Om Shanti Om — Movie Review

A typical 70’s style drama with the budget and technical skill of today is what best describes Om Shanti Om . Farah’s second attempt to the MASALA film genre and a much better one than the First . This one has a good story behind all the Masala and fun .It is the story of Om Shanti Om and some of the performances from all the actors that makes it worth watching . The film though has a typical Re-incarnation story but still it has many new elements in it , the best being the whole set up of the the film i.e. the film industry itself . We all know that re-incarnations have appeared more in our films rather than in real life so what better set-up could a story based on Re-incarnation could have than the film industry itself .

The movie starts off in a very funny way with the superhit song ,Om Shanti Om, of the film Karz being shown made in that era along with Subhash Ghai directing it .  SRK is standing amongst the group of junior artists that dance to Rishi Kapoor’s song standing amongst the audience . SRK is a junior artist Om Prakash Makhija who aspires to become someone like Rajesh Kapoor who is a superstar of that era .His life itself is a 72 mm film and he thinks,eats and sleeps films and films only . He has a mom who also aspired to become actress in her days and she has full faith that her son would one day become a superstar . So he also has a very Filmy family that provides him with all the melodrama . Shreyas Talpade is a dear friend of SRK who also thinks the same . Apart from becoming a star Om also has another dream who is none other than Shanti Priya ( Deepika ) who is a superstar herself . Arjun Rampal is a Big shot producer of that time . SRK saves Deepika from an accident on the sets of her film and thus becomes a friend of her .He loves her and adores her to the extent of his dream in life to become a superstar but she is secretly married to Arjun who wants to keep this secret till his next movie gets completed . But Deepika being pregnant insists him of telling the truth to the world . But Arjun fears that his project would get scrapped once everybody knows the truth . Somehow Om learns this truth and when Arjun kills Deepika , he also gets killed in between because he tries to Save her .

The first half is in the 70’s but it is not a spoof of it . It makes fun of the characters of that time but in a healthy manner . SRK very well portrays the struggle and aspirations of a Junior artist who dreams to be a Star .Just look at his complete body language and you will realise why he is what he is today . Deepika looks like a star of that era and is very beautiful and graceful . She has very less dialogues but still leaves an impression which shows her Mettle . Farah has gone into very tiny details and presented the 70’s very well . SRK and Farah have grown watching the films of that era over and over again which has probably helped them a lot . The humour has been inserted in a very nice manner which doesn’t demean that era . She has grown as a Director . The first half is very musical and also very funny and on the move .The story though belongs to that era but the pace of the film belongs to this era thus keeping the first half quite tight . The whole first half would be love by all the people from that era and all those who loved that era .

The second Half starts with SRK as Om Kapoor aka OK who is a superstar of today and has got everything that he once longed for . He is Phobic to fire and his past life is somewhere at the back of his mind . Just as the first half makes a fun of that era this one makes fun of today’s movies .The whole scenario of todays Film Industry has been presented in a very funny manner . With many guest appearances from various stars the whole thing has been presented in a very funny way . The most fun has been made of SRK’s real life image and his real characters . The guest appearances at the Filmfare awards are very funny by Akshay and Abhishek . The party after SRK receives the award has the song Diwangi which is a real treat for all the viewers . After the song , OK meets Mic who is a big producer of Hollywood who worked in India in the 70′S who is none other than Arjun Himself . Om meets him and remembers everything about his past life .

Then starts the whole revenge sequence where SRK plots how to take the revenge of his and shanti’s death . He plans to restart the Incomplete film which Arjun was suppose to make along with Shanti . SRK tries to find a girl who is look alike of Shanti and he meets Sandy who looks exactly the same as Shanti . She helps him to take his revenge and at the end somehow with a twist manages to take it . This whole revenge sequence is little slow and doesn’t have the fun element that the whole movie had .But I don’t think they could have done much about it . The whole REVENGE sequence is of the seventies and they had to do it in the way it was done in the seventies beacuse we don’t have revenge sequences any more . In all , this part is what the audience will not like that much and the audience of today might not like the end of yesterday .

In the Entire film Shahrukh says that — ” End तक हमारी filmon में सब कुछ ठीक ठाक हो जाता है , Happys Endings ” . But looks like this ” Happys Endings ” is not as happy as it should have been . Still the entire movie has lot of मसालेदार मनोरंजन to offer and will make you smile this Diwali .

The Music is also great by Vishal and Shekhar and probably their best and the tune by Pyaarelal for “Dhoom Tana ” is just amazing . “Tumko Paaya ” is the best song and has that Re-incarnation feeling in it .The music is just according to the film’s demands and adds a lot to the film . The people who won’t like all the drama and humour would at least like the songs . The songs have also been choreographed and shot beautifully by Farah Khan .

Shahrukh has given a fine performance and I am sure all the critics would agree with me on this one . Some of his scenes really move you and his complete passion for the character can be very well seen on screen . Deepika does a great job as a new comer and Shreyas Talpade also gives a fine performance . He has not been overshadowed by SRK and has stood neck to neck with him . His acting skills are no doubt one of the finest amongst the newer generation of actors .

Farah Khan deserves an applause for this one and she has done a great job as a Director . Managing a film of this scale is not an easy task and she has done it up to the mark and broken the myth that Girls can not be good Directors . The whole art direction and cinematography is also top notch and editing has also been done in a good manner .

Film Rating : Three and Half out of Five Stars ; recommended for people who loved the seventies era and films of those days .