Om Shanti Om (2007)

ओम शांति ओम

God bless Farah Khan.

This nervy director proves in her reincarnation saga Om Shanti Om what I already suspected after Main hoon na - that she knows better than anyone how to use Shah Rukh Khan.  Om Shanti Om is not without its warts, but it's a solidly entertaining film, pure modern masala in the tradition of (and with cheeky homage to) the likes of Manmohan Desai and other masala greats of the past. 

Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan) is a two-bit actor, struggling to rise above his junior artiste status in the competitive melee of the 1970s Bombay film scene.  Advised by his sidekick Pappu (Shreyas Talpade), Om throws himself into his small parts, dreaming that someday, he'll be a revered hero.  He has other dreams as well - he is in love with a young superstar heroine, Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone), and spends his free time pining before her three-storey effigy on a film hoarding.  After a mishap on a film set, Om bravely saves Shanti from a fire, and the two become friends.  Shanti has dark secrets, though, some of which involve the shady producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal), and these lead to a calamity from which Om cannot save Shanti - or even himself.  On his death Om is reborn into the body of Om Kapoor, the scion of a filmi dynasty, who grows up to be a spoiled, vapid diva of a superstar known in the biz by his initials, OK.  Circumstances conspire to jog OK's memory of his past life, and he resolves to right the wrongs that led to Om Prakash and Shanti's premature demise.

Om Shanti Om is stuffed to the gills with self-referential humor and filmi references.  The jokes come fast and thick, especially in the first half, and some of them are ingenious.  A constant barrage of filmi jokes might or might not get tiring to someone who grew up with Hindi films, but to me it is a pure delight even to be able to get as many of the jokes as I do.  There are hilarious spoofs of filmi conventions and filmi lore, clever uses of footage from classic films, and an absolutely uproarious Filmfare Awards ceremony in which nothing is sacred - everything is skewered, from Shah Rukh Khan's penchant for bubblegum romance to the recent trend toward sequel-mania to industry nepotism to the big egos of the stars.  Even my beloved Shabana Azmi is not above the fray, joining a lengthy parade of superstars who give cute, self-deprecating cameo appearances. 

And at the center of all the self-referential humor is Shah Rukh Khan himself, who cuts loose with all the body language and exaggerated range of facial expressions that his fans find so charming and the rest of us so irritating.  But in Om Shanti Om, subtlety is not the order of the day, and Shah Rukh's special style fits right in, working well as broad, scene-chewing, physical comedy; as his character notes:  "overacting mere khandan mein hai" - overacting runs in my family.  This is the special intelligence of Farah Khan, and it's what makes her movies with Shah Rukh Khan great watching even for this non-fan - she knows not to use him in earnest.  His excess of lover-boy intensity may induce eyerolls in a romance, but it's perfect for a Farah Khan musical dream sequence.  Same for his lip-quivery emoting, which doesn't always pass for acting in a serious movie; it's perfect in comedy, as in the hysterical sequence where Om tries to tell Shanti his feelings - his poetically-formed thoughts come out in voice-over, while his eyebrows wobble and lips tremble, unable to form the words. 

For all its side-splitting cleverness, the film has been criticized as a series of genius bits in search of a soul, and this criticism is not without merit.  The reincarnation-revenge plot doesn't offer much to sink one's teeth into, and yet the film's second half drags in service of its resolution.  And, as Beth points out, as fearless and terrific a woman as Farah Khan is, she doesn't give her heroine a whole lot to do.  Deepika Padukone, here in her debut, is pretty and elegant as Shanti, and serviceable in her acting, showing the right mixture of innocence and melancholy.  She fades in the second half, though; she has a few comic turns that she handles adequately but there's little of substance in her role.  Arjun Rampal as the villainous Mukesh fades as well; an amusing homage to slick Danny Denzongpa characters in the first half, he recedes in the second half, losing his villainous edge just as good storytelling would demand that he get nastier. 

If such weaknesses deny Om Shanti Om masterpiece status, though, they don't detract from the good solid fun to be had throughout most of this stylish, witty comedy.  After an outstanding opening it will surely go on to reach blockbuster status in India, and it deserves to be seen and enjoyed; any fan of Hindi films should find something to laugh at within.  And I remain a steadfast fan of Farah Khan and her special cheeky brand of spectacle.  Here's to many more. 

Comments

[Beth]

As a wise person pointed out, the bad parts in this movie are fading with time, even though I just saw it three days ago. The goods parts are so funny, so clever, so affectionate, so superwow, that they stand strong. Maybe that's an important hallmark of a classic?

[maxqnz]

Thanks, carla. In my cynical ageism, I'd written this one off, categorising it sight unseen with the criminally awful Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Now I shall look out for it, and look forward to enjoying it.

