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6 hours of film back to back can sometime be an enchanting affair but at times can also make you tired, fretful, and as there are 2 films can leave you with Mixed feelings. Saw OSO & Saawariya back to back in the same order and my head is a maelstrom of emotions. Since Oz has given me a user id and pwd to log on here and voice my opinion, thought will talk about these 2 movies.

OSO

Om Shanti Om, well what is left to be said. King Khan has been everywhere plugging his film and well its has its high points and you somewhat feel let down by seeing a man with some good skills letting the script go awry. Shah Rukh, how much ever the audience on PFC tell otherwise, is a entertainer and you do not feel let down by his films. In Om Shanti Om, you get that feeling towards the end what with all this punar janam crap

We have had enough reincarnation movies and you feel there has been enough said about that topic (like discussion of “No Smoking” on PFC) but No S Khan & F Khan felt otherwise and hence we have OSO. I would have really enjoyed it if was more autobiographical. I mean SRK’s tale is one that can leave you spellbound. A boy from nowhere (actually Delhi) came and took over Bollywood/Hind film Industry. This was not the case. The story of a junior artiste struggling to become an actor, hero, superstar would have been so much more interesting but no, they had to go the other way with this Punar Janam.

The insider jokes were good particularly the manoj kumar driving license, Sooraj copying dialogues and there was an easy camaraderie between S Khan & Shreyas. Deepika is from my town and also lived for many years in my part od the town and hence have a certain fondness for her and most probably will be biased when I say that she looked groovy and well tried to hold her own in a movie made for the superstar. She had very few dialogues and scenes but looked good in all of them.

OSO is engaging at some level but really not a well thought out film. I feel terribly sad when I see a talented star like King Khan not willing to experiment with new dimension in his home production and due to that will only work on a project which he feels will be accepted by the so called “dumb” Indian audience but might in reality have a turkey on his hands. Well anyway it has opned up in 2000 screens and he should make more than enough money before people realize it really is not completely good

Shah Rukh, we (read I) loved you in Swades, Kabhi Haan, Yes Boss and certainly in Chak De. Please do leave that mark behind as a super star and try to stay away from these really badly planned projects.

OSO would have been so much more interesting if it was about the journey of a struggler to a super star. Well everybody is not Chandan Arora and do not want to actually tell a tale.

Now will move on to I do not know what to call this, Saawariya

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has all these manifestations of a diva/prima donna in terms of his work and he tends to talk at length about his idea of creativity but well he fails in Saawariya like in so many of his earlier films. I have never understood this madness India has for him and how they think of him as a creative genius.

The movie is one interesting visual after another and well even that gets cumbersome after sometime as its like a soul less landscape. Where was the story. We have had so many triangle love stories and this is simply another one. We see Salman for about 2.5 scenes. The 2 debutants, Ranbir & Sonam Kapoor do not seem connected to the story line and and many scenes fall flat due to their acting capabilities but then they are STAR KIDS and will keep doing films till they die or become Directors. They have no problems with that. But as a viewer I had many issues with Saawariya. First, the bloody blue hue to each frame. Man it was so depressing and you started to feel sad as the movie progressed. We never really got to understand either Ranbir or Sonam’s characters as they were not really etched. The romance between Salman and sonam was not really clear. Why, where, How all kept popping in your mind. Then there was Rani. She was good but a little loud and like all other things in the movie got on your nerves after sometime. The other thing that got my goat was this strange obsession SLB has with east european films and how he tries to include many facets of it in every one of his movies. This is seen vividly in Zohra Sehgal’s character. She is so bloody Vibrant, it is humbling but no Sanjay had to give her an accent and it got jarring. Sheesh….

Currently, Hindi films no longer need a story (the soul) as its only about looks and feel and the camera angles, the way colour correction is done, the technicalities actually rather than the story. This is highly depressing as in reality, this Diwali we have had a Reincarnation and Triangle movie of which about 3 Zillion have already been made in India. with budgets like the way these 2 movies had got, they surely could have done so much better.

Life can be depressing when you do not get to see a good movie and for me the weekend looks bleak with having watched 1 semi good and 1 utterly bad film. I might have to go and watch some flick to get back into the groove. I am going to go with either Cinema Paradiso, Shawshank, Singing in the Rain..one of these. for the rest of you who have not yet watched these 2 flicks, well go on, have a dekko. You will feel short charge in OSO as it could have been so much better and disgruntled in Saawariya

Happy Diwali to all