A warm, SRK-led 70s Bollywood love letter that stumbles on a shaky script.
Verdict tier Recommended, most critics liked it, on a scale of Unfavorable, Mixed, Recommended, Exceptional.
Critic consensus
Critical reception for Om Shanti Om is generally positive, with most reviewers appreciating its masala entertainer qualities and its deliberate, affectionate tribute to 1970s Bollywood filmmaking. Shah Rukh Khan's performance and Farah Khan's nostalgic recreation of the era's look and feel drew consistent praise. Detractors, however, pointed to a weak script riddled with loopholes, an overreliance on in-jokes and cameos, and a second half that loses narrative coherence, with one reviewer noting the film devolves into a 'mess' of unresolved spoofs.
1 not-rated review isn't plotted
Positive = 6.5/10 and up · negative = below 5/10
AI-generated summary of 7 critic reviews · may contain errors
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Top critics first, then by score · not-rated last · updated
Top critic
Film review ·
Want to celebrate the crunch-popcorn-Manmohan Desai movies of yore? Then you've come to the right place. Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om is dedicated to the imperishable magic of the movies. Flog them or fume over them, but nothing compares to those tickets which make fantasies real. Mmm, that's entertainment.
Top critic
Film review ·
Om Shanti Om is an exultant, heady, joyous film reveling in Bollywood, and as at most parties where the bubbly flows free, there is much silly giggling and tremendous immaturity. You'd do well do breathe in the filmi fumes, lift your own collar-tips upwards, and leave sense out of the equation. More cameos are written in than dialogues, so sit back and play spot-the-celeb. Or watch the Khan have a blast on screen.
Top critic
Film review ·
Om Shanti Om is such an unabashed tribute to Karz , it makes you want to run home and dig out the old-is-gold DVD and rewind to the saucy seventies when anything was allowed in Bollywood, including souls that slipped through janams, ghosts that walked, chandeliers that killed, mothers who waited centuries for sons to return and filmy romance was all about haseenas, dewaanas and don't-ask-for-logic attitudes.
Top critic
Film review ·
Unpretentious and completely transparent in its intentions, Om Shanti Om is an entertainer in the true sense of the word, mixing up genre elements like comedy, drama, action and emotion to create a heady broth of Manmohan Desai-style exaggerated entertainment. With tongue firmly in cheek, the writers make light of everyone and everything in sight, packing the first half with so many in-jokes and movie references that it turns out to be every trivia collector's wet dream.
Film review ·
Cut the crap, cut the gyan-baazi, cut the will-it-won't-it work naatak. Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan's OM SHANTI OM is a true-blue masala entertainer. If MAIN HOON NA was a chauka, this one hits a sixer!
Film review ·
As a masala movie, it has its sad moments, happy moments, dance and drama. But there is that extra something missing that takes the zing out of it. Ok, the sets are good and Farah has taken pains to get the 70s look and feel, but that alone is not enough. I guess the villain has to be the script. It leaves a lot of loopholes.
Film review ·
The entire movie is a spoof. Then you have a spoof within a spoof. Then a spoof within a spoof within a spoof. So far, so good. You have learnt to excuse the joke driven situation (versus situation driven joke). Then...well, Farah Khan forgot where she had started and Shah Rukh Khan finished of the script for her. And we have this mess - moderately funny, but mess nevertheless.
