Om Shanti Om [2007]

Om Shanti Om
Reviewed by Manpreet Bhandal

Shah Rukh is like God to me, I love him more then I can express with words. I'm also a huge fan of Farah (be it as a person, director or choreographer) and 'Main Hoon Na' is one of my favourite films, I think 'Main Hoon Na' epitomises entertainment! However, due to the "diwali clash" I didn't have time to be excited for 'Om Shanti Om'. It was still the album I listened to most [second to 'Saawariya' only] on my iPod, but I wasn't as excited as I usually am for Shah Rukh's films because it just didn't appeal to me from the promos.

To get the downsides out of the way first: The story is nothing outstanding or new, we've been there and seen that. The screenplay confuses at times and the editing could have been a lot sharper.

The best parts of the film (which make it worth every minute):

* The beginning with Rishi's song "Om Shanti Om" from Karz – that was truly awesome and unexpected!

* The choreography of 'Dhoom Taana'…a very special mention to the special effects – the way they bought in the actors from their old films and 'stuck' them in the frame with Deepika haha that was so fantastic!!

* The entire "Mind It" scene LOL! That is the funniest scene of the film!!!

* Shah Rukh's re-introduction in the second half

* The discussion about the strange film where Shah Rukh's character can't hear/speak/move or anything

* The entire Filmfare sequence… Amisha/Dia part was too funny! Abhishek's Dhoom 5 was hilarious! Akshay Kumar's 'Return of Khiladi' is perhaps the funniest thing I've ever seen…OMG his "gun" *ahem* Hahah! Hats off to Akshay, he almost stole the show in the entire film with that bloody hilarious sequence LOL… the red carpet with Bappi Lahri, Hrithik, Rakesh, Abhi, Amitabh, Rani, Preity, Bipasha… was fantastic. Especially the girl's "OK and me…we're just good friends" LOL

* Deewangee. Enough said. Everyone looked bloody gorgeous and was such a treat to see!! I could write a separate review for this song but that would get ridiculous. Definitely a highlight!

* Training Sandy to become more like Shantipriya… Sandy was such a laugh!

* The twist that it was actually Shantipriya in the climax scene and not Sandy!

First half / Second half: There are no two ways about it, I by far and large preferred the second half! It was so cute and funny and had so many more good moments as compared to the first half!! The whole 70s spoof got really boring after some time so the first half started to drag sadly… But the second half had me in splits quite a lot…

Classifying genre: Well, it's a "masaala film"…it has a bit of everything… but I definitely preferred the comic moments. The romantic and emotional/tragic parts were dealt with really poorly and not at all impressive, but the comedy made up for that… there were some really good comic moments!

Music: I'm not a fan of this soundtrack but it's good. I wish Farah had taken Anu once again though ('MHN' is such an amazing album!)… Audio-wise my favourite song is 'Dhoom Taana' but a couple of the others are nice too.

Performances:

Shah Rukh Khan What can I say? He's SRK, he's always great… The role doesn't challenge him, so that's disappointing, but performance-wise he does a natural job as always and lives the role(s) of Om to perfection. He was damn cute in the first half and his "hunky cool" act in the second part had me laughing so much, bless! However, his makeup artiste needs to be sued (does he even have one?) because Shah Rukh was looking way too wrinkly in this movie and that didn't do well with the character being quite a young guy!

Deepika Padukone This girl really impressed me! I am so happy with her… She's just so adorable!!! It's great that we've got such lovely new talent in the industry and I'm so happy that this weekend I've seen Ranbir, Sonam and Deepika make their way into our cinema… these three will rock our industry and totally rule! Deepika is a born superstar, she has fantastic screen presence. It's sad that she didn't get to dub for herself and the role doesn't demand much of her as an actress, but she does make the most of whatever she's been given to do and she shows very promising signs, good job…I like!

Shreyas Talpade This is the first time I saw Shreyas act I think… And to be honest he was good but not great. He did justice to his role but he came across as a cheap version of Ritesh Deshmukh to me. Shreyas is really cute but Ritesh would've done this role better and would have left a more remarkable impact.

Arjun Rampal I've always liked Arjun! He's good looking and a good actor but he's never been given recognition as an actor. He churns out yet another very good performance here.

Kiron Kher This woman is perhaps the most rocking onscreen mother we have today. I'd choose her over Jaya Bachchan any day!! She's a laugh and she's just so full of energy, and not to mention she shares beautiful chemistry with Shah Rukh.

Others from Satish Shah to Bindu to every single character artiste did a decent/good job, all of them were impressive.

Overall, I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with 'OSO' because frankly I'm not. It was a nice and cute entertainer and I had a nice time watching it, in fact I will for sure buy the DVD when it comes (but then for heavens sake I have the DVD of Maya Memsaab too) and I will probably watch it a few times more at least when it releases… I don't think 'OSO' is at all as good as 'MHN', 'MHN' is far superior in every single department, however it's a nice watch and a recommended entertainer/pass-time!