Tuesday, February 26, 2008

DVD Review: Om Shanti Om

MOVIE DETAILS

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher
Director: Farah Khan
Producer: Gauri Khan
Music : Vishal Shekhar
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

THE FILM

The film would be remembered for many reasons apart from it's high entertainment value:

a) The promotional overdrive that Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan went on for weeks in advance of the release of the film. Truly, one can't remember when was the last time such vigor was seen for a movie which anyways was a guaranteed success in the making!

b) The so-called clash with Saawariya, which turned out to be such a no-show. The stage was set for a battle royale but Shah Rukh Khan's mere declaration of "I will destroy 'Saawariya'" spoke of great confidence that he had in the film and Farah's capabilities. Result was an anti-climax that saw Om Shanti Om marching ahead from show one with no competition/challenge whatsoever from Saawariya.

c) An amalgamation of one item sequence after another in the three-hour affair. Truly, Om Shanti OmM was a circus that had a dozen odd item sequences tying the script together and resulting in an amusing/entertaining watch.

d) Filmfare awards sequence. Truly the most innovative where no star/actor complained of the spoof at their expense.

e) 31 stars making an appearance for one single song and dance sequence - 'Deewangee Deewangee'. All of this added so much 'masala' to the entire sequence that one wonders how would Farah Khan get something better in her next project?

f) The Manoj Kumar episode where the veteran actor was offended by the joke around his mannerisms. The incident threatened to dilute the thunder created by the film at the stands but some timely intervention by Khan and a few industry seniors saved the situation from turning out rightly ugly.

g) Last but not the least, Shah Rukh Khan's six pack abs that have given business to many a body builders, instructors, dieticians and gym owners!

PACKAGING

The DVD currently on stands belongs to limited edition as it comes in a special cardboard case, which resembles a book. Inside the box is a two DVD case along with an autographed poster of Shah Rukh Khan in his now famous six-pack abs - straight from 'Dard E Disco'. In addition, there is a 16-page booklet, which takes a viewer through a colorful-n-eye catchy professional journey of cast and crew of the film.

DURATION

The film comes in a twin DVD pack with the film's duration being 162 minutes. The second DVD has special features lasting another 150 minutes.

SPECIAL FEATURES

- Director's Commentary
- Making of OSO
- Making of the songs
- SRK & Farah interviews
- Deleted scenes and bloopers
- Promos and Trailers
- Visual Effects
- OSO events (Music launch, Fashion show, London premier, Book launch)
- OSO Trivia Game

Om Shanti Om is one of the most fulfilling, or rather THE most fulfilling DVD, when it comes to special features. Reasons are aplenty with the most exciting being 'Director's Commentary'. For films coming out of India, there are hardly many where directors do take a special effort in coming up with a commentary talking about each and every scene. Heyy Babyy and Johnny Gaddaar are the only recent examples one can recollect. In addition, coming up with a commentary is challenging too since special consideration is required to retain viewer's attention.

In this context, Farah deserves full marks as she not thoroughly entertains a listener while not mincing words when it comes to making fun/light of most of the situations and actors in the film. She talks about number of things that either had gone wrong or could have gone wrong during filming of a particular scene. And she does all of it from her bedroom as she speaks while taking rest as she was 7 months pregnant when her commentary was recorded. Here are some of the highlights of the commentary:

a) She doesn't refrain from announcing once again that her is a filmy-filmy film and the intent was to go all out in making a commercial film rather than trying to be arty or pseudo.

b) How Shah Rukh Khan was challenged to utter his dialogues from DDLJ and Don while being in the same get up and hair as that of Rishi Kapoor from Karz (the opening scene of the film).

c) How Manoj Kumar's episode had threatened to turn ugly.

d) There is an obvious dig at Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) when Farah announces that all protests against Shah Rukh Khan coming out of water with just his jeans on was hardly justified as those few seconds were far more entertaining than the other film makers' entire film.

e) How Arjun Rampal's wig gave her sleep less nights.

f) Introduction/references of close to 50 odd crew members who were in front of the camera acting at some point or other in Om Shanti Om

g) There is a word of appreciation for newcomer Uvika Chaudhary too as Farah believes that she has some way to go if she chooses her projects carefully. She goes to the extent of calling her a mix of Dia Mirza and Amisha Patel

h) How the main hall in the studio indoors, which was later burnt in the film, was inspired by Phantom Of The Opera

i) She clears the air around inspiration of famous Akshay Kumar 'Return of Khiladi' sequence which was reportedly plagiarized

j) Shirish Kunder's idea around showing Shah Rukh Khan walking back into his own memory in the second half of the film

....and many more!

