Bollywood have got the new age Manmohan Desai, in the form of Director Choreographer Faraha Khan. Her earlier work Main Hoo Na gave us a glimpse of Manmohan Desai style of film making but her latest offering Om Shanti Om establishes her as the real successor of Manmohan Desai.
Om Shanti Om is all about entertainment and no logic, it’s a reincarnation drama set in the backdrop of Bollywood in seventies studded with a dream star cast, some great music and excellent editing.
As a movie buff I have keenly followed the movies from 60s which was classical for me, 70s was stylish, 80s perhaps was the dull period for bollywood, 90s was all about love stories and the new millennium was the start of a new age cinema in bollywood. In more than one way, 70s was the golden era of hindi films which gave us the angry young man, the hot and spicy Parveen Babi and Zeena Aman, the lost found drama of Manmohan Desai, the classics by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and so on and so forth.
Om Shanti Om is a tribute to the 70s cinema. The protagonist Om Prakash Makhija is a junior artist working in Hindi films in 1977. The backdrop of 70s gives the director, ample opportunity to make spoof of various aspects of those days like the dressing style, the hyper active Hindi film mother etc. The movie even digs out at Manoj Kumar, Sooraj Barjatya, Govinda and the kapoors.
The first half was definitely hilarious and engaging, where as the second half was not up to the mark. The only saving grace in the second half if King Khan himself. The second half seems to be a poor copy of Karz (1980). However in the movie itself claims that SRK will use the same trick as in Karz to make the villian confess for the crime.
I won’t talk about the script much here because the script is water thin, and talking anything about that will reveal the plot.
In terms if performance, SRK is great once again, he carries the film entirely on his shoulders in the second half, Shreyas talpade is competent, however I wish him to see in main lead roles instead of roles like this. Kiron Kher is loud and over acting but that’s a compliment as she is playing the mother of 70s who has to be loud. Arjun Rampal is decent in both avatars. Deepika looks stunningly beautiful in the first half, however I didn’t like her much as the new age sandy, it will remain to be seen if she can translate the beauty into performance.
Music is first rate, especially I liked the song Main Agar Kahoo, the choreography for this song is excellent. Darde Disco is already topping the charts. However I found the Deewangi song to be lacking in terms of substance when I compare the same with John, Jhonny, Jannardan song from naseeb. Deewangi is nowhere close to the song from Naseeb. Also the Om Shanti Om song in the end is no where close to the Ek Haseena thi from karz, my aim is not to make comparision but comparision is unavoidable due to the similarity in situation and plot.
Overall Om Shanti Om has in it to be a blockbuster of the season, and the credit goes to Farah Khan and King Khan for the same.