[maajhi]

maxqnz, I'm afraid to see it though I've seen parts on youtube. I don't think I can stand this level of fluff.

By the way, shouldn't the Devanagari title use the Om glyph instead of spelling O-m?

[carla]

Maajhi: I don't know; I did think about it. I looked in a dictionary, and the word "om" was there spelled as I wrote it above, so I figured the spelling was an acceptable alternative to the special symbol. If you are talking about someone's name, referring to a person named "Om" rather than invoking the chant itself, would you still use the symbol? I can change it if the consensus is that I should. I don't remember whether/how it was written in the film's title cards.

maxqnz: Uh-oh, I haven't seen JBJ so I can't compare. I don't know whether OSO is up your alley or not; it ain't highbrow or anything, but I laughed. A lot.

[maxqnz]

"maxqnz: Uh-oh, I haven't seen JBJ so I can't compare. I don't know whether OSO is up your alley or not; it ain't highbrow or anything, but I laughed. A lot."

Fear not. I really enjoyed Main Hoon Na, and so I'm prepared to give Farah another chance. I'm also growing fonder of "laugh a lot" movies, which is bad news for mere sapno ki rani. :-)

[maajhi]

Ye aap ki sapnon ki rani kaun hai? And why is it bad news for her?

Carla, yeah, you're right, either one should do.

[maxqnz]

Maajhi, main nandita ka das banna chahta hoon. And sadly she's only done one light-hearted movie to date, Bas Yun Hi. Despite that, I feel about her much as Carla does about Shabana, and so live in hope that she might do a comedy one day - preferably one that simply can't be made without a key role featuring the participation of at least one male from NZ's huge Anglo-Indian population. ;-)

[maajhi]

maxqnz, your taste never fails to surprise. You're a fan of over-referential junk like Farah Khan's AND a fan of Ms. Ultra-serious Righteous Das as well??? The mind boggles.

[maajhi]

Using MHN alone as a reference point for Farah Khan here, since I haven't seen OSO.

Carla, your review is good and meaty and balanced as usual. And ensures I will be seeing this movie when it gets out on DVD.

[maxqnz]

"Using MHN alone as a reference point for Farah Khan here"

Likewise. I thought that MHN was fun. Junk perhaps, but more like junk food, an insubstantial treat that does no harm if ingested only occasionally. Plus, I have a weakness for filmi qawwali and songs that might be considered qawwalesque, so Tumse Mil Ke Dil is a favourite of mine.

[maajhi]

Yes, perfect description. BTW, my comment about your tastes was only tongue-in-cheek in case that wasn't clear - I too have widely varied tastes in movies, depending on the mood :). I enjoy park-yer-brains movies too, once in a while.

[maxqnz]

Maajhi, I did get the joking nature of your last post, thanks. carla, I just want to add that your review is all the more significant in the light of these words: "I sometimes get resentful when it seems that each time I discover a Bollywood blog I hadn't seen before, or each time someone new pops up here, again it's someone in love with Shah Rukh Khan." I hear you, and empathise entirely! I could also say the same about Himesh, as it happens.

[maxqnz]

A question about the criticism of the movie's weak female roles. Both you and Beth commented on this. Not yet having seen it, I am left wondering whether having STRONG female roles would not perhaps have been out of place in a movie that apparently exists largely to parody BW conventions. The 70s are not really my thing in BW anyway, preferring the 50s and 60s, but from those decades and from the few 70s movies I have seen (Satyam Shivam Sundram being an obvious exception), I don't recall a tradition of strong female roles, especially not in the lighter films that OSO is poking fun at. Or am I wildly off the mark here?

[Darshana]

Maxqnz, that is a good observation about female roles, I'd say. I'd also say that where there is feminism in this, it's in how Farah treats Shah Rukh - as she promised, she makes of him an item boy, treated the way the movies have treated girls (though they treat boys that way these days too), including one of my favorite things, which is somebody very obviously heaving a bucket of water on him from offstage.

Also, when he dances in the item number which his second-half character insists on inserting in the Disabled Person movie that threatens otherwise to "win awards," he has moves which are ladies' moves, like the fingers in a horizontal V drawn past the dancer's (own) eyes. I likes.

[Darshana]

Maxqnz, that is a good observation about female roles, I'd say. I'd also say that where there is feminism in this, it's in how Farah treats Shah Rukh - as she promised, she makes of him an item boy, treated the way the movies have treated girls (though they treat boys that way these days too), including one of my favorite things, which is somebody very obviously heaving a bucket of water on him from offstage.

Also, when he dances in the item number which his second-half character insists on inserting in the Disabled Person movie that threatens otherwise to "win awards," he has moves which are ladies' moves, like the fingers in a horizontal V drawn past the dancer's (own) eyes.

[Jules]

Carla i don't think i'm the only one that when the scene with Shabana came up with Filmfare, that she was only there to protest it, we automatically thought of you!