The 'Making of OSO' intelligently refrains from back-patting and instead takes a viewer through the actual behind the scenes footage and what went into getting the right sets, costumes, make up, lighting dance moves etc. in place. The prime cast of the movie along with cinematographer Manikanandan, art director Sabu Cyril, costume designers Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra & Sanjiv Mulchandani take a viewer through their journey of making Om Shanti Om a complete 70's and today's package.

'Making of the songs' is an extensive view as well as Vishal & Shekhar along with Farah Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and others explain majority of songs from the film. One interesting factor, which is highlighted, is around the placement of film's most romantic number 'Aankhon Mein Teri'. It is revealed that originally, the song wasn't in the film at all but later Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan were so impressed by this new tune which Vishal & Shekhar created that they decided to incorporate the song as a part of the film's background score.

'Deleted scenes' are always the most awaited section of a DVD and here too there are many in abundance. Though a couple of them seem quite justified to be chopped off the final cut (the ones featuring Shah Rukh and Shreyas and later Shah Rukh and Kirron), there are at least two sequences that deserved to be a part of the footage. The funniest of the lot is the one where Shah Rukh in his superstar avatar is shown throwing starry tantrums by first coming late on the sets and then refusing to begin shooting on time.

Also the pre-Filmfare awards sequence had many other actors and technicians talking about super star 'Om'. Wish each of these were refrained, especially the one where Vidhu Vinod Chopra turned really catty. What did he say? See it on DVD!

There is a chapter on VFX too where good detailing is given around how Deepika's portions were interspersed with Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra for the 'Dhoom Taana' sequence. Interesting.

Though there are number of major events covered in the DVD - Music launch, Fashion show, London premier, Book launch - the one, which impresses most, is the London premier. If one has heard and read about mass hysteria for Shah Rukh Khan, this is the opportunity to see how it actually happens when he interacts with his fans. It is unbelievable to see the way crowds literally going berserk in their attempt to be with the star. What touches most is the way Khan not just waves and blows kisses with them but also breaks barrier to kiss and hug them.

For those who wish to check their 'Om Shanti Om' gyan, there is also an online trivia game comprising of 21 questions. And mind it, they are not one of those basic - 'What was the name of Arjun Rampal's character in OSO' kind of questions? Instead they get on really challenging. Sample this - "What was the name of Shah Rukh's on-screen character which was 'Mohabbat Man' for the rest of the world?"

However, we are yet to come to the best. And that segment is the one where Cyrus Broacha interviews Shah Rukh Khan, Farah Khan, Arjun Rampal and Deepika Padukone. Instead of a routine Q&A session, this one is a holds-no-bar fun conversation where Cyrus turns out to be the butt of everyone's joke. Watch Shah Rukh and the rest dressing him up in 70's costumes and coming up with one liners and numerous below the belt jokes, all at his expense!

TECHNICAL DETAILS

- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen format
- Subtitles In English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo
- Mastered from High Definition (HD)

PRICE

Rs. 499

CONCLUSION

Everyone knows what Om Shanti Om is all about. It is an unabashed take on entertainment, which is on your face, at places over-the-top and doesn't shy away from taking a dig on itself, Bollywood films and industry in general - all in good humor of course. It is this spoofy treatment to the film, which truly made 'Om Shanti Om' the 'Highest Bollywood Box Office Grosser Ever'. Of course, this pretty much mandates that the film finds an entry pronto in one's DVD collection.

Rating: ****

Bollywood Hungama

Labels: Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone, Eros International, Farah Khan, Javed Akthar, Kirron Kher, Om Shanti Om, Red Chillies Entertainment, Shahrukh Khan, Shirish Kunder, Shreyas Talpade, Vishal-Shekar