Om Shanti Om


At times you come across something so ridiculous that you actually don’t seem to mind it! Why? Because you still manage to feel entertained.

OSO is a typical masala movie – made for the masses. It’s got song, dance, humour, atrocious humour, predictable humour and humour for the sake of humour.

You might actually slam your head against a wall during the fight sequence between the stuffed tiger and Shahrukh Khan. ‘Pussy cat, Pussy cat where have you been? Have you been to London, to see the queen?’

Then it has heart-break, a main-tuhaari-bachche-ki-ma-banne-waali-hoon dialogue, crying in the rain, fighting in the fire, murder and mind you…all this before the interval!

What follows is stupidity forcibly mixed with glamour. The King Khan shows off his newly acquired six-packs in an item number. A masaale-daar Filmfare sequence follows where Farah and SRK prove their PR skills and manage to squeeze in 30+ stars for a few minutes.

After this starts the revenge phase which culminates in a ghostly climax!

Performance wise – Shreyas Talpade is fine, Kiron Kher does her filmy bit, Deepika is plain lucky get such a big banner launch – she’s pretty ordinary and any tall decently looking model could have sufficed for this role. Arjun Rampal looks good and performs pretty decently for his short part.

Shahrukh is OK (Lol! Pun intended). Well the movie is all about SRK and he manages to get the message across to the one and all. The movie is worth a dekho for the sheer stupidity and entertainment factor and also that all your friends and colleagues are going to be talking about it – so why miss out on a couple of conversations?

Here’s a video of the making of the song Deewanagi (Om Shanti Om title track):

I wish a delightful diwali to all BollyViewed.com readers.
This Diwali saw the release of two huge, mega, big budget movies…Saawariya and Om Shanti Om.



Now why would I write one post to review both...hmmm coz both movies have a lot in similar...even though it may not appear on the surface...
Plus there isn’t much to write about each of them..[snigger]

Saawariya:

I went to watch Saawariya with the intention of being swayed by a great romance to be mesmerised by the artistic sets. The movie starts promisingly the first scene is just out of a Walt Disney picture ala Alladin. But then it goes awry...so u have a Moulin rouge type brothel, set amongst a Shakespearan Venice complete with gondolas, and as if Moulin rouge in Venice was not enough you have women in black lace and burkhas, with a gorgeous larger than life Budhha statue as back drop...!! And would you believe it...it starts snowing in Venice during the climax!! Now I am a dreamer myself and have nothing against a healthy dose of make belief but dude this is...Weird.

So u have Sakina [Sonam Kapoor] who weaves Persian carpets and weaves a life of love and togetherness with a mystique man...Iman. Then u have a Peter Pan like orphaned singer [Ranbir] Raj who is besotted by Sakina. It would have made for a good if not great film but for the myriad songs which all sound and look the same. The only person of substance in the movie is Rani as the wise cracking prostitute Gulabo. Zohra Sehgal as Lillian ji is cute.

My best scene is when Gulabo calls the staid Lillian a dhande wali and Lillian reciprocates with a profound, ‘bitch’.

Enough said, I liked the ending…I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I loved the way the movie was marketed and the teasers since the past few months were a treat to the senses and artistic brilliance but they over shadow the movie.

Saawariya should have been a music video or an opera type stage play and not a Diwali release. Ya, Ranbir in his buff does not count as Diwali bonanza.

Om Shanti Om:

Shahrukh rocks! At least here they are honest enough to tell us in the beginning that,’yes we are giving you a Masala flick, an over the top ham show, which is going to be irreverent in parts, ridiculous in parts, but we don’t have any problem in playing to the masses, bas mazza aana chahiye boss!’ and so u have it - the quintessential bollywood dream but this time done in fuschia pink and pista green of the 80’s and if that was not kitch enough we will add glitter too. Party on!

So there is Om Prakash Makhija as a junior artist in Karz , gyrating to Rishi Kapoor’s Om shanti om. Om prakash has dreams of making it big as an actor but realizes that only a ‘solid surname’ can bring him stardom. And so he is reborn as a Bollywood kid Om Kapoor, son of a super star! ‘The circle of life’ in Om’s own words. The Shanti of the Om Shanti OM is Deepika, the dreamy girl, and she looks her part. Arjun Rampal as the villain looks a dish…yumm.

OSO is like the ispeshul dish in a road side dhaba. It has masala, garnished with kaju badam, kishmish and tutti frutti…onion rings and lemon by the side and papad to go with it. Makes for a filling meal but not exactly sumptuous. But you have Shahrukh as the waiter who serves us a below average meal with such flourish and élan that you forgive the chef .

I am not a big fan of Shahrukh Khan but when a forty year old man, takes up challenge of procuring six packs and romances a woman half his age, wears pink psychedelic shirts, cries, laughs, strips and does an item number...I think it is an effort worth applauding.

All in all, OSO gives us what it promised while Saawariya does not.