OSO

OM SHANTI OM… had been in the making since quite sometime… and especially made a lot of news as a part of pre-release propaganda. What follows here are my comments after watching the flick.

The film, basically, has a very kitschy and glossy look. Indians will probably state it as totally ‘filmy’!!! The mise-en-scene is very detailed. And even though the concept gets slightly incongruent sometimes, the stuff put into a frame has been carefully thought over and placed. I had a smile on, all throughout its run. Guess that’s what makes it really ‘filmy’! I later saw an interview where SRK said that he’d like people to have a smile on their faces while watching the movie. Dude…you’ve been successful!

The background score has been done by Sandeep Chowta. The first time I noticed this guy was for his music for Company and then as a judge on Channel[V] Popstars. Then after 2 private albums he slipped into oblivion, except for getting some news-space for his affair with Urvashi Dholakia. Last heard was the break-up that ensued with that fiercely independent lady. Honestly, I don’t know H-O-W Farah reached the conclusion of signing this guy to do the background music?! B-U-T….WHAT a choice!!!!!!!! He’s done an awesome job with the duty assigned. The score conveys the mood of any scene perfectly. Be it building up the tempo in the climax or the contemporary welcome for OK…he’s done it really well. All I wanna say is…WELCOME BACK! But, he needs to slimmen up. And not a little bit… but big time!

The music of the film is by Vishal and Shekhar. Both of them are accomplished artists in their own right. Vishal is a part of the hugely successful rock band Pentagram and Shekhar is a trained classical musician. When paired together, the duo have to their credit some of the most jazzy, hummable and rocking music in recent times. I personally feel that sometimes they give awesome music, Dus, for eg. And sometimes it just borders on average, Shabd, for eg. Maybe it depends on the details furnished by the director, his/her involvement and other such finer nuances. Farah instructed them to use different singers for every song. I later saw an interview where they said that SRK was present during all the recordings to pep them up and give some interesting inputs. See…THAT’S called involvement!!! They’ve done an awesome job with the film’s music. All the hard work shows as the songs convey the vision very well and also help in carry the story forward! A last word on them…the songs have lovely beats…it’s their forte…who can forget ‘dus bahaane..’ from Dus?!!!

As for the story… it’s ‘masala’ to the core! It’s a film about films, there’s a film within the story. At least in Bollywood… most of commercial cinema is based in la-la-land…please don’t look for perfect logic! It may sound weird, but you can conveniently let your brain take a nap and just enjoy the jazz! I wouldn’t bother much about the story, because there are better things to appreciate than the film’s ‘story’!!!!!

~ the climax has been lifted from Madhumati [1958]
~ the element of reality is the depiction of change in the nature of financing movies. Not so long back, movies were ordered to be made who had excess cash and wanted to feel some control. People with good stories had to do a lot to convince an ‘angel’ investor to let them make their story. THAT has somewhat changed now. Many a times, financers collect money from the market and everyone who’s put in their bit gets a share from the profit. And if the movie bombs, the load is shared too! Rajat Kapoor, for example, collected money for Raghu Romeo from people over the net.

The lyrics have been written by Javed Akhtar. And I don’t need to sing paeans of his skill and brilliance. What perplexes me is the fact that HOW can a poet par excellence come up with streety lyrics like ‘…dhoondha maine London paris LA san Francisco…’ or something like that!!! Well, I guess that’s where lies the skill to transcend your great self, come down to underground level and write! But, that ‘…daastaan…’ song…what amazing lyrics! Only a poet can come up with something of that caliber!

Moving on to the casting of the movie, I’ll talk about only those I want to!

Shah Rukh Khan- very himself. No more comments!

Shreyas Talpade- endearing, as always!

Arjun Rampal- frosty. He’s never been able to convince me in ANY of his roles. I’m baffled at how-on-earth does he have people signing him on….god alone knows!

Shahwar Ali- AWESOME! I don’t know how much effort for put into looking for someone to do the role he’s done, but he fits it to the T! He was smart enough to not do any more movies after that dumb flick with Meghana Naidu, and concentrate on his modeling. This has been a great choice to be seen on the big screen.

Vishal- don’t remember which role he played. But…he’s a natural dude!

I liked the fact that Nasser was self-named in his miniscule role as the star’s secy.

And now…possibly the most-awaited debutante of the year…DEEPIKA PADUKONE…is perfectly caste! The media has been very supportive of her, all the propaganda done since a little before she left modeling…has worked tremendously in her favour. Everybody loves her, except Shobhaa De! Talking about her acting skills, well…you never really wanna go gaga over a newcomer. She plays the ‘newcomer’ role perfectly. She has just the right amount of frostiness… dainty… and quite appreciable. As the cliché goes, there’s always a scope for improvement. Just to add, she was chillingly moving in the climax scene.

Hey…they mentioned Arti Gupta Surendranth somewhere in the credits. I didn’t know her maiden name was Gupta!

Hema Malini was sorely missed in ‘…deewangi deewangi…’

And LAST, but not the least…the woman behind this drama…FARAH KHAN! All I wanna say is…keep going, lady! We are ready to lap up your OTT concepts and their execution…they are a great medium to experience escapism!

[she shelved HAPPY NEW YEAR to make this movie, I hope HNY gets made sometime!]