Om not really laugh Om
Watching Om Shanti Om with all the anxiety that one beholds while looking forward to a tale from your favorite story teller , I kept crossing my fingers hoping that the story could not go wrong and prove me erroneous to all skeptic friends and those less aware of my fascination for the Main Hoon Na brand of Movies. I am an unabashed admirer of Farah khan and SRK s MHN brand of tongue in cheek comedies. When you have seen a movie like that where there is a complete and brilliant orchestration meant for all sensory organs, and where there is complete justice to all facets of movie making and their practitioners who are given complete credit at the end, you can look only forward to a complete encore.
It is difficult to go Tsk Tsk on your favorite director, but Farah seems to slip a few times during this masala magic tour along with Shahrukh but yet manages to keep afloat the enterprise. Om Shanti Om seems to be in a tearing hurry to get thru with its story premise and hence does not hesitate from the impressive start where you see SRK – Om admiring Rishi in the 70s as he shoots for Karz. The junior artiste who dreams of making it big one day and impersonates a south superstar to ensure that his object of fascination, the presiding Bombay- then- lady superstar is impressed.
He makes all efforts to get close to the apparently lonely lady and whether he manages to do that during the course of the 2 hours of masala mix is what the film which makes its token nods to many films of the yesteryears as well as dipping into the supernatural, does. It will be unfair to reveal any twist in the story since it will take away from the fun of watching the potboiler.
The scene where SRK mumbles and jumbles taking potshots at South India's brand of film making is a hoot. But that does not halt there. Everything on the horizon is under attack from this humorous Jodi of SRK and Farah as they go around good humouredly lambasting anthing from the award ceremonies ( incidentally some of the best scenes of the movie) to endearing scenes of the 70s films . The films also impresses with some of the best technical effects seen on India screen though they last only a few minutes or was it a few seonds.
So what is wrong with the film? For one it seems to be in a tearing hurry to unfold. The director has you gasping while trying to keep pace with the dramatic but hurried twist in the interval and post intermission as the director seems to shuffle you out from the scene just in case you do not like the premise. Its almost like " Ok this is just so that the story can go on, but please step out and get on with the gags " The patchy editing ( surprisingly of high order in MHN) is irritating. One can of course forgive the lengthy title track as they fit in 31 stalwarts of the the three decades and beyond. One wonders whether it was because of the overrun that we have on television but the theatre audiences were not expressly thrilled. There were no Oohs and Aahs going up.
The music directors Vishal and Shekhar a talented and humble duo must be thankful that the visual treats helped their otherwise average songs in this movie make an impact. The crores spent on TV commercials helped to tolerate the songs better of which Ajabsi is the better one. Honestly one thought Anu Malik actually did a splendid job in the MHN actually contributing to bettering the impact of the entertainment. The curse for Farah lies in the fact that one tends to keep comparing her to her best previous work. But this lady isn't going nowhere. She knows her stuff and with able actors like SRK to guide, they will churn out better than the average run of mill movies.
Shreyas Talpade is actually wrongly cast and hardly makes an impact as the buddy. Kiron is her able self. Deepika impresses with her confidence level despite this being her Hindi debut. SRK with or without 6 packs does not need us to critique his acting talent. He gives it all he has. Of course the most impressive personality in the whole film apart from the galaxy of stars was the producer Gauri Khan ( SRKs wife ) who with a 10 seconder appearance at the end confirms why SRK is besotted with her. She has pizzazz. Way to go lady. Farah, one never knows if you have actually uncovered future potential.
You leave the theatre with mixed feelings considering that you have sure laughed your head off in at half of the movie and do want to pat Farah as she makes an endearing last minute portfolio appearance in an auto as the red carpet is being rolled up
M.R.Navindutt
Edited by Punjabi_chic - 17 years ago
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