{"id":712,"date":"2007-11-11T23:32:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-11T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2007\/11\/review-om-shanti-om-2.html"},"modified":"2013-09-10T17:38:41","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T21:38:41","slug":"review-om-shanti-om-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2007\/11\/review-om-shanti-om-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Review : Om Shanti Om"},"content":{"rendered":"

[amazon_link id=”B00124ONSI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]\"Om[\/amazon_link]Rating : Below average (2.75\/5)
\nGenre : Comedy \/ Drama
\nYear : 2007
\nRunning time : 2 hours 48 minutes
\nDirector : Farah Khan
\nCast : Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shreyas Talpade, Arjun Rampal, Kiron Kher<\/strong><\/p>\n

OM SHANTI OM : SPOOF ME SILLY !
\n<\/em>
\nFarah Khan is all about delivering entertainment \u2013 nothing arty-sharty about it. \u201cMain hoon na\u201d was enjoyable, if a bit inane (and that\u2019s probably brother Sajid\u2019s influence<\/a>). 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\u2019s 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\u2019clock 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\u2019t lost hope in the first half. But, hai! Those illusions \u2013 how they shatter !<\/p>\n

First things first \u2013 OSO was almost a direct plot copy of Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal starrer Karz<\/a>. 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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t enough, Farah\u2019s got SRK on a giant LP, a la Rishi Kapoor, doing jiggly dance moves to the original OSO (Karz) number. There\u2019s not a trick in the book she hasn\u2019t used, from giving the super-star hungry masses their daily fix of Bollywood by way of the star-studded \u201cOm Shanti Om\u201d 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 \u2013 there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

So you think what\u2019s wrong with spoofing it up ? Nothing really (I enjoyed them), except I\u2019d like to see the spoofs held up by the plot, and not the other way around. Too many spoofs, too little story \u2013 the meat\u2019s getting a little thin on the bones, what ?<\/p>\n

Still, to be fair, the first half breezes past quite quickly, and I\u2019ve winced only a couple of times. Now, in the second half \u2013 I\u2019m so bored. Farah\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s 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\u2019d watch a filmi award show.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t affect his oomph quotient any. Yes the man absolutely radiates charm, but sex appeal ? Not so much. Shreyas Talpade, as Om\u2019s pal, Pappu is quite good. He is however reeled in and forced to toe the clich\u00e9d line in the second half, to the film\u2019s detriment.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s mother, and it\u2019s not even her fault.<\/p>\n

I cannot qualify the direction as even average; the film lost it\u2019s moorings in the second half, and veered from one crazy strategizing session to the other. The dialogues are OK. The music \u2013 I was floored by the almost magical \u201cAankhon mein teri\u201d, and on the whole the songs are good and the picturisation adequate. It\u2019s a pity the film isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Even if this film begs for comparisons with oldie super-hit Karz, I\u2019d rather liken it to last year\u2019s Dhoom 2<\/a>, for it\u2019s very superficial treatment. I do not doubt, that just like D2, OSO will do well; for the masses swooning at Bollywood\u2019s feet, this might be just what the doctor ordered. However if you are looking for an actual film, and not just spoofs, clich\u00e9s, 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\u2019s ability to laugh at itself, the heady rush of nostalgia it triggers, or it\u2019s funny moments (and there are many), but no need to hurry, you know ? If you\u2019ve got better things to do, do them first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[51,76,17,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-51","category-bollywood","category-rating-g","category-thriller"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"[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 … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-bu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4742,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions\/4742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}