"Life's like a film, it always has a happy ending; if it's not happy then it's not yet the end."
Hello everyone!
I'm starting to slowly accumulate these as I make my way through various different movie careers for actors I genuinely enjoy watching on screen (either because of talent or because - welp, we shallow like that - they're just drop-dead-gorgeous).
I've had this one on the list for QUITE some time, wanting to start with it because it's the Hindi introduction of probably my favourite Bollywood actress thus far, so of course I was going to watch it.
Then I got sidetracked.
Then things happened.
And then finally, this weekend, I sat down and powered through it!
So get out those bell-bottoms, because we're time-traveling back to when they were first popular in Om Shanti Om.
Seeing as I'm still doing this WIP, I'll be listing ALL the movies I've seen thus far from Bollywood down at the bottom of this page, until I start accumulating them, at which point they'll be in separate categories and stuff.
Onwards!
Om Shanti Om tells the story of Om (SRK), a junior artist who keeps getting only minor roles in movies even though he practically lives on the studio lot, and he dreams of becoming a superstar hero, He also, conveniently, has an obsessive crush on the current It Girl, Shantipriya (Padukone).
When I say obsessive, I kind of mean it, considering the time he doesn't spend at the studio lot, he spends at her ginormous poster talking to her like she was already married to him!
It's kinda creepy but also kinda works in this movie? Because he's not DANGEROUSLY obsessed with her, just completely star-struck and in love, although I'll admit that it becomes harder to swallow when both his bestie Pappu and his mom feed into this obsession - normally speaking, your family and friends would get you back onto solid ground when you were daydreaming, but anyway.
Om actually ends up literally entangled with Shanti during the premiere of her new movie when his bracelet snags on part of her outfit, but it isn't until later when he's got a small role in her new film that they actually connect. See, she gets caught in a real fire on-set, and the actor who was supposed to rush in and save her bails, so Om's the one who goes in there to get her out.
He then explains to Pappu that literally nothing else matters, not to him - not his life, not the money, not a career, nothing above Shanti, explaining in a touching speech (which Shanti also overhears, by the way, standing RIGHT behind him) just what she means to him.
They then begin a tentative friendship, during which Om convinces her that she's allowed to be happy, and she gifts him a snow globe of two people dancing.
HE thinks it's true love, but SHE'S got other things in mind. See, she's trying to salvage a relationship of her own, one Om doesn't know about until he follows her to her makeup room where she squares off against the movie's producer, Mukesh (Rampal).
Turns out, surprise! They've been married for two years, but he refuses to acknowledge her in public because nobody's going to be watching some married woman's flicks, she needs to be innocently sexy and single to draw in the masses.
Shanti then reveals she's pregnant, which MIGHT throw a hitch in these plans of his, and her husband seems to relent, promising to reveal their relationship to the world ... which doesn't quite happen. A heartbroken Om follows Shanti one last time, only for us to hear that her hubby dearest is about to burn the set of the movie Om Shanti Om to the ground - with her in it.
Om, recognizing that she's actually in danger this time, tries to save her, but gets beaten by Mukesh's thugs and then violently expulsed from the building when the fire causes a minor explosion. To top it off, he then gets hit by a car, driven by the actor Kapoor as his wife is in labour. He takes Om along to the hospital, where he unfortunately doesn't make it, but Kapoor's wife delivers a healthy baby boy, whom they also name Om.
Thirty years later we're in the present day and Om Kapoor, OK, is a huge star making movies left, right and center, and as self-centered as he could possibly get. He also keeps getting bombarded by an old woman claiming he's her son of whom he has no recognition, but things start taking a turn after his assistant brings him to the burned-down studio lot where the original Om used to spend his time.
Memories begin awakening inside OK, ones he's confused by, but it's not until he wins the Best Actor award later and meets Mukesh in this version of his life that his past and present finally collide, and he reunites with his mother and Pappu once more.
Now though, he's determined that he'll use his second chance to avenge Shanti, so he concocts a ploy in which he convinces the producer to re-start Om Shanti Om, with OK as the lead, then scours India for someone who could be Shanti.
He eventually finds her in a girl named Sandy from Bangalore, who's a dead-ringer, even if she's nothing like Shantipriya in personality or anything else. But, after including her into his plans, she promises that she'll do everything in her power to help him, and so the trap is set, and our group start weaving their web around Mukesh, slowly convincing him that the set is haunted by Shanti's ghost and she's back from the grave to avenge herself.
Unfortunately, a small mistake has Sandy injuring herself which proves to Mukesh that she's an actual person, and when Om finally confronts him, explaining just who he is, and that he had witnessed the original Shanti's murder, he's scoffing at the kid because there's no proof.
Then "Sandy" appears, and Mukesh taunts her ... until she reveals that Shanti didn't die in the fire, but was still breathing when her husband came back to check if all was over, and buried her under the chandelier, basically killing her twice. Her body can be found there, and now Mukesh is REALLY scared, because literally NOBODY ELSE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS.
He and Om fight, Om eventually taking his gun and shooting him in the leg, but "Sandy" says it's not on him to kill the villain, then watches as the chandelier drops and finishes him off.
OK's closest friends - SANDY INCLUDED - break the doors down, and all of a sudden Om's like wut in the WUUUUT.
Turns out, it's actually Shanti who's been there the whole time, helping them with little things to bring Mukesh to justice, and as OK rejoins his friends, he and the ghost exchange one last tearful smile before she runs up the stairs and disappears.
One can surmise that her body was then recovered, Mukesh was posthumously charged, and OK went back to living his life, hopefully forging a tight, romantic bond with Sandy because, why the hell wouldn't he?? She's stunning!
And that, my friends, is the saga of Om Shanti Om. Clever, emotional, and VERY dramatic in true Bollywood style and fashion, it manages to merge the two storylines seamlessly through the flawless (if occasionally over-the-top) acting of Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.
It also has a lovely musical sequence during the after party of the award show where basically all of Bollywood's greats come to celebrate OK's win - but in reality, they come as a favour to Khan to celebrate HIM, and it's a touching experience, honestly. The man's been in Bollywood since forever and practically redefined each genre he's been in, and he's showing no signs of stopping any time soon, so the whole thing's rather fitting.
Overall, if you're prepared for the dramatics (and oh trust me, there are DRAMATICS, I swear the Om with the bell-bottoms is a DRAMA KWEEN of the highest hilarious calibre) as well as the emotions once things get going and you start piecing the story together, then you'll love this.
I know I did.
xx
*images and video not mine
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