Review Om Shanti Om – Bandal To The Very End.
As we were entering the cinema hall, a friend remarked “I don’t like Shah Rukh Khan. The man can’t act even if his life depended on it”. Before I could utter my wise words, another friend gave the most apt reply. She said, “In Shah Rukh Khan’s films no one is expected to act. They are only meant to entertain.” And so, true to my friend’s very words SRK’s latest production, Om Shanti Om makes no exception.
Frankly I was not very impressed with Farah Khan’s debut film, “Main Hoon Na”. And sad to say, her second film as a director falls couple of notches even bellow the first one. Now before I proceed, let me get one thing straight – I really like Farah Khan. Be it as a choreographer, a Bollywood personality and a Hindi Phillum buff. The woman is witty and has a wacky sense of humor which so severely lacks in our Mumbai Film Industry. But don’t know why in spite of all the above qualities she miserably fails as a film maker!
Agreed, spoofs of other movies require an added dosage of overacting but here we have the film maker, (pardon my Hindi) fucking hell doing maa behan of overacting. Making matters worse and among other countless flaws; the story plot appears to be rushed up, can’t understand if they are aping the 60s… the 70s or is it the 80s and the film’s climax is one of the worst I have seen in a very long time.
If you manage to survive the first phase, the 2nd phase is sure to shoot you down – the comedy (if one may call that) completely stinks, SRK miserably fails to pull-off the act of a young superstar, debutant Deepika is a stunner for sure but the woman is way-off the acting mark and what’s with her voice? Otherwise a fantastic actress, Kirron Kher literally gets on your nerves, not very surprisingly Arjun Rampal once again fails to leave a mark (and add to that a really bad make-up job) and the 6 pack song “Dard-E-Disco” would have been better off named “Dard-Lagta-Hai-Isko-Dekhko”. And no matter how loudly the director screams in disagreement; OSO is a miserable attempt at remaking yesteryear’s super hit film, Karz.
Talking of the few bright moments-
- Shreyas T alpade is the only sane one among the lot.
- The 31 stars item number is very well shot. Karisma looks hot and Shilpa, now is this woman sexy or whot?
- The Filmfare awards sequence is fantastic.
As for final words – Om Shanti Om is a full on bandal film to the last frame (barring the very few exceptions) but as my friend mentioned above it will surely entertain the Indian masses (here or overseas) simply because the word itself is very much adulterated these days.
Ps - Reading OSO reviews here, here and here, once again re-affirmed my belief that most things can be bought off so easily nowadays.
We all have a right to express our views. In many instances; it will be against ours and in some; with us. To hear them out is 'decency' but to let them get to you is 'weakness'. 
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Comments
29 comments | Leave your comment
Nov 10th, 2007 at 10:45 pm | #
Unfortunately most of Rediff reviewers have gone the Taran Adarsh way - Having read both Saawariya’s review and OSO reviews only reaffirms the same. I never had a great feeling about OSO, and still I am going to see it, thanks to my friends. I am pretty sure it will be a bad movie! I didnt like MHN much, and if trailers are anything to go by, this is going to be worse probably!! Esp after seeing Saawariya, I would doubt this movie would hold up hehe!
Nov 11th, 2007 at 2:38 am | #
I knew it would be bad so no surprise there! But Saawariya has received worse reviews. And I see that you have given it 3.5 stars!
So that’s what the next post is going to be about?
Nov 11th, 2007 at 7:22 am | #
I totally agree with your review. The movie was senseless and a complete waste of money. After a decent performance in Chak De, SRK had to ruin it for us with this bukwas film.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 7:32 am | #
“she miserably fails as a film maker!”…
I wonder what makes you say that! expectations / pre-conceived notions etc can be bad when you judge… and why the word “masses” gets used in such a derogatory way? you think you are better than them?..
you went in expecting/wanting not to like the film and you didn’t.
Dont you think you should have said
“I think she failed miserably as a film maker”… ?
it is very subjective in case you misunderstand your opinion for the “right” opinion.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 10:46 am | #
Hey Sakshi nice review.
I happened to see saawariya and Om Shanti Om on the same day and believe you me, Saawariya was a utter bore, Om Shanti Om looked 100 times better in comparission, but then thats not the case here.
The thing is when going for any bollywood flick its advisable and rightly so to leave our brains at home and not use any sense. I quite liked the movie, the award ceremony was very good.
