RELEASE DATE: 9 November 2007
GENRE : Comedy, Romance
PRESENTER : Red Chillies Entertainment
PRODUCER : Gauri Khan
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER : Sanjiv Chawla
DIRECTOR : Farah Khan
CAST : Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shreyas Talpade, Kiron Kher, Malaika Arora, Javed Shaikh, Arjun Rampal, Zayed Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Dino Morea, Bindu, Satish Shah, Yuvika Chaudary, Shawar Ali, Asawari Joshi
SPECIAL APPEARENCE : Vishal Dadlani, Rishi Kapoor, Subhash Ghai, Karan Johar, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta
MUSIC: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
LYRICIST : Javed Akhtar
STORY : Farah Khan
DIALOGUES : Mayur Puri
SCREENPLAY : Farah Khan, Mushtaq Sheikh
EDITOR : Shirish Kunder
ART : Sabu Cyril
CHOREOGRAPHER : Farah Khan
EXCLUSIVE REVIEW BY HANUMANT BHANSALI
Touted to be the biggest release of Shah Rukh Khan ever, Om Shanti Om is a pocketful of funny moments and equally intense glitches. If you are awaiting an out and out entertainer then Om Shanti Om is going to disappoint your perception.
Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika are the lone winners in the film, with the fair amount of ham and subjective beauty minus acting. Nevertheless, the entangling storyline of Om Shanti Om is a remix of contemporary Bollywood setting and an eye capturing scenario from the 70s.
The story of Om Shanti Om, as the world knows is based on the reincarnation theme. The plot bears resemblance to Subhash Ghai’s musical hit Karz. Living under the faith of mother (Kirron Kher) and friend Pappu (Shreyas Talpade), is a junior artist Om Prakash Makhija. Om aspires to strike gold in the Hindi Film industry with his acting stint. Like most masala flicks, apna hero has a sugary eye for popular actress Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone).
Om gets introduced to Shanti during a fire accident, which revokes happiness in the heart of Om. Likewise, Om’s dreams get shattered when he comes to know that Shanti is secretly married to film producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal).
Life comes to a standstill, when Om witnesses the murder of Shanti Priya at the hands of Mukesh. The reason for this ruthless act of Mukesh act was Shanti’s unwanted pregnancy, that had hurt his conscience. The 1970s story comes to a full stop when Om gets killed in a fight with Mehra’s men.
As the tagline goes by, ‘For some dreams, one lifetime is not enough’. Om Prakash is back, in a new avtar, as a star kid - Om Kapoor. He is disturbed by the memories of his previous birth and attempts to solve the mystery of his past.
Time for some action, Om plans a conspiracy with Sandy (Shanti’s replica in the 21st century), his mother and Pappu to avenge the death of his sugary candy Shanti Priya. He thrives to get the confession out of Mukesh Mehra, now a Hollywood producer. The rest of the story revolves around taking Om to his ultimate goal.
The story sounds extremely engaging, and with names like Farah and Shah Rukh Khan associated with the film, the bundle of joy just escalates. Alas! The film has its own set of innumerable flaws.
While the first half of the film is engrossing and entertaining, things start getting on the nerves just a few minutes pre-interval. Farah Khan gives an honest homage to the 1970s era but she fails to capture the mood of contemporary Bollywood setting of today’s era.
Post interval, the film is a serious bore, all thanks to the fillers in the name of songs and unrealistic scenes. Adding to this are a few jokes, which push your jaws cribbing within. The rebirth concept is unconvincing with story juggling between the past and the present in a spoofy manner. One cannot stop himself but laugh at the situations which are actually serious. All in all, the film drifts away from a mindful entertaining corner to a superficial drift – straight out of the box.
Some of the scenes are extremely cool and humourous. Like the one where Shah Rukh portrays the character of a South – Indian actor and the Film Fare Awards sequence where Akshay Kumar just stands out. His nomination video is hilarious, something that gets noticed in the crowd of special appearances. Not to miss the scene where present day film maker Sooraj Barjatya is seen taking notes for his future films.
All said and done, the post interval section is so weak that one can walk into the theatre and get a complete rewind of the initial portions of the film. The screenplay is filled with loop holes, handled immaturely by director Farah Khan. The flashback, which holds a very important space in any reincarnation film, unleashes boredom to the core.
Technically, the film cannot be spared for its flaws in galore. But the music is a serious revelation, which again has been superbly choreographed by Farah Khan. The transformation from the 70s to the present day is made evident only through the fantastic score of the film.
Acting wise, Shah Rukh Khan is the saving grace of the film. He literally carries the whole film on his shoulders. In the process, he indulges in some of the worst hammy episodes performed in his acting career. Summarizing King Khan’s performance, he impresses in the first half but his transformation in the second part will leave you unsatisfied.
Green-eyed Deepika Padukone is given a dream debut with Om Shanti Om. The actress gets her space, characterization and dialogues, all that is needed for a promising silverscreen debut. Her first performance is more of gloss and less acting but she is one actress to look out for in the near future.
Shreyas Talpade is decent and so is Kirron Kher as an ‘over the board’ mother. Arjun Rampal needed a crash course on acting to excel in the well crafted negative role.
Akshay Kumar leads the screen presence section in the special appearances category with Kajol getting the maximum cheers for her presence in the star studded Deewangi song. Not to miss, Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan who gloss in the jelly of Film Fare Awards sequence.
On the whole, Om Shanti Om is entertaining but in parts. Barring a few portions of the film which are filled with humour, content and ‘fun’tastic music, the remaining plot is a blend of clinched form of entertainment. The high expectations from a highly talented cast and crew of Om Shanti Om gives out an average show this Diwali.
Start Movie:
Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mp3 Songs
