Om Yawnti Om

Picture this. Om Shanti Om at PVR Bangalore 10 pm show, Even before the movie starts, in fact, just when the censor certificate is shown on the screen, a 2-year old girl right at my left starts crying so loudly and keeps crying in spite of being pampered by her parents. I had to resist this terrible urge to comment out loud, "Abhee picture shuru nahi hua hai mere dost." I resisted, but nobody could resist the urge to laugh. Perhaps similar thoughts were on their minds too. The parents of the kid could have no shanti during the movie, and wisely took the kid outside the hall during the first half and they themselves left during the interval, saying "Om Shanti Om". Let's talk of the film now. It is a well-made spoof of Bollywood making the best use of SRK himself, the biggest star in Bollywood now. Farah Khan, the director and the writer, Mayur Puri have shown a good understanding of Bollywood, both of the olden days and of today. The dialogues are witty at several places.

The first half of the movie is loaded with humour, be it the scenes where Om(SRK) and his mom(Kirron Kher) exchange dialogues intentionally cinematic, or the scene where Om in his attempt to woo Shanti, becomes a south indian superstar(no points for guessing who) and performs daredevil stunts interspersed with lines like "Enna Rascala" and "Mind it". That particular sequence is rip-roaringly funny. If the first half is a spoof of the 80s Bollywood, the 2nd half starts off as a spoof of today's Bollywood, making fun of item numbers, of ambitious young directors who want to make the hero entirely disabled, and of Award functions that too with the help of many of the industry's bigwigs including Abhishek Bacchan and Akshay Kumar, making fun of themselves. It is indeed a great achievement for a choreographer-cum-director to bring more than 40 huge stars to feature in a single film, though not under the same roof at the same time. The song "Deewangi" serves this purpose, but doesn't really fit in the movie. The last half-hour of the movie is gripping, Arjun Rampal doing one of his better acts in his career and Deepika looking spooky as hell.

Shahrukh Khan is his brilliant charming self in the movie, first as Om Prakash Makhija and later as Om Kapoor, shortly OK. Deepika Padukone is stunning and is bound to have several more fans after this movie. The role of a beautiful actress Shantipriya fits her like a shoe. She does look awkward in a few dance sequences which is mainly due to her height. Otherwise she has carried herself with aplomb. Shreyas Talpade has played a decent role in the film as Om's friend, Pappu. Two or three of the songs are noteworthy. "Ajab si" tops it all, absolutely. When KK sings "Dil ko bana de jo patang saansein ye teri woh hawaaein hein", one cannot help wondering how his voice lends depth to the lyrics. I personally couldn't determine the reason my chest expanded when listening to these lyrics - whether it was due to my lungs filling with air or my heart filling with emotions. The final song, "Dastaan" is wonderfully picturised in a theatrical manner, and the tune is good too, leaving an impression after the film's over.

So much for the positives of the film. It is a commercial entertainer, but has several lapses and inanities in the screenplay and the storyline. Stunning as much Deepika is, the chemistry between the lead pair doesn't work out that well on screen, naturally. But one must say Farah Khan has improved in this aspect - considering the awful chemistry between Zayed Khan and Amrita Rao in Main Hoon Na. Overall the movie starts off and ends well, but in between it is a huge yawn. Om Yawnti Om.

Pollaadhavan

The latest sign of my little village Vellore developing is the renovation of two theatres or rather reconstruction of two theatres which can boast of standards as good as a Sathyam or a PVR. When I thought that the first movie I had to watch at one of the theatres this Diwali was Dhanush's Pollaadhavan, I didn't feel all that good. But after watching the movie, I had to admit it was "quite a good first movie to watch at the best theatre in town".

Pollaadhavan has no extraordinary storyline. Infact it is one of the very ordinary storylines of a regular rebellious youngster happening to face and ultimately win a battle against the atrocities of the city's gangsters. The storyline may be ordinary, but the screenplay is not, considering it is the debut movie of director Vetrimaaran. The central object of the movie's plot is not the hero but his bike, a Bajaj Pulsar. If Bajaj was a major sponsor for the movie, the movie has done great justice and more to the company. Infact after the movie's success, Bajaj dealers in Tamil Nadu could very well see more sales. Bikers will love this movie, but at the same time will heave a sigh of relief after the movie only if they find their bike where they left it in the stands, especially if it's a Pulsar.

The story is narrated by both the hero and the villain, which is a cinematic technique not new to Tamil Cinema(Remember Virumandi), but a technique well utilised in the movie. The plot doesn't revolve totally around Dhanush who initially is shown as a jobless vagrant who pays no heed to the rebukes of his father, but later on becomes more responsible and learns to respect his father, played by Malayalam actor Murali. The villains in this movie are not the normal kind, who are in the movie solely for the purpose of being beaten up by the hero. Their characterization, especially that of Selvam, played by Kishore adds more value to the movie. Not often do we see a Dada who knows and stands by his business ethics, somewhat a tribute to the legend of Vito Corleone. Daniel Balaji, of Kaakha Kaakha and Vettayadu Vilayadu fame has been utilised well, and his voice in the narrative has great depth.

The heroine, Divya Spandana, or rather "Kuthu Ramya", as we better know her does look more sensuous than in her last Tamil flick. The love track is not all that noteworthy save a few scenes like the shopping scene where the heroine chooses a bright orange coloured skirt, which Dhanush cannot understand how it appears attractive to her, and hence she doesn't buy it. This results in a huge mood-out for the heroine, which is settled after a long time only when Dhanush buys the same orange dress for her. The songs in the movie are one too many, but are worth being a part of the movie except the one that was in the "one too many". The pick of the lot is definitely "Engeyum Eppodhum" which looks so much better on the giant screen than on TV. Yogi B and whoever has done the music, either G.V.Prakash or Dhina have done a great job. This is one of the best remixes that have been made in Tamil.

'Pollaadhavan' has justified advertising Bajaj Pulsar by being 'Definitely Ahead' in the Diwali movies' race this year.