The movie did lack lots and lots of sense and common at that. The ending was abrupt and short. Story wasnot lucid but for everything else the movie does tick the right notes. It has action albeit badly shot, humour and the only reason why i would like to watch the movie again is for the song with the numerous actors, the award ceremony and the Rajnikant inspired fight sequence.
Cheers.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 2:55 pm | #
@ Blindfolded - No offence but dude it seems just as your handler name your thoughts are blindfolded as well. Blogs are meant to present one’s opinion and since no two people are alike, thoughts tend to differ. Sakshi’s post is her thoughts on the film and the people behind it and no where has she stated that her opinion is the final authority. This is just what she thinks. If you do not agree with it, thats fine too. But kindly don’t digg too much and look for issues that do not exist in the first place.
And for god’s sake we are talking only about Bollywood.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 3:26 pm | #
The ability to laugh at yourself is something remarkable.Farah Khan does that amazingly well and we did see that in Main Hoon Na.Once in a while, such movies do end up entertaining you nonetheless.I loved it and I do want such movies rather than some strung down inspiration of some fairy tale romance……Either its gotta be in the league of Rang De, Dil Chahta Hai, or more recently Johnny Gaddaar or it could be thoroughly entertaining like Main Hoon Na etc….Its probably good for the Indian Film Industry that way…you should check out Rajini’s Sivaji…if you have not yet :p
Nov 11th, 2007 at 4:54 pm | #
The first half of the movie was better cos it seemed to stand up to its soul of aping retro styles n cinema, but the second half is severe identity crisis… But then, when Saawariya is such a bore, OSO seems better than what it really is!
Nov 11th, 2007 at 5:09 pm | #
Sakshi, I think you went in expecting a classic in a Satyajit Ray-kinda movie. But I don’t think Farah Khan movies expect to be treated seriously (remember the “ek Manmohan Desai angle bhi daalna, wohi chalega” line). Just think of them as Bollywood’s version of Hot Shots or Naked Gun. In that sense, they are actually well-made and as far as the overacting bit goes, that’s the point.
They even make a reference to that. But yup, it does take itself seriously in the second-half. I wish they had stayed the Andaz Apna Apna way.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 5:32 pm | #
Patrix – Never did I imagine a Farah Khan film to be on the lines of Satyajit Ray or Hrishikesh Mukherjee for that matter. As mentioned at the beginning of the post, I went in expecting it to be at least better than Main Hoon Na considering the whole 70s spoof, hyped up publicity and as some say, the director’s ability to laugh at herself and others like her, namely the Hindi Film Fraternity.
Yes, we did get their spoof on Bollywood workings but then a rubber band can only be stretched to a certain extent – meaning it cannot be made into a 3 hours full fledged film, at least not with that kind of exaggerated acting skills.
And seriously tell, you really think a film like OSO is anywhere close to the likes of Hot Shots, Scary Movie or Naked Gun – I for one certainly doesn’t think so.
Lastly, Andaz Apna Apna is a classic just like Jane Bhi Do Yaaron – and as long as Farah Khan sticks around with SRK, I highly doubt she will ever come close to making anything like the above two.
Naresh – Well, I beg to differ with you on Saawariya.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 5:49 pm | #
I think the Akshay Kumar sequence was good enough to be Paisa Vasool for this movie.
Re: the rest of the movie, I didn’t have high expectations, but the first-half I was able to enjoy. I think they messed it up in the second half big-time. Strangely enough every other review I have read has found this movie better than Saawariya, which is sad. I was looking forward to that one…
Nov 11th, 2007 at 9:05 pm | #
Saawariya was torture, had to talk to walk out of the movie theater. Haven’t seen OSM yet.
Nov 11th, 2007 at 11:14 pm | #
OH MY GOD, I DONT BELIEVE U SAID ALL THAT! i absolutely LOVED the movie, u need to sort out ur taste girl. this is what bollywood is all about, entertainment
Nov 12th, 2007 at 4:06 am | #
Saakshi you so right on this and only a handful have had the balls to call the movie crap since most have been bought off by king khan and his camp. Sadly the Indian public prefers quantity over quality and therefore films like Saawariya go down to crap like OSO. Good blog.
Nov 12th, 2007 at 5:12 am | #
So I am assuming it is a SRK thing and not necessarily the movie, right?
Nov 12th, 2007 at 5:39 am | #
Patrix - Oh! come on now don’t say that. Such feelings are only reserved for my favourite Johnny Boy.
