Om Shanti Om by SHRESTHA

Aasish Shrestha

Review #5

Om Shanti Om

2007’s Om Shanti Om is the second film by Bollywood’s only successful female filmmaker, Farah Khan. It is also her second film that we watched as a class after 2004’s Main Hoon Na. The two were the most hilarious and entertaining films that we watched this semester, including K3G, and all starring Shah Rukh Khan. SRK also produced MHN and OSO with his wife, Gauri Khan. I liked how we watched MHN as our first film as an introduction to Bollywood and ended the class with OSO after we’ve learned so much and now a lot familiar with the film industry and its stars. OSO had more stars in the film than all of the stars combined in the 13 movies we saw over the semester. I don’t know whether to say if the movie was a parody or a tribute to Bollywood… maybe both. It was also the first time that I saw in a Hindi film that the term “Bollywood” being emphasized as it was in OSO… but in a good way.

SRK plays Om Prakash Makhija in the first half of the film. Om is a struggling junior artist who wants to make it in the Bollywood film industry as its biggest star. He is madly in love with the industry’s current leading actress, Shantipriya (Deeepika Padukone, who was phenomenal opposite SRK in her debut film). The two finally meet on set when Om rescues her from a burning field of fire. This is a reference to Sunil Dutt rescuing Nargis from a fire during the shooting of 1957’s Mother India. Om and Shanti become acquainted afterwards, however, Shanti is in love with her selfish and manipulating husband, Mukesh aka Mike (Arjun Rampal). Mike betrays Shanti after she tells him that she is pregnant with his child. Mike leaves her to her burning death. Om witnesses all this but also dies trying to save her. He is reincarnated as the child of a famous lead actor, Rajesh Kapoor. 30 years later, Om Prakash Makhija becomes Om Kapoor aka OK. He is now the spoiled star child who cares less about being a good actor and is only in the film industry due to his last name and status. He suddenly has a recollection of his past life during one of his shootings on the same set as Shantipriya’s incomplete film. Then, as he is announced the best actor in the Filmfare awards ceremony, everything about Om Prakash Makhija comes back to him. OK sees Om, the junior artist, giving an acceptance speech and realizes how fortunate his current life is. He also remembers Om’s family and what happened to Shantipriya. With the help of the old Om’s family, OK plots to make Mike pay for his sins. OK, an Om look-alike, also runs into Sandy, a Shanti look-alike. They try to scare Mike as much as possible at first, but the cunning Mike soon finds out about their scheme. However, to everyone’s surprise, the real ghost of Shantipriya shows up to kill Mike once and for all. The film ends, but the “picture is not yet over, my friend.” Farah Khan’s signature ending credits style is again displayed in OSO with every single cast and crew making a cameo. It is always fun to watch the people behind the camera who worked so hard on the film get a chance to appear on screen. All in all, it was a great Bollywood motion picture.

The soundtrack to OSO is amazing. I personally love all the songs. There are songs like ‘Ajab Si’ and ‘Main Agar Kahoon’, which are just great to listen to, and then there are tracks like ‘Dhoom Taana,’ ‘Dard-e-Disco,’ and ‘Deewangi Deewangi’ which makes you want to get up and dance. The video for ‘Dhoom Taana’ was extraordinary. The special effects are remarkable. The inserts from classic Bollywood movies are well done. I think this was a first for Indian cinema. The last song called ‘Dastaan-e-Om Shanti Om’ summarizes the entire first part of the movie. The music video for this song is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Phantom of the Opera because of the cinematic style and costumes. The costumes in the first half of the film were well put together. The make-up and costumes really made it seem like it was set during the 70s. Other videos like SRK’s sensual, abs exposing, dream sequence, male item number for ‘Dard-e-Disco,’ and the who’s who of Bollywood cameo, multi-starrer “Deewangi Deewangi’ were modern and illustrated the culture and fashion of today.

The film contained numerous intertextual and filmic references that made the film so interesting and amusing to watch. The movie referenced many classic and popular Bollywood films, famous actor and actresses, film characters, dialogues, and cinematic styles. After watching so many films in class, OSO seemed funnier, relatable, and the clichés and inside jokes were comprehensible.