Weighted from a 6.7 average · Why?
A surreal formal landmark that dazzles more than it coheres.
Verdict tier Mixed, lukewarm or divided, on a scale of Unfavorable, Mixed, Recommended, Exceptional.
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Critic consensus
Critical reception for Om-Dar-Ba-Dar is largely reverential, with most critics acknowledging its status as a singular and deliberately unconventional work in Indian cinema. Reviewers most commonly praised its radical formal inventiveness — the fusion of surreal visuals, jarring sound, and absurdist dialogue — and its position as an originator of a vernacular cinematic style widely imitated elsewhere. The most consistent criticism, voiced notably by Uday Bhatia, is that the film's relentless invention comes at the cost of organized thought, preventing it from fully realizing its subversive ambitions. Several critics openly acknowledged difficulty in applying standard evaluative frameworks to the film.
4 not-rated reviews aren't plotted
The Monk Score is weighted from a plain average of 6.7 · how scores work
Positive = 6.5/10 and up · negative = below 5/10
AI-generated summary of 7 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyFrom the papers
Top critics first, then by score · not-rated last · updated
Top critic
Film review ·
Om Dar-Ba-Dar is a classic protest film because it rebels against everything, with lines which perhaps sound wiser than they are, especially when you hear them again...Welcome to the trippiest film made in Indian cinema.
Film review ·
Does writing about a movie which was made 26 years ago and is getting released now has to qualify in the context of reviewing a film? A movie which has already being hailed as a cult classic; one of the main proponents of a certain kind of voice in cinema. For a more clear definition (just for now ), we can call it absurdist cinema.
Film review ·
Kamal Swaroop's Om Dar-Ba-Dar was ready for release in 1988 but never made it to the cinemas. Over the last 26 years, it has been shown at festivals across the world and become a cult classic for being the antithesis of Indian cinema. The absence of a narrative, surreal montages, bizarre dialogue and a jarring soundtrack make Kamal Swaroop's Om Dar-Ba-Dar seem like the two-hour long hallucination of a drug-addled mind. But the chaotic jumble that makes up this film is entirely deliberate.
Film review ·
If only there'd been a little less invention and a little more organisation of thought, Om-Dar-Ba-Dar might actually have ended up the subversive masterpiece so many are convinced it is.
Film review ·
Trust me, it's just fine if you don't understand it, but don't even think of skipping this film which has acquired the cult status even without hitting the screens ever. Kamal Swaroop can be anything from a wayward wanderer to a genius, but he has made 'Om Dar B Dar' an altogether distinct 'experience'. You are not allowed to miss this film.
Film review ·
Indeed, the entire experience, in which visual and sound are inseparable, is designed to satirise the very small-town nostalgia that is the movie's most accessible legacy. Om-Dar-Ba-Dar is the original vernacular spectacle that has been endlessly imitated by advertising, music video and popular cinema.
Film review ·
Well, how do you rate a film on your conventional 5-star scale that is so unconventional in its form? How do you even review it (or well, at least start to) when even after seeing so much you are not sure of what you have seen? I don't know. Or I would rather like to put what the protagonist says in answer to the above quoted dilemma: "Out of course!"
Credits
Anita KanwarPhoolkumari
Aditya LakhiaOm as Older Boy
Gopi DesaiGayatri
Manish GuptaOm as Young Boy
Lalit TiwariJagdish
Kamal SwaroopHindi films like Om-Dar-Ba-Dar
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