OM SHANTI OM- A Spoof on Bollywood!

Official Website: http://www.omshantiomfilm.com/


Director, Choreographer & Story: Farah Khan
Producer: Gauri Khan
Music Director: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Ramphal, Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher.
Duration: 2:45
Genre: Melodrama, Parody, Romance
Rating: ***1/2

It’s a parody, an extravaganza, a satire on filmi reality, a comic medley, a circus, a spectacle of many events, a total Bollywood masala all crammed into one movie!!

Loosely based on 1980’s Subhash Ghai’s super hit ‘Karz’ , ‘Om Shanti Om’ has the reincarnation of the hero and revenge on the villain theme, woven along with a common man’s Bollywood dream, but besides this, it’s the revivification of 70’s ambience, style, fashion, acting, eccentricities, mannerisms,…the whole nostalgia.

This is the story of ‘Om’ and ‘Shanti’ and ‘Om’! Om Prakash Makhija is the small time actor of the 70’s and ‘Shanti Priya’ a popular superstar of her time. He adores her and idolizes her; she is friendly and responsive but not necessarily reciprocative. A major fire incident changes their lives, one to death and another to rebirth of ‘Om’. Om Kapoor is a successful Filmfare awarded Bollywood actor, enjoying all the big and small desires and dreams he had in his previous life. Born with a fear of fire, he has flashes of memories of his old life, and on further exploration he remembers everything. This leads to avenging the deaths of ‘Om’ and ‘Shanti’.

But ‘OSO’ is also a story about Bollywood. It integrates the fun, funny and sad details of the film industry. It brings out the lives of the junior artists trying to make it big in the industry; It shows that surnames like Kumar, Kapoor, Khan matter for success with references to Govinda Ahuja, Om Makhija ; It features histrionics of an overacting filmy Maa’s ( Kirron Kherr); Highlights trade mark gestures of famous actors (Manoj Kumar episode) ; It models the 70’s dressing along with Bell bottoms and Elvis Presley hairstyles and artificial song settings ( Jitender white pants; badminton song sequences); Mocks the South Indian movie’s wacky gimmicks and jargon ( Rajnikant style ‘yenna rascala’, ‘mind it’!); Rakes up details on star son’s tantrums, fashionably late star schedules and superstars’ powers in influencing the direction of their films( introducing item songs like dard -e- disco) ; It explains how married actress are not easily accepted as heroines(the movie’s secret); It reveals the award ceremonies and their fanfare and favoritism; one actor nominated for multiple movies for similar roles ( Om as Rahul with Amisha Patel ; Om as Rahul with Diya Mirza ); It mocks the heroines’ common reaction to rumors “we are just good friends”; and innumerable such incidents are through out the movie.

Many a personal and biographic detail of Shahrukh Khan is also threaded into the movie which makes OSO so much personal for him! SRK started as a Television actor with a very encouraging mother, he used to have many a dream and desire before he made it big, which he fulfilled in his stardom like his home “Mannat”. He is often critiqued for overacting, which he makes fun of as ‘khandani’ in OSO.

Om Shanti Om will also be talked about for its amazing number 'Dewaangi, Dewaangi' for hosting 31 superstars in one number. It reminds you of Amitabh’s ‘john jani janardhan’ number in Naseeb(1981). The item number ‘Dard-E-Disco’ may not be ‘Dard -e- Dil’ but is good specially with SRK’s newly acquired six-pack abs. 'Dhoom Taana' is 70’s-80’s style pleasant number with unique specials effects of Deepika Padukone dancing with Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Khanna and Jitender besides Shahrukh. Both 'Ajab si' and 'Main Agar Kahoon' with very good lyrics sound melodious old time numbers. Jag Soona Soona Lage is sad and soulful.'Daastaan-E-Om Shanti Om’ doesn’t make the mark and falls short of Karz’s ‘Ek hasina thi’.

Shahrukh Khan acts and looks like Bollywoods superstar. Though his 70’s style image made him look old, the later image was his usual chirpy and charming self. Deepika Podukone makes an excellent debutante. She has a lot of grace and beauty. Shreyas Talpade is a confident actor whatever the role. Arjun Ramphal should continue in his villainous roles, he does a menacing job.


The overdone overacting and the movie racing through scenes shows lack of depth in characters, hence you don’t feel for the characters and situations. But the idea of the whole movie was to continuously wow the viewer, not necessarily make a sensible and logical story. Farah Khan seems to have a blast making the movie, her idea of having fun overflows into the movie. Her style of direction is unique and distinctive, but at times she looses the reins of the glitzy wild fun ride called OSO. Her acknowledgment of every member of the crew of the movie in the end titles shows great team spirit.


This movie can be enjoyed in theatre with a bunch of friends who can relate and laugh with you, about 70’s or 80’s! I did this hence it may have been more enjoyable then otherwise.