[bakwasfilm]

what a lame movie...only a few parts were funny...been there, done that kinda'thing. The rest was so childish and a big 'SNORE'.
SRK needs to utilize himself better. What an over-hype of a film. Farah needs to stop wasting money...i mean I enjoyed her earlier MHN...but come'on what is this OSO???

[maxqnz]

I am loathe to post again, since this Carla's blog, not a helpdesk for commenters, but I'm getting curious about the parody element in this film. Although I have seen around 180 hindi films, fewer than 10% of them would be from the 70s. How much of the parody am I likely to get. If a film were to parody RK or Guru Dutt films, I'd likely get nearly every reference, but am I going to miss a lot in this film through unfamiliarity with 70s masala? One last great mystery of this film, the very last question I shall ask here. After reading so many rave reviews of the song, I downloaded Dard-e-Disco. It left me unmoved, apart from the mildly catchy background rhythm. Not an awful song, just one that left no real impression at all. Is that an indicator of how I'd likely react to the film itself?

[the ppcc]

Gotta agree with you and Beth. The good bits stick because they really are quite genius, and the bad bits (thankfully) are mostly overshadowed.

And yes, for the SRK lover, it's glorious SRK heaven!

Also wanted to give a thumbs up to the interesting comment re: Farah Khan's feminism coming out in her objectification of SRK. Not the most noble of feminist tactics, but a very interesting point.

[Sanket]

I just loved the first part of this movie having grown up on Bollywood through the 70's & 80's - if only the 2nd half could have continued the energy & fun of the movie until the item number :(

2 subtle homages that just stood above the rest in a movie full of great homages - the unmistakable disco beats you hear in the item number when Mithun shows up to give him props for 'Disco Dancer'. And the plethora of Manmohan Desai (the great masala director) references - the whole item number reminds me of Desai's movie 'Naseeb' in which the item number had - you guessed it - a host of Bollywood legends and AB was the one providing the lead.

[Nida]

Great review, Carla!

I also enjoyed OSO and laughed more than I criticized. I have yet to see Main Hoon Naa, but if its anything like this, I know I'll love it!

I'm new to Bollywood and it's just starting to sink it that women don't have the same meaty roles as the men do. I'm glad there are others who would like to see that change!

[Meera]

I am perhaps a late entrant commenting on OSO. I saw this on DVD on the weekend - fast forwarded some of the songs esp the one where SRK is flexing his muscles. On the whole I enjoyed the movie ie the funny bits and the satirical take on how things work in bollywood including the very funny Filmfare awards function. I think it is worth watching on DVD,it would have been a bore sitting in a theatre

Carla, I too remembered you on seeing Shabana's scene which I found hilarious and right upto the mark!

[Meera]

BTW Carla, the picture you have from OSO on this review page ie SRK and Deepika with badminton racquets is actually a scene from the Jeetendra - Leena Chandravakar 70's movie "Humjoli" - I remember seeing a song from that movie on Doordarshan where Leena and Jeetendra are playing badminton. OSO is truly a good spoof on the 70s masala scene!

[maxqnz]

So I finally got to see this today. I'd give it 6.5/10, and that's despite the fact that I didn't get that many of the references. I looked up Desai at IMDb and realised that the only one of his films I've seen is Amar Akbar Anthony, which might explain why I didn't get that many of the in-jokes. What made this film work for me was (a)the sense that everybody had fun doing it, Shabana being perfectly indicative of this (b)The filmfare awards (c) the music, surprisingly good, especially dard-e-disco and dastaan-e-om shanti om, and

(1) Kirron Kher. She was outstanding, and had me in stitches. She REALLY looked like she was having a ball hamming it up outrageously while savaging that most enduring filmi stereotype. I'm sure she was laughing as loud inside as I was outwardly.

Against the good points was the dragging of the second half, the "cheat" of the bhoot ending (Sandy could have been Shanti's daughter, and her long-lost Mum could have made a dramatic reappearance), and above all that freakish and repulsive "six-pack". It was so ugly, and looked so (surgically?) unnnatural that I'd rather have seen Johnny Lever go shirtless.

Overall, I am again in your debt carla for a review that persuaded me to see it, and for pointing me toward Desai, whose work I now feel a need to see.

[Meera]

Hi Maxqnz

Last night I saw a Nandita Das movie on DVD called "Ek Alag Mausam" (roughly translated as " A different season"). This is my first full fledged Nandita movie apart from watching her small role in The Provoked. She is not only beautiful but also a fantastic actress - very natural. At times she reminds you of the late Smita Patil.

The quality of the DVD from my local spice store was sus but the movie was good on the whole though on a serious topic ie Aids Awareness.

I hope Carla does not mind this posting on her blog.

cheers