive problem of character development, in that there is none. Who are Om, Shanti, Sandy really ? What do they think, what makes them tick ? And most importantly, why should we care about them ? Redeeming qualities, anyone ? Farah falters with OSO in not realizing that spoofs and Bollywoodian numbers held up by a barely there plot, does not a film make. And if you do want that crutch, in moderation please. If all I wanted to do was ogle a bunch of filmi stars shake their thang-thangs, I’d watch a filmi award show.

As far as the acting goes, this film suits SRK to a T. After all, who better to ham it up in a hammy film, that the King of Hamdom, himself ? SRK hems and haws, does the wiggly eyebrow thing, whimpers and pouts by turns. As for the 6-pack abs, he could sprout an 8-pack and it wouldn’t affect his oomph quotient any. Yes the man absolutely radiates charm, but sex appeal ? Not so much. Shreyas Talpade, as Om’s pal, Pappu is quite good. He is however reeled in and forced to toe the clichéd line in the second half, to the film’s detriment.

Hindi film debutante, model Deepika Padukone, is nothing if not stunning. Ms. LongLegs acts decently enough, can gyrate adequately to fit into desi cinema, and displays the flattest, most toned tummy this side of the Himalayas (why is no-one talking about her abs ?) She appears young and unaffected, and really the only one eliciting any sympathy from moi. And talking of long legs, let’s not forget Arjun Rampal, looking quite dapper as villain Mukesh. His pencil thin moustache suited him no end, and although he, in comparison to SRK’s bare-chested appearances was quite clothed in the film, he oozed oomph through every available pore. His acting was quite OK, partly probably due to the fact that his role required him to appear sinister and to NOT ham it up. The remaining stalwart Kirron Kher gives a cringe-worthy performance as Om’s mother, and it’s not even her fault.

I cannot qualify the direction as even average; the film lost it’s moorings in the second half, and veered from one crazy strategizing session to the other. The dialogues are OK. The music – I was floored by the almost magical “Aankhon mein teri”, and on the whole the songs are good and the picturisation adequate. It’s a pity the film isn’t.

Even if this film begs for comparisons with oldie super-hit Karz, I’d rather liken it to last year’s Dhoom 2, for it’s very superficial treatment. I do not doubt, that just like D2, OSO will do well; for the masses swooning at Bollywood’s feet, this might be just what the doctor ordered. However if you are looking for an actual film, and not just spoofs, clichés, jokes, and item numbers strung together in a very, very skimpily attired plot, OSO is not for you. You might end up watching this film for it’s ability to laugh at itself, the heady rush of nostalgia it triggers, or it’s funny moments (and there are many), but no need to hurry, you know ? If you’ve got better things to do, do them first.