Om Shanti Om - Movie Review

Published: June 8, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Kirron Kher

Actor Shahrukh Khan is the ultimate showman, and Om Shanti Om is the perfect stage for his brand of talent. This campy, retro spoof is directed by Farah Khan, who choreographed the Broadway musical Bombay Dreams, and she brings that same theatrical style to her filmmaking, which makes the most of Khan’s strengths. The movie pokes fun at the entire Bollywood film industry—Khan may be the biggest superstar in the world, but he’s not above having a good laugh at his own expense.

The first half of the movie is set in the 1970s—and it’s a tribute to the Hindi films of that decade. The characters—who are wearing humorously cartoonish clothes from that era—have an innocence that could have only existed in the past. Struggling actor Om Prakash (played by Khan) is the son of failed actors. Actress Kirron Kher plays Om’s mother, Bela, in a deliberately over-the-top manner that makes it clear why her character never had much of a career (unlike the talented Kher herself). Om falls in love with an up-and-coming starlet named Shanti (Deepika Padukone in her Bollywood debut), but he’s so lost in his dreams—of fame, of love—that he lacks the relentless drive to make them come true. He’s too sweet to be selfish, and so is Shanti, who’s more interested in having a family than acting. She’s only a star because of her beauty and because she fell in love with the right—or as it turns out, the wrong—man. Actor Arjun Rampal resurrected his flagging career with his turn as the dastardly film producer Mukesh, who drives Om and Shanti apart.

Fast-forward 30 years and Om has been reincarnated as a huge star with the same first name—but this time, he’s a spoiled jerk, the son of a big director, and success has been handed to him. Mukesh returns to Mumbai after years of working in Hollywood—he’s now known as Mike and he’s as slimy as ever. Om starts to get inklings about his past life and he changes for the better. When he meets a wannabe—and appallingly bad—actress named Sandy, she helps him rectify the past.

Om Shanti Om is full of cameos—the title-track musical number alone features appearances by more than 30 Bollywood stars—as well as inside jokes that only those familiar with Bollywood will get (one particular scene at the Filmfare awards ceremony—Bollywood’s Oscars—is hilarious), but anyone with any level of knowledge will realize that the actors are making fun of themselves, providing plenty of laughs. 

Om Shanti Om is rated Must See.

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