The title just about sums up the little bit of suspense that
envelops SRK’s latest starrer. Ofcourse, the storyline has now been told a
million times on our promotional TV channels and newspapers/magazines, so I will
skip that. But what I will tell you are the following:
Shah Rukh Khan: **His screen
presence can leave any novice wishing he had one. Dress him up in the
worse shirt and trouser, and he will still get many heads to turn. Get him
to mouth all the clichés in the world, and he will still deliver a
superhit like it has happened with OSO that has beaten several records not
only in India but also in the UK and the US. Indeed, ‘someone above is
happy’ with him as he had said many moons ago. And that someone continues
to be happy till date.
Deepika Padukone: **She has an
effeminate screen presence that is a perfect foil to SRK’s. So when SRK
credits Deepika for the success of the film, he could well be partly
right. She is indeed eye candy. Ofcourse, she needs to now concentrate on
her acting, but then, knowing a heroine’s role, there isn’t much scope for
acting in Bollywood potboilersanyway. So she can heave a sigh of relief
and continue to dazzle us on screen.
Farah Khan:It’s her
attitude to filmmaking and her easy confidence that works for her. She has
never made any attempts at couching the storyline, or hiding the source of
her storyline. She is in fact made that her USP and delivered a hit,
keeping all the clichés that are considered the bane of Hindi cinema. As
Himesh Reshammiya says on the reality shows, this is “fantastic, awesome, mind-blowing!’
Arjun Rampal:He needs to work
on his facial muscles that lend an important role in the acting
department. That is missing. Ofcourse, this has a hidden advantage. None
of his co-stars will ever feel threatened sharing screen space with him,
because his acting is far from menacing. He has neither the growl of Amrish
Puri nor the steeliness ofPran.
Vishal-Shekhar:The young music
directors know what it takes to transport you to a different world where joy
reigns supreme. From the background score to the peppy number where 31
Bollywood stars join hands to celebrate Khan’s superstar status, they have
gone hammer and tongs in making the music a more than saleable commodity. My
favourite: ‘Tumko paaya hai to jaise khoya hoon, kehna chahoon bhi to
tumse kya kahoon, kisi zabaan bhi, woh lavs hi nahin, ki jin mein tum ho
kya, tumhe bata sakoon…’
Reincarnation:Don’t know
if there is such a thing, but there’s one thing that is still a mystery.
How many times have you noticed that a certain event in your life doesn’t
seem new, and you’ve experienced it before? A sense of déjà vu…Maybe, we’ve
dreamed about our future, and we feel it’s happened before. Maybe, it’s a
repeat of a similar event in the past. Or maybe, it’s an incident from
our previous birth. Maybe.
Publicity:The media went
into a frenzy. The public’s expectations reached sky-high. It was a gamble
that could have repeated the monster failure of another much-hyped film,
Boney Kapoor’s multi-crore dud, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. Coupled with Hollywood’s
entry into Hindi films with Saawariya through Sony Pictures, the stage was indeed set for a
royal encounter. SRK even went to the extent of saying, ‘The
publicity budget of Saawariya was equal to the budget of OSO’. But in the end,
joy(OSO) won over sorrow(Saawariya). Strangely, this was in sync with the
spirit of Diwali where good triumphs over evil. Not that Saawariyawas a colossal failure. I loved the art direction,
the cinematography, the big-screen feel, the colours, the moods, the sets…
but then, there was no soul, no drama, no suspense. It’s perfect as an
experiment, but in a commercial set-up, it’s important to keep the viewer
glued to the screen. Otherwise, it could spell disaster. And statistics prove
me right here. While OSO has been declared a blockbuster, Saawariya’s
collections have been disappointing, particularly in the second week,
while OSO’s collections have remained rock steady. This is only the
beginning. **Abhi picture baaki hai mere yaar!
RATING: 3.5 stars
