OM Shanti Om - Honest Review

What was I thinking? I still don’t understand why I went to watch Om Shanti Om. In August I wasn’t very excited about Om Shanti Om(OSO). Despite the aggressive publicity, I was quite sure I would give this movie a skip. Ditto for Saawariya. By October I was longing to see a blockbuster masala Bollywood movie with comedy, songs and dances. Needless to say I had changed my decision on watching OSO. Saawariya, still I would stay away from. Promos looked nice but I knew it would be a slow film.
As the reviews came out and I read about Saawariya being a slow movie, I felt I was right. However as I kept reading the reviews, I noticed that the critics have criticized anything and everything in the movie. From direction to performance, from art direction to Ranbir’s butt. Now, this seemed a bit fishy. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is too good a director to get everything wrong at the same time. My doubts were confirmed when I read rave reviews for OSO.
OSO was praised for being a terrific entertainer. Everything about it was superb. From performances to direction, the critics loved everything. Akshay Kumar and Aby’s baby all shined in the miniscule roles they had. Needless to say, King Khan was thanked for providing relief on the occasion of Diwali. I think the critics should thank him for the perks he provided them too. I love typical Bollywood movies. I loved Bunty Aur Babli, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Devdas, Salaam Namaste, and the list goes on and on. But I cannot like any crap dished out in the name of being typical Bollywood. I am sorry Mrs. Farah Kunder this is not a Manmohan Desai or Subhash Ghai movie.
You know why? Because the drama and story those makers created in their movies seemed believable. You felt those characters like Anthony Gonsalves are real. However, this was pure shit!
This movie tries to take a dig at many veterans. I don’t disapprove of that at all but some of them are just not funny. Like the Manoj Kumar one, which some critic praised to the heaven, didn’t amuse me at all. Mrs. Kunder (popularly known as Farah Khan) also takes a dig at Bimal Roy, however she conveniently lifts her climax from his movie, Madhumati. Trust me, Madhumati, although about reincarnation and a ghost, is still a beautiful and believable movie. I don’t even want to get started on Shahrukh’s performance in the movie, I wondered if he was on drugs. The pace at which the movie swung from humourless comedy to over the top emotions (Kiron Kher can put ‘Tulsi Virani’ to shame) I thought maybe Farah was experiencing pregnancy mood swings during the making of the movie. Some critic also commented thathow it was better to watch Shahrukh’s six packs rather than Ranbir’s butt. He went on about how the audience wowed Shahrukh’s look in New York. Believe me, in a theatre a few hundred kilometres away from NYC, in Montreal, I could hear no one going gaga over this so-called six-pack. I thought he looked old. Yes, I could actually see very prominent laugh lines on his face. I know everyone gets old but you don’t need to play 30, act like a 20 when you are in your mid 40s. It looks ugly.

I saw Saawariya after this torture. Although not a classic, it was still bearable. Some dialogues were hard hitting, sets were beautiful. Both Ranbir and Sonam looked gorgeous. Among the performance, Sonam truly stole the show. She was so natural (what a relief after watching ham king Shahrukh Khan), Rani in her cameo was amazing. The ease with which she plays a roadside prostitute was surprising. Ranbir didn’t show any sparks in the acting department like Sonam but he could well become the new male sex symbol, atleast the way Bhansali has shot him, it looks as if he has been packaged for that. It does get slow at times and you might feel that there are too many songs, you can watch it if you have some patience and a love for some genuine poetry. All in all, a better film to spend your hard earned money on. After all we don’t have the kind of money that King Khan has. If in his first production, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, he exposed dark side of the media, for this one he has used this dark side to put down a decent film and promote a piece of trash. The formula must have been simple. You can buy the cheap media critics, who don’t mind getting sold out. For the genuine ones, who usually work for reliable news channels, just have a corporate partnership with the channels. How can an employee criticize his/her own corporate partner? So King Khan has tried to introduce a new formula, formula for all round good reviews. He might have got good reviews for now but time will show him that he cannot change fate with the power of money.

PS: Why was Kiron Kher so atrociously dressed in the first half. I am sure in the 70s mothers didn’t look that scary. In some scenes I felt she was a drag!