OSO is high on Entertainment!

My trip to Canada was scheduled right after Diwali and I had to fly out of India during the Diwali weekend. Happy I was on the prospect of getting a chance to visit another country, but what upset me was the fact that I was going to miss the 2 major Diwali releases of Bollywood- Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. Thanks to a visit by my cousin and his wife during X'mas, we made this quick plan to catch up with OSO at the local cinema and here I was getting sucked into the world of non- stop entertainment created so skillfully by the indomitable Farah Khan! Om Shanti Om is a tribute by Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan to the Bollywood of the 70's which they have grown up on and is spot on as far as its intentions are concerned. The story lands up in the 2K's during the second half and almost all major heroes and all major cliches in present day Bollywood is also made fun of in a tongue- in- cheek manner. Full credit to Farah for having come up with something as bold as this... OSO starts as the story of Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan) a struggling junior actor who along with his friend Pappu (the incredible Shreyas Talpade) dreams of making it big in Bollywood some day. Om falls for the charm of "Dream Girl" Shanthipriya (Deepika Padukone), the reigining superstar and gets a chance to get close to her by saving her from a fire that breaks out on the sets of her new film. As he gets close to the actress, he learns that she is married to producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Ramphal) and is pregnant with his child. The scheming self that Mukesh is, he asks Shanti to abort the child and when she refuses, he sets her ablaze in a set constructed for his new film. In his efforts to save Shanti, Om too loses his life. Circa 2007. Om is reborn as OK aka Om Kapoor, the reigning superstar and son of an yesteryear superstar (Javed Sheikh). OK is the toast of Bollywood and is unabashedly arrogant of his superstar status. His new film starts rolling at the same set at which Shantipriya was set ablaze earlier and once he lands up there, he starts getting visions of what had happened to him in his previous avtaar. How he recognizes his mother, dear friend Pappu and his enemy Mukesh Mehra in his current avtaar and how he takes revenge for Shanthi's death with her lookalike Sandy aka Sandhya is what the rest of the film is all about. Farah Khan has always been about fun and entertainment and the lady, apparently, is getting better with time. To make a film on something highly unbelievable as reincarnation in today's age is something and to come up trumps, that too by making it the biggest hit of the year, is another. Believe me, the lady delivers and she does so in style. Being the most celebrated choreographer in Bollywood helps and having the king of Bollywood for your producer, helps even better. This is evident from the plethora of stars who make fleeting appearances in the movie- everybody from Amitabh Bachchan to Vidya Balan express their solidarity towards the Khan duo by appearing on camera for this movie. V Manikantan's cinematography is fabulous and so is the art direction. Editing by Shirish Kunder is good. Vishal- Shekhar have come up with another chartbuster album and all the songs are well penned, well tuned and very well picturised. "Aankhon mein teri" is one of the best romantic melodies heard in recent times, "Dard e Disco" burns the dance floors and "Dekho dekho" is pure eye candy. Arjun Rampal as the menacing Mukesh Mehra delivers a strong performance. His classy looks add to the value of his acting. Kirron Kher is impressive as Om Makhija's mother. Deepika Padukone makes a fresh and impressive debut with OSO. She has been packaged very well and looks extremely alluring. Deepika has it all- beauty, class, elegance and talent- and all of them in abundance. She is definitely the most promising thing to have happened to Bollywood in 2007. Shah Rukh Khan stands tall, carrying the entire movie on his shoulders and generously exhibiting his newly acquired six pack abs. The man has star power, energy, charisma and in fact, everything that works. With OSO coming in after that power packed performance in Chak De India, SRK proves beyond doubt that he is the "Superstar" of Bollywood and that he is here to stay. OSO is brainless Bollywood at its best. Dont miss it!!!