Diwali, SRK and SLB

It was certainly one of the most awaited weekends for movie buffs and even the rest of the world (read Indians). Two of the most hyped and awaited movies released on 9th Nov, 07 Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. The former worth its hype and the latter surviving only 'cos of the hype.

OSO was a complete joy ride and a good break from the stereo type movies. Nothing original about it, but every scene kept you completely involved. SRK was at his usual best and Shreyas and SRK were excellent together. The dialogues in the movie were excellent and Kiron Kher did a swell job in her role as the 70's mother. The whole concept of aspiring actors of the 70's was brought out with superior originality, the sets, make up, people and everything was very 70's in nature, one would find it difficult to believe that these people were actually from another era in reality. The aura of filmdom oozes out of every character, big dreams, aspirations and faith that they will make it BIG someday, living everyday only with the hope of becoming a super star. That is what you see in the first half of the film, with Deepika being this dreamy Girl (Hema Malini basically) 'Shanti Priya' who SRK 'OmPrakash Makhija' is completely in love with. The movie opens with the Om Shanti Om song shoot from Karz where SRK and Farah Khan are seen in the audience cheering to Rishi Kapoor's performance (taken from the actual movie). Om is this extra artiste who is completely in love with Shantipriya the super star. he saves her in one of the fire scenes during a shooting hence they become friends. Shanti is secretly married to Arjun, the producer of the movie Om Shanti Om in the film. He is the villain in the movie who kills her for his own goals of making it big (she gets pregnant and he does not find her useful to be the heroine) etc. Again in the course of saving her both Om and Shanti die and Om is reborn to Rajesh Kumar the successful superstar. The latter half of the movie is the revenge part on the lines of Karz. Though the story line of the movie has been repeated multiple times over the years, there is a fresh look to the movie and it keep the audience charged right till the end. This was a feast for movie goers.

Coming to Saawariya, it is a story told by Rani (a prostitute) like she sees it in her dreams. So basically a fantasy of a real happening is narrated to us. In a 'blue city' arrives this young lad who is a singer in a bar in a locality where there are prostitutes and their likes. He meets Rani who helps him find a place to stay (Zohra Sehgal is the land lady whose dead son was an army officer). He reminds her of her son and there are a few very cute scenes with Ranbeer and Zohra. On the streets of this 'blue city' he finds 'Sakina' running through thee streets late at night and falls in love with her 'Love at first sight' et al... There is a song followed by a few dialogues and in a few we get to know that she is already in love with Salman Khan who was a paying guest at her place (she lives with her blind aunt and a care taker) and is waiting for him to retun on Id. Inspite of knowing this Ranbir still hopes that she will come to him and forget this lover guy. So basically nothing much happens and the movie drags on with a few songs here and there, Sonam keeps giggling unnecessarily with a lack of genuinity. Towards the end even the audience thinks that Ranbir and Sonam will stay together, however that soon is proved wrong with Salman Khan returning in the last scene of the movie and Sonam going back to him and dumping Ranbit at the bat of an eyelid. At the end of the movie one wonders why SLB made a movie with such a weak story line, further when two young actors are introduced in a film the audience wants to see them together rather than apart. The promos of the movie misled the audience to believe that it was a love stroy between Ranbir and Sonam and it was completely difficult to digest anything otherwise. The movie got its audience only because OSO was showing to full houses and people who came to the multiplexes did not want to return home without watching a movie. It was a wasted effort for Ranbir Kapoor who definetely showed the potential to be a good actor and Sonam had no role really in the movie in terms of dialogues etc. to prove her acting capabilities. She looked good and so did he.

Well so much for the Diwali weekend...