Monday, November 19, 2007

Om Shanti Om - Hindi Movie Review

Azhagiya Thamizh maganum, Om Santhi Om aduthaduthu kaatchigaLai parthaen. Thodarchiya rettai padangalai parthathaal ennavo theriyavillai, Azhagiya Tamizh maganilum rettai vijay. Om Santhi Om ilum rettai sharukh khan :-)

Indha padamum negative feedback vathanthiyai makkaL parappi vittalum, theatreil varum makkalai parkumpozhuthu indha vadhanthiyum poi ena therigirathu. Indha padamum naan miga rasithu parthaen. Shahrukh khanum nammai entertain seiya thavara villai. 1970z kathaiyai 2007 odu poruthi kaati irupathu thiraiyil naam kaanum pudhumai.

Again forget the story, logic. Watch this film only for Shahrukh Khan magic, foot tapping songs and for deepika padukone.

We watch film for entertainment and this is one film which entertains you a lot. Get past 150 minutes in no time.

Now to the story,

Om Shanti Om is a light-hearted tribute to Hindi cinema the way we know it and love it, in spite of its flaws, improvisation and implausibility. It is also a unabashed celebration of willing suspension of disbelief, as one of the characters reacts to SRK when he tells her she won’t believe it if he told her about his rebirth.

She talks for most of us Hindi movie buffs, when she says: “I believe you when you say you can beat up ten guys, I believe you when you say you can jump from the top of a building, why would I then not believe this?”

Right at the very beginning when Rishi Kapoor prances on stage to the original ‘Om Shanti Om’ from Karz, Farah defines where they are coming from. The audience. As fans celebrating the song and dance routines they love.

So even if she gets a Manoj Kumar duplicate chased around with a lathi, or spoofs Bhansali (a hero with multiple disabilities of eyes, ears and speech on a wheelchair with no arms to push it, spits out the flowers to bless his unrequited love on her wedding) or pulls Abhishek Bachchan’s leg for his ghost appearance in Dhoom 5 or pokes fun at SRK for doing the same thing in different movies, Farah also neatly ties it all up right in the end sparing not herself either. She walks down the red carpet at the end of the movie to find the audience has already left the hall.

That’s what irreverence is all about. Nothing is sacred, anything goes. As long as it can bring in the laughs. These moments of free-flowing improvisation work magic but that’s also why the final act seems like an after-thought.

It’s almost like Farah got this great idea for a twist in the tale and just slapped it right at the end after setting it up for the great glorious revenge saga we are anticipating with all the Karz references.

Honestly, we as the audience don’t care too much about how the bad guy gets his cheeks kicked as long as the love story is neatly wrapped up and the ‘Happily-ever-after’ follows.

This is no Kill Bill, and revenge served cold does not dish out any feel-good factor. Besides, the bad guy is an old, lonely, harmless man now. Whatever happened to the love story the very reason we go to such movies, especially, the ones where SRK does the same thing over and over again.

That apart, the movie is a hell of a party, a bits-and-pieces blockbuster strung together with a series of laughs, songs and dances.

SRK shows us why he’s the rockstar of our times. Deepika arrives in style to stay. Shreyas with little to do is still an endearing performer and Arjun Rampal should’ve got a meatier role. Kirron Kher with horrible make-up in the second half gets to reprise her Maa role and even says the same line from Main Hoon Na (Yeah, yeah we noticed the movie poster in the room when she does that!).

Vishal-Shekar’s score gives you goose-bumps and Farah shows what a musical really needs apart from great music: energy, style, soul, drama and the laughs surely help.

PUNCHLINE: OM SHANTI OM - COOL SHAHRUKH COOL

My Rating: 4/5 * * * *

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