Om is where the Heart Is

If you want to know the secret of how Govind Ahuja became Govinda and the secret formula behind Maine Pyar Kiya's dialogues, then you will have to go and meet the Forrest Gump of Bollywood - Om Prakash Makhija.

As a junior artiste in 70s Bollywood, he out-Gumps good ol' Forrest in meeting celebrities, shaping history, dispensing philosophy and being sweet natured. But unlike modern American history, Bollywood is not something you can squeeze in just one lifetime. So he makes a comeback as Om Kapoor (a.k.a OK!) and almost the entire current film industry assembles to pay homage. (BTW, there is a raging debate on whether 'that 31-star' song has 30 stars + SRK = 31 or 31 stars + SRK = 32.)

Way too much stuff has been written about the SRK's six-packs and Deepika's on-off affairs to leave any space for the avalanche of spoofs that just keep raining at you from the moment the lights dim and that continue till well after the lights come on. If you are interested in Bollywood, you can keep chuckling at the in-jokes of the film. If you are not, then you can just cheer Saif-Salman-Sanjay-SRK taking their clothes off on a bar counter.
But if you are a Bollywood trivia buff, then you would remember that in the Om Shanti Om song of Karz, Rishi Kapoor throws his jacket in the crowd and there is a scramble for it between a couple of junior artistes. After watching OSO, you know that those two artistes were actually Om Prakash Makhija and one Farah Khan - lovely!

And if all else fails, there is the one-liner of the decade.
Karan Johar comes on the Filmfare Awards stage and says, "Heere ka kadar sirf johri kar sakta hain. Aur hero ka kadar sirf Johar hi kar sakta hain..."

All Hot Girls and Cool Boys, raise your hands and sway when you watch Om Shanti Om!

Comments

Anonymous said…
awesome review befitting such an awesome movie.
and what do you have to say about anarkali being played by madhubala and not bela makhija?
udayan said…
Farah was good.

SRK was bad.

No one else mattered a great deal.