Om Shanty Om

After reading every review praising Om Shaanti Om vis-a-vis Saawariya, I had to see OSO before the Bhansali dud. I guess the reviews were written comparing the 2 movies or just for some plain hard cash. Well I didnt get my share so heres the truth as I see it.

The film starts off with Om Prakash Makhija (Srk) as a commoner extra in the movies and a fan\admirer of a starlet Shaanti Priya (Deepika). This seems reminiscent of the RGV flick Mast. The twist being, Om has ambitions of becoming a big star himself. What follows is a charade of almost every old actor in the business. A lot of it tastefully, some not so. This part is quite entertaining, I must say. Om saves Shaanti from a fire disaster ala Sunil Dutt-Nargis. Theres a very funny 'Rascalaa Mind it sequence' Unfortunately she is already in love with a producer Mukesh (an odd looking Arjun Rampal) The brief friendship between Om and Shaanti ends with their death courtesy Mukesh.
Flash-forward 25 yrs (or whatever) and you see Om reincarnated as Om Kapoor aka OK. He is a star son and we are served with a lot of funny anecdotes about star tantrums. But soon OK recalls his earlier birth and goes on a mission to make things right with the old producer rechristened from Mukesh to Mikey (an even odder looking Arjun Rampal). Deepika makes an appearance as a starstruck Sandhya aka Sandy and what follows is a comic revenge plot against Mikey. Sound familiar? Maybe you saw the stylish yet unsuccessful Sanjay Gupta caper "Hameshaa".

So is Om Shaanti Om justified the box office collections, hell no! What works for OSO is a good music track, Srk's new found abs and of course the divine looking Deepika. The movie is more or less a spoof of the 70s movies....but hey wasn't 'Main Hoo Naa' a 70s movie spoof as well? hey wait wasn't it made by Farha Khan? Well you shud get used to it now. Sooraj Barjatya makes wedding videos, Ramsays make 'scary' movies.....and well Farha makes spoofs. So get over it. The biggest downside to this movie is a complete lack of chemistry between Deepika and Srk. Though they look like million dollars individually, together they look well like Dad and daughter...well lets say big bro small sis to be non-acerbic. I would have thought Om could be played by a younger actor like Saif and this would have been a better movie. Regardless of the great box office collections, OSO would not find a place in my all time gr8 SRK movies....let alone all time great movies. But then again who cares? Go see this one for Deepika if you are a guy! Go watch it for Srk's 6 pack if you are a SRK fan! For the rest just have some guffaws!