Every movie buff's wet dream
No no, we are still talking movies here. Actually, just one in particular. Two if you want to be all nit-picky about it. Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om is definitive filmmaking. There is just one thought process running all through it - entertainment, no matter what the means. And after being bombarded with self-indulging movies like Eklavya, No Smoking and Aag through the year, OSO brings with it some pleasant relief, thanks to an intelligent presentation and loads of laugh-at-me irreverence.
If you have been living on this planet, you have already heard what the movie is about. So I will stay clear of that, not that it would take me too much time or effort to paraphrase, but I really want to leave you with as much joy as I possibly can for your first run. Khushwant Singh once famously claimed that what distinguishes Indian humor from the rest of the pack is our ability to laugh at ourselves. I am not sure how faultless his hypothesis is, but Farah Khan seems to have taken it to heart. If you got hints of it in Main Hoon Na, Farah shreds her inhibitions here to pack the entire movie with takes and shots on every cliche that Bollywood is known for.
The first half is filled with punchy dialogue, magnificent sets and pure 70s movie magic. The characters do not behave like people in the 70s did. Who wants that, when we can have them behave like how they did in the movies then. And Kirron Kher turns in a boistrous performance as the ex-junior artiste mom, who still cannot seem to get out of character. In between all of their shenanigans, a one-sided fan story creeps up on us. Om Prakash Makhija - yes that really is his name, no wonder his best friend keeps encouraging him to go in for a name change - tries every trick in the book to impress the love of his life, including a hilarious take as a south indian hero - curt english, outlandishly tight costume and the whole works. And then, cut back to more mischief. The first half packs subtle subtexts to almost every scene, if you are one of the unsure ones that is. If you are the trivia king, there is subtext blaring at you at feverish decibel levels in every single dialogue throughout this half of the movie. Find a theater that does provide safety belts, if you wanna keep from falling to the floor laughing.
Post-interval, the movie shifts to 2007 and in true Karz-style, embarks on a revenge-after-rebirth journey. And even amidst the seriousness of the context, Farah refuses to let the situation get to her by dumping on us regular doses of humor. You cannot help but rivel in the pleasure of watching the biggest names of the industry come together for a one-on-one dance-athon with the new age Om, in celebration of his Filmfare award for one of his fascimile releases that year. So what if Ms. Khan thrusts on us one of the evilest inventions on the idiot box, the laugh track, in a bit to lure us further into celebratory mood. So what if she uses the same snippet of the soundtrack over and over again, in a bid to provide every star a good share of the fun. We will endure all that and more, if the packaging is gonna be this good. Farah even sticks to the original idea of the title - I have long believed that the title always meant 2 Om's and 1 Shanti - and I thank her for that, though there were moments in the finale I was worried about it.
The positives score a landslide victory over the downs, but there are things Farah could have bettered. For starters, she could have given the Red Chillies VFX team one of her now-famous tirade for some below-top-notch work in the Dhoom Tana song. Finding too many other faults with Farah's second outing would equate to being overtly critical. This is a worthy follow-up to her smash debut Main Hoon Na. She shows vast improvements in her story-telling technique and a lot more mastery on the technicalities of filmmaking. And 3 people provide her with immensely valuable back-up.
V. Manikandan's cinematography is top-notch, and more importantly consistent enough throughout the movie to make nothing seem out of place. And Sabu Cyril needs to get out in public and take a bow. Well actually, give him that Filmfare. Now. And the third person to be commended is Shirish Kunder. His editing is superb and he manages to never let proceedings fall into a lull.
Vishal-Shekhar add to the magic with their best soundtrack till date. Though Dastaan-e-OSO, probably the best song in the album, is let down a bit by a rather over-nostalgic video, all the songs form integral parts of the story and showcase their work real nice. This movie should catapult them into the big league. A small word then about Sandeep Chowta's background score. While he does manage the ghostly bits very well, his work in the rest of the movie is nothing special to write home about.
Farah, you need to be felicitated with another "special" award just for making Arjun Rampal act. Finally. Rampal gets presented well this time around and while being pitted against solid actors, he manages to hold his own. And given his track record, this in itself is a huge accomplishment for the actor. Shreyas Talpade does not have too big a role, but fits well into whatever he is provided with. Kirron Kher, as mentioned earlier, is superb as the 70s soap-opera-ish mom. Always too eager, always too nosey, always overacting, she is an absolute hoot. Deepika Padukone makes a stellar debut. The girl is an absolute stunner, can dance well and hey, can act pretty well too. Being pitted against SRK in a movie that sees him in almost every frame must have been a huge ask for a debut, but she manages quite nicely. The Rani's and the Priyanka's, watch out.
Shah Rukh Khan is gleeful throughout the movie. Chak De probably took a lot out of the actor, and he seems to have found immediate salvation in Farah Khan's frivolous script. He digs, bites, chews and gnaws the hell out of both the Om's and keeps the movie afloat from reel 1 to the end. He is in tremendous form once again after Chak De, and the spirit with which he takes to both his characters as well as the cheeky, spoofy digs at himself and his industry-mates reminds us why he is still the country's biggest superstar. Few could have gotten away with all of this, but Farah and Shah Rukh pull off that walk on the thin line that divides irreverence and disrespect successfully. The fact that they don't spare even themselves only helps. This is a return back to the days when a movie used to be a party, a joyous celebration of human fantasies, a genre that seemed to have gotten lost thanks to the sudden advent of artistry and meaningful cinema. And we have SRK, the producer, to thank for that as much Farah herself.
Farah Khan does not want to write scripts anymore, and is looking for bound scripts that she can just pick up and direct. I would have loved to provide you with one sweetheart, but Om Shanti Om is so superbly written that I am deathly afraid of how short I might fall off your expectations.
