Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
Take it easy - Om Shanti Om
TOO CONTRIVED: Saawariya
Genre: Comedy
Director: Farah Khan
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan,
Deepika Padukone, Arjun
Rampal, Shreyas Talpade
Storyline: A junior artiste from the 70s is reborn as a superstar to avenge the death of his lady-love.
Bottomline: Time Machine! Gets you past 150 minutes in no time!
They call it the climax for
no ordinary reason. Because,
by definition, it is
the single highest point of
the film's glory, the culmination
of the great `dastaan,'
speci?cally in this
case: the love story. That's
probably where `Om Shanti
Om' stumbles, `mere dost.'
`Om Shanti Om' is a
light-hearted tribute to
Hindi cinema the way we
know it and love it, in spite
of its flaws, improvisation
and implausibility. It is also
an unabashed celebration
of willing suspension
of disbelief. Right at the very
beginning when Rishi
Kapoor prances on stage to
the original `Om Shanti
Om' from Karz, Farah de-
fines where they are coming
from. The audience. As
fans celebrating the song
and dance routines they
love.
So even if she gets a Manoj
Kumar duplicate
chased around with a lathi,
or spoofs Bhansali (a hero
with multiple disabilities
of eyes, ears and speech on
a wheelchair with no arms
to push it, spits out the
flowers to bless his unrequited
love on her wedding)
or pulls Abhishek Bachchan's
leg for his ghost appearance
in `Dhoom 5' or
pokes fun at SRK for doing
the same thing in different
movies, Farah also neatly
ties it all up in the end sparing
not herself either. It's
almost like Farah got this
great idea for a twist in the
tale and just slapped it
right at the end after setting
it up for the great glorious
revenge saga we are
anticipating with all the
`Karz' references.
Neat story
Honestly, we as the audience
don't care too much
about how the bad guy gets
his cheeks kicked as long as
the love story is neatly
wrapped up and the `happily-
ever-after' follows. This
is no `Kill Bill' and revenge
served cold does not dish
out any feel-good factor.
Besides, the bad guy is an
old, lonely, harmless man
now. Whatever happened
to the love story the very
reason we go to such movies,
especially, the ones
where SRK does the same
thing over and over again?
That apart, the movie is a
hell of a party, a bits-andpieces
blockbuster strung
together with a series of
laughs, songs and dances.
SRK shows us why he's the
rock star of our times. Deepika
arrives in style to stay.
Shreyas with little to do is
still an endearing performer
and Arjun Rampal
should've got a meatier
role. Kirron Kher with horrible
make-up in the second
half gets to reprise her
`Maa' role and even says exactly
the same line from
`Main Hoon Na.' Vishal-
Shekar's score gives you
goose-bumps and Farah
shows Bhansali what a musical
really needs apart
from great music: energy,
style, soul, drama and the
laughs surely help.
SUDHISH KAMATH
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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