Monday, November 12, 2007

All ShowBazi and No Soul churns out a Dud!!!


This Diwali was supposed to be the clash of the Titans: SRK Vs SLB. But going by the initial buzz it proved to be futile battle. Let me present my perspective of the first of the two movies: Om Shanti Om (OSO). I know its not going to please the major section of the cinemagoers, but for me it’s the harsh reality and everyone should accept it. Here comes my take on OSO:

Smart, Very Smart….Infact Over smart: As we all know the movie is based on the Re-Incarnation theory and aspired to take the Karz-sque movies to a different level altogether. Farah succeeded to do that, OSO has taken Re-Birth genre of movies to an unkown level: A level called below-par. I think Farah, before starting her mission impossible, should have taken a crash course from Subhash Ghai and Rakesh Roshan who have given us the Hitzz like Karz and Karan-Arjun based on the same nucleus of plot. Her debut movie, though, was also senseless and baseless but with the right mix of humor and masala she somehow made it a Box-Office hit. But this time, the sense is too less and base is no where and as far as humor is concerned Farah need not to step out of her house, take a tip-or-two from Heyy Babyy- Sajid.

Seventies Re-invented: Whole first half revolves around the Bollywood of Seventies. The Costumes, the Cars and everything around that gives a nice feel-good of arguably the best era of the Indian Cinema. The song Dhoom Tanna created by using special effects is joy to watch. But presenting the Duplicates of the yesteryear stars was really ridiculous, especially because they were not presented as their duplicates, but the star themselves. The story has no impetus wat-so-ever and made a bit watchable by the antics of SRK and his friend played by Shreyas Talpade and not to forget Deepika Padukone who makes a confident debut.

Lost it Completely: It seems that INTERVAL tag comes pretty soon in the movie, not because its entertaining stuff in the first half, but the story was no where till the light comes on in the Theatre. And one has to wait till eternity to see the THE END to be flashed on the screen. Its so disastrously slow in second half with each and every sequences-to-follow was almost predictable. The dialogues that looks refreshing in the first half were reprised that many times in second half that it loses its originality. I should have listened to Shahrukh when in the very first hour he screamed: BHAAGOOO, I did’nt fled from the Theatre in a hope to watch something to rave about, but it never came.

Vishal-Shekhar Rocks: The music by Vishal-Shekar is a winner and most of the songs are chartbusters already. Aankhon me Teri and Main agar kahoon soulfully penned by Vishal-Javed Akhtar combo and were made hummable by the sheer brilliance of Kay-Kay and Sonu Niggam respectively. Jag Soona Soona laage by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is also soothing to ears and is shot in the movie to capture the emotional trauma of the Protagonist. The title track with 31 stars is really treat to watch, anyways, Farah….who’s dress-designer for SRK in this song? Manish Or Karan? “Gawdy” is the word for that costume, u guyzz can do lot better. Dastan-E-OSO was made a replica of Ek Haseena thi from Karz. While the latter one is still milestone, the former one would be lost into oblivion with a blink of your eyes. Dard-E-Disco is peppy dance number showcasing the Six-pack-Abs SRK but above the well-toned body the growing wrinkles and weird looking hair style, presents an ugly truth. This song meant to be taking a dig at the Item songs in Bollywood prevailing nowadays, but the very situation in this movie itself can be questioned.

King might lose his Throne: SRK is at its hamming and stammering best in the movie especially in the second half. He was well within his limitations in the first half but he goes over-board in the second half. Its really pity that even at this stage of his career he’s afraid of taking heads-on to the challenges and still wants to play it safe. Its time he should get out of his shell of top-banners and takes up the gaunlet. SRK fans have to keep OSO on the same memory shelf within the elite club of Guddu, 1-2 ka 4, Phir bhi …, KANK and few other forgettables. I want few more Chak de from SRK to make his Swades proud. These craps should be left to any other actor, Om can be played by anybody but it takes steel to enact Kabir Khan.

Silver Linings: Deepika Padukone is the lone saving grace of the movie. She looked gorgeous while portraying the character of 70’s super-actress. She looks scintillating in sarees and hot in shorts. Farah scores in a way she showcased her in the movie. We’ve to watch out for this gal in near future. Art Direction by Sabu Cyril is of top-class and Cinematography by Manikandan is awesome too. Akki-special spanning two-minutes is the high point of the movie.

Harjeet’s Verdict: While promoting the movie, Farah gone in records saying that “Inspite of making Main Hoon Na” Audiences have given us chance to make another movie”. I like to assure Farah, if sanity prevails in SRK-Biased movie-buffs, then you won’t get third chance.
This time…No ifs, No Buts….Stay away from OSO and You’ll find Peace.