A friend of mine insists Farah Khan's movies - talk about making a quick name for yourself, she is all of 2 films old - are made only for film buffs. I can't seem to care a hoot that he is half-right.
If you have been living on this planet, you have already heard what the movie is about. So I will stay clear of that, not that it would take me too much time or effort to paraphrase, but I really want to leave you with as much joy as I possibly can for your first run. Khushwant Singh once famously claimed that what distinguishes Indian humor from the rest of the pack is our ability to laugh at ourselves. I am not sure how faultless his hypothesis is, but Farah Khan seems to have taken it to heart. If you got hints of it in Main Hoon Na, Farah shreds her inhibitions here to pack the entire movie with takes and shots on every cliche that Bollywood is known for.
The first half is filled with punchy dialogue, magnificent sets and pure 70s movie magic. The characters do not behave like people in the 70s did. Who wants that, when we can have them behave like how they did in the movies then. And Kirron Kher turns in a boistrous performance as the ex-junior artiste mom, who still cannot seem to get out of character. In between all of their shenanigans, a one-sided fan story creeps up on us. Om Prakash Makhija - yes that really is his name, no wonder his best friend keeps encouraging him to go in for a name change - tries every trick in the book to impress the love of his life, including a hilarious take as a south indian hero - curt english, outlandishly tight costume and the whole works. And then, cut back to more mischief. The first half packs subtle subtexts to almost every scene, if you are one of the unsure ones that is. If you are the trivia king, there is subtext blaring at you at feverish decibel levels in every single dialogue throughout this half of the movie. Find a theater that does provide safety belts, if you wanna keep from falling to the floor laughing.
Post-interval, the movie shifts to 2007 and in true Karz-style, embarks on a revenge-after-rebirth journey. And even amidst the seriousness of the context, Farah refuses to let the situation get to her by dumping on us regular doses of humor. You cannot help but rivel in the pleasure of watching the biggest names of the industry come together for a one-on-one dance-athon with the new age Om, in celebration of his Filmfare award for one of his fascimile releases that year. So what if Ms. Khan thrusts on us one of the evilest inventions on the idiot box, the laugh track, in a bit to lure us further into celebratory mood. So what if she uses the same snippet of the soundtrack over and over again, in a bid to provide every star a good share of the fun. We will endure all that and more, if the packaging is gonna be this good. Farah even sticks to the original idea of the title - I have long believed that the title always meant 2 Om's and 1 Shanti - and I thank her for that, though there were moments in the finale I was worried about it.
The positives score a landslide victory over the downs, but there are things Farah could have bettered. For starters, she could have given the Red Chillies VFX team one of her now-famous tirade for some below-top-notch work in the Dhoom Tana song. Finding too many other faults with Farah's second outing would equate to being overtly critical. This is a worthy follow-up to her smash debut Main Hoon Na. She shows vast improvements in her story-telling technique and a lot more mastery on the technicalities of filmmaking. And 3 people provide her with immensely valuable back-up.
V. Manikandan's cinematography is top-notch, and more importantly consistent enough throughout the movie to make nothing seem out of place. And Sabu Cyril needs to get out in public and take a bow. Well actually, give him that Filmfare. Now. And the third person to be commended is Shirish Kunder. His editing is superb and he manages to never let proceedings fall into a lull.
Vishal-Shekhar add to the magic with their best soundtrack till date. Though Dastaan-e-OSO, probably the best song in the album, is let down a bit by a rather over-nostalgic video, all the songs form integral parts of the story and showcase their work real nice. This movie should catapult them into the big league. A small word then about Sandeep Chowta's background score. While he does manage the ghostly bits very well, his work in the rest of the movie is nothing special to write home about.
Farah, you need to be felicitated with another "special" award just for making Arjun Rampal act. Finally. Rampal gets presented well this time around and while being pitted against solid actors, he manages to hold his own. And given his track record, this in itself is a huge accomplishment for the actor. Shreyas Talpade does not have too big a role, but fits well into whatever he is provided with. Kirron Kher, as mentioned earlier, is superb as the 70s soap-opera-ish mom. Always too eager, always too nosey, always overacting, she is an absolute hoot. Deepika Padukone makes a stellar debut. The girl is an absolute stunner, can dance well and hey, can act pretty well too. Being pitted against SRK in a movie that sees him in almost every frame must have been a huge ask for a debut, but she manages quite nicely. The Rani's and the Priyanka's, watch out.
Shah Rukh Khan is gleeful throughout the movie. Chak De probably took a lot out of the actor, and he seems to have found immediate salvation in Farah Khan's frivolous script. He digs, bites, chews and gnaws the hell out of both the Om's and keeps the movie afloat from reel 1 to the end. He is in tremendous form once again after Chak De, and the spirit with which he takes to both his characters as well as the cheeky, spoofy digs at himself and his industry-mates reminds us why he is still the country's biggest superstar. Few could have gotten away with all of this, but Farah and Shah Rukh pull off that walk on the thin line that divides irreverence and disrespect successfully. The fact that they don't spare even themselves only helps. This is a return back to the days when a movie used to be a party, a joyous celebration of human fantasies, a genre that seemed to have gotten lost thanks to the sudden advent of artistry and meaningful cinema. And we have SRK, the producer, to thank for that as much Farah herself.
Farah Khan does not want to write scripts anymore, and is looking for bound scripts that she can just pick up and direct. I would have loved to provide you with one sweetheart, but Om Shanti Om is so superbly written that I am deathly afraid of how short I might fall off your expectations.
A friend of mine insists Farah Khan's movies - talk about making a quick name for yourself, she is all of 2 films old - are made only for film buffs. I can't seem to care a hoot that he is half-right.