Like This Only :). Review on Om Shanti Om

Farah khan’s Om Shanti Om IS a fun-filled affectionate tribute to the hindi film industry. If that sounds like I am stating the obvious, look at the strange reactions this film has garnered. People are actually wondering “who does Farah think she is? How can she poke fun at our legends?” But then she is just not aiming to do that. She is in fact giving Bollywood a hug and saying yes we are like this only, full of flaws yet so lovably unique. Every aspect of the film is oriented towards this objective. The story itself has been “designed” to accommodate specifics about the industry that Farah clearly adores. So where’s the question of a “plot”? If the movie tells a story it is of Bollywood itself – and it does that in a sort of  bollywoodish genius way. For the average bollywood buff the film is an absolute treat - if his attitude is irreverent enough. The what-to-do-we-are-like-this-only look at her industry has earned Farah a very mixed response apparently. But the movie in its second week is running to packed houses.

I enjoyed the film so much that I have seen it twice. The first time I saw it in an old “film hall” called Golcha in Jaipur. The audience was simply fantastic. There were ceetees galore at every opportunity and when the stars came to dance to the title song they went as berserk as if it were a live show. It was a fabulous experience. One can see why Amitabh smugly replied that he did make films for the front-benchers when his films were accused of being low-brow so as to cater to the front-benchers. Second-time round I saw it in a multiplex in Mumbai to an uber thanda crowd that simply did not react(though they stayed glued to their seats while the credit song played). Iam assuming many of them were watching it for the second time too.  Even so I was not bored in the least.

Now I am the first to run down the typical masala film – I honestly do not enjoy the formulaic stuff. Yet I love Bollywood - I love the drama, the glamour and the starry aura of the popular actors. Maybe it is the fact that I have grown up watching these films and I do have a keen interest in Bollywood that accounts for why I loved this film. I did not even like Main Hoon Na except in a vague the-director-is-promising-though kind of way. But here Farah does a fantastic job. She goes back to the formulas we grew up on and tells us in her tongue-in-cheek way – what is not to love in this, our very own version of filmmaking?

And the best part is, the industry has matured enough to laugh at itself fondly. The movie is like one big item number that gives you glimpses of what it means to be part of bollywood. The industry today is such a phenomenon a zillion others feed on its glamour and reach. At this stage how fitting that a film celebrating its very existence should come our way. From the utterly beautiful dream girl of a heroine to the cliché-ridden superstar hero the film gives it all. Shahrukh is probably the most confident superstar ever – he can even make money by doing a caricature of himself. If he and his coterie(yes, they will have to be called that) have forced a change in the way bollywood perceives itself isn’t it just a fact? Whats to resent in this?

The film is a treasure for the way it has recaptured filmmaking in the seventies. Yet it does so in a humorous way so that we make a trip down nostalgia lane without sniffling. Look at the visuals of a hindi film in the seventies, compare that to the look today. We were such sentimental fools then(ek chutki sindoor) and how little we have changed really(Swiss alps in the background). It is a joyride – this film. And you can take your brains along too. Mmmmm waah Farah!