Dance Party Movie Review: Om Shanti Om

Last night the Lovely Mona and I watched Om Shanti Om, starring Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. It is a fun film, especially if you've been watching Bollywood films for a while.The first part of the film takes place in the Bollywood of the 1970's. Shahrukh plays Om Prakash Makhija, a "Junior Artiste" with bit parts in many films. His friend Pappu keeps telling him that he must change his name if he is going to be "a hero" (a leading man). Deepika Padukone plays Shantipriya, a famous star. Om is madly in love with Shanti, but since he is a Junior Artiste, she barely knows he's alive. This changes when he saves her life on the set of a film. Of course, they are not able to get together due to circumstances. I will tell you that he attempts to save her life one more time but they both die. He is reincarnated as Om Kapoor (one of the names Pappu had suggested) and the film moves ahead thirty years. Om Kapoor is a Hero, a big star. Om goes to the burned set of the original "Om Shanti Om" and experiences memories of his past life. He remembers that he and Shanti had died in a fire that was set by Mukesh Mehra, Shanti's husband, and he decides to bring Mukesh, or Mike ("call me Mike, everyone in Hollywood does") to justice. Om Prakash finally takes over from Om Kapoor and he reunites with his mother and Pappu, who he enlists in his plan to bring Mukesh to justice.

There is a very funny scene at a Film Award program, and a song Om Shanti Om in which practically everyone in Bollywood appears (it's a catchy tune; I'm still singing it). Another great song in the film is Dard-E-Disco (Pain of Disco) in which Shahrukh spends most of his time without a shirt, showing that he has been working out lately. Shahrukh is wonderful, as always. This is the incredibly beautiful Deepika Padukone's first film and she is wonderful. I hope that what happened to Mahima Chaudhry doesn't happen to Deepika. Mahima's first film was Pardes, also with Shahukh Khan, and she was marvelous in that film but hasn't done anything that good again.

The film really takes a strange turn when it moves ahead thirty years, but it all makes sense at the end. It is a typical Shahrukh Khan film: lots of humour, lots of action, lots of singin' and dancin'. It was released last year, but, as usual, the Lovely Mona and I were a bit late getting the DVD, but we really enjoyed it. La Familia Dresbach dice: "Check it out!"