Om Shanti Om

Weeks of listening to dard-e-disco and deewangi-deewangi had to make an impact somewhere, and it did by making me go to the first ever first-day-first-show in my lifetime. Add to that that it was a Thursday night! I knew that this movie had a rebirth theme similar to the unforgettable karz, which remains one of my all time favorite movies (including the music that haunts even today).

The first half of Om Shanti Om was a roller coaster with thoughtful direction from Farah Khan and good performances by Shreyas Talpade and Shahrukh Khan, whose popularity made the theater clap with a roar on his first scene. The 70s setting was created very well including the songs and the humor. It was really funny to see Shahrukh act in the 70s style. The post-interval part brought to light the forte of Arjun Rampal as an actor. He was more expressive (even without any dialogue) than Shahrukh Khan in a few scenes. I was let down by the last 40 minutes mainly because of the known story. The twist in the end, however, seemed to be innovative, but my sister told me later that the climax was exactly same as in the 1958 Bimal Roy masterpiece madhumati, the first Hindi movie on the rebirth concept. Don’t I feel lucky for not having seen madhumati?

On the whole, even though Farah Khan picked up the story, concept and the screenplay to a certain extent from earlier blockbusters, the movie is a complete entertainer. A “paise wasool” movie even for those who don’t care about Shahrukh Khan. I am waiting to go to see Saawariya next.