As for SRK, I actually did like him in Swades, Devdas and more recently in Chak De. However to me he comes across more as a businessman and not an artist.
Shantanu - Yup it was funny but not an original. Check out the real stuff here.
Nov 12th, 2007 at 6:07 am | #
Thanks for that Super Cop video. I’ll be damned…can’t we even be original in spoofing. Shyaay! Am disappointed now in Farah Khan.
BTW SRK in spite of all his shortcomings is one last superstar in Bollywood who has worked his ass off to get where he is. I feel he deserves all the adulation and success. Rest all are babies born with a silver spoon and need tons of movies to prove their acting credentials or even be considered successful (e.g. Abhishek B.)
Nov 12th, 2007 at 10:11 am | #
Patrix - See now maybe you can understand my dissapointment, especially as I mentioned in my post too; I really do like Farah Khan.
And I agree with you on SRK point but it also reminds me of Ekta Kapoor’s stature in the Indian Television scene. These people are at a position to bring in change, variety and stretch the borders since no one will ever question their authority. But still they seem only to be interested in making the moolahs via rotten creativity.
Nov 12th, 2007 at 11:56 am | #
Jesus Christ, you know you were biased before the movie, so what else to expect from you?
Like other so-called “reviewer” Meetu you choice to trash the movie, give gaalis to every - to borrow your word - fucking thing. If you’re so smart, why did you even see the movie in the first place? When you already knew so much then why did you waster your time, what were you expecting? And hellow, how many other spoofs in Bollywood can you name? Its just amazing what all writing in blogs.
Nov 14th, 2007 at 1:38 pm | #
Hey Sakshi,
I thought I’d add my 2 bits being a film buff myself…
Any work of art (cinema, music, theater, paintings…) is subjective. One really can’t be objective and wonder which reviewer is right/wrong/accurate. One just has to observe a trend and follow the reviews of the person we’ve seen our own opinions match with in the past. So I really don’t care how many good or bad reviews these BIG movies get…
I agree OSO screwed up the second half and this movie would not have worked had it not been the overall star power.
But in the past few years, BIG movies like Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, Dhoom 2, Fanaa, Heyy Babyy have worked commercially but were just somebody else’s work re hashed and were not gripping movies with lucid scripts-why single out OSO and SRK for following the trend.
I haven’t yet seen Saawariya but after hearing all the opinions I feel had this been a 90 min movie, without long songs or sets which did not even have a reference of a time period/location, it may have worked. Also, I believe SLB is highly overrated.
P.S.: After seeing Goal’s promotional video, one can see that John has a tough time dancing/emoting… the works… I feel they may not live up to the Chak De success. Also, did you win a lot of dough at your Tash party
Nov 14th, 2007 at 1:58 pm | #
Neeti - Was waiting for you comment.
OSO screwed up on many levels (in my opinion); right from the script to direction to acting. The first was okay but still no where close to 1st grade spoof films be it Hindi or English.
As for Saawariya, 130 mins is not bad for a Hindi film by any standards. I guess the expections from someone like SLB is what actually killed the film. Though I still believe its worth a dekho.
Nov 17th, 2007 at 8:09 am | #
“Now before I proceed, let me get one thing straight – I really like Farah Khan. Be it as a choreographer, a Bollywood personality and a Hindi Phillum buff. The woman is witty and has a wacky sense of humor which so severely lacks in our Mumbai Film Industry” …
Y to justify criticism
Nov 18th, 2007 at 5:54 pm | #
Sakx,
LONG time..!
Saw the movie last night.. I liked it. I don’t care much about intricacies in entertainment (it’s entertainment, after all). Or maybe I am too much a philistine in cinema ethics. All I care about is my quota of laughs. Hell, I laughed my head off in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Again, no reason why.
So, I liked it just because I left the theater feeling oddly light-headed.
Anyway, not that important for me.Bollywood apart, how have you been? I haven’t been here for quite some time. - H
P.S: Oh, I see you have been having a ball with random encounters+interviews.. I think I’ll write to you later..
Nov 18th, 2007 at 6:02 pm | #
And oye.. Am I seeing things or has your sense of quirky humor really shot to Mars this time? What’s with the ‘Jeevansaathi’ ad? Laughing my head off here.
you rock..
Nov 20th, 2007 at 6:15 am | #
Harsh - Boss, it was not the movie but the stress of your studies.
And yes, nice to see you here after so loooong.
Sanjay - Not justifing anything, just stating the fact. I really do like Farah Khan.
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