From our readers
10 ratings · user score 7.7
A must for masala movie lovers
Bring out the popcorn, grab a cola and get ready for 2 and a half hours of laughs, songs, color, emotions, and spoofs. If you're a fan of the Indian film industry and have kept up with the news, Om Shanti Om is for you. If you love entertainment to the max, OSO is definitely for you! Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om spares nobody, not even its makers when it comes to poking fun. OSO is a film about films, it's a film in a film and above all, it's made to celebrate the biggest film producing industry - The Indian Film Industry. Om Prakash is a junior artist who thrives to become a lead hero one day. He is a horrible actor and has a mother who hams more than him. Om has another dream: To win over a star, Shanti-Priya. One circumstance leads to another which leads to Om being a witness to the death of Shanti by producer Mukesh Mehra. Om also gets killed in the incident. That same night, Om is reborn as Om Kapoor. Will Om realize his past-life? Will he avenge Shanti's death? As the tagline suggests: For some dreams, one life-time is not enough. OSO has a done-to-death story. But that's not the point. The film is a parody of films and the ones working in it. Notice the spoofs on the yesteryear stars such as Manoj Kumar. A controversial scene but one can't deny it's hilarious. Not to forget spoofs on Govinda, Keshtu Mukherjee, and Suraj Bharjateeyaa. Of course the most memorable comic scene has to be SRK pretending to be a south Indian actor. "Mind It" OSO's first half is gripping and keeps the viewer alert. The drama folds the right way. The second half loses steam at times. It's not bad, but unlike Farah's first film where the second half competed well with the first, it stars to slow down a bit. It picks back up, fortunately. The spoofs aren't less hilarious in the second half. The film pokes fun of a lot of celebs and Indian film industry issues. To start, SRK being late is a spoof on himself being late to sets in real life. Not to forget the whole dard-e-disco song is a spoof on item numbers. The high point of the second half has to be the award ceremony. The spoof on Abhishek Bachchan is subtle yet funny. SRK doing the same roles and being nominated is remarkably funny. Not to forget Akshay KUmar's outburst at the awards is aplaudworthy and rib-tickling. Subash Ghai-Rishi Kapoor spoof is funny too. Flaws? As mentioned, the second half falters in some parts. Also, SRK remembering his past so quickly seems rushed and unconvincing. The climax, however, is a pleasant surprise. Special Mention - The Deewangee song is a treat to the eyes. 31 stars in one song is no joke and they all look nothing short of spectacular. Special mention to the ones that caught my eye with their appearance. Dharmendra, Jatendra, Kajol, Salman, Saif, Sanju, Rekha etc all do well alongside Shah Rukh Khan. Farah Khan and her team of writers have put some genius into parts of the movie. The writing is witty, smart, and quite innovative. Dilague is first rate. Vishal-Shekar's music is amazing. With a variety of songs in one film, they do a wonderful job. Farah's direction is first rate. She handles all the moments with ease. It's not a better film than Main Hoon Na, but still a good job. In 2007, 3 months before OSO released; SRK unleashed the actor in him and kept the star away in a movie called Chak De India. In OSO, it's the opposite. OSO is a film where SRK can chill and not worry about the criticism. His performance is explosive and energetic. In this, it's SRK the superstar unleashed. And kudos to him for also poking fun at himself despite being the producer of this one. Deepika makes a grand debut and I'm sure she couldn't have asked for anything else. She looks gorgeous and makes a good debut. Arjun Rampal is spectacular as the villain here. Brilliant. The supporting cast does well too which includes the lovable Shreyas Talpade, the scene-stealing Kirron Kher and Javed Sheikh. Overall, A grand film which has one objective - Entertainment!
I love the concept of the film and it was the best 3 hours of my time watching this, story line is great and the characters shows most of the colors to the people watching. SRK and Deepika's acting were very good they project the character very well, Arjun's villainous acting makes me feel the characters evil personality. Others were even great including many various Bollywood celebrities appearing from the song number and the filmfare scene. Some of the actors being nominated in the movie should have been in more focus or maybe a bit more camera time such as Abhishek's grumbling or even Akshay Kumar's tantrum in a deleted scene portion. There was totally no time limit for this movie because the story line has no absolute fillers and it only shows that it was an amazing story ever told. The ending should have been extended on what happen to the both of the protagonist and sandy. This so far has been a great film to watch due to the colorful story line being involve so I must recommend this to millions of people :)
Bring out the popcorn, grab a cola and get ready for 2 and a half hours of laughs, songs, color, emotions, and spoofs. If you're a fan of the Indian film industry and have kept up with the news, Om Shanti Om is for you. If you love entertainment to the max, OSO is definitely for you! Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om spares nobody, not even its makers when it comes to poking fun. OSO is a film about films, it's a film in a film and above all, it's made to celebrate the biggest film producing industry - The Indian Film Industry. Om Prakash is a junior artist who thrives to become a lead hero one day. He is a horrible actor and has a mother who hams more than him. Om has another dream: To win over a star, Shanti-Priya. One circumstance leads to another which leads to Om being a witness to the death of Shanti by producer Mukesh Mehra. Om also gets killed in the incident. That same night, Om is reborn as Om Kapoor. Will Om realize his past-life? Will he avenge Shanti's death? As the tagline suggests: For some dreams, one life-time is not enough. OSO has a done-to-death story. But that's not the point. The film is a parody of films and the ones working in it. Notice the spoofs on the yesteryear stars such as Manoj Kumar. A controversial scene but one can't deny it's hilarious. Not to forget spoofs on Govinda, Keshtu Mukherjee, and Suraj Bharjateeyaa. Of course the most memorable comic scene has to be SRK pretending to be a south Indian actor. "Mind It" OSO's first half is gripping and keeps the viewer alert. The drama folds the right way. The second half loses steam at times. It's not bad, but unlike Farah's first film where the second half competed well with the first, it stars to slow down a bit. It picks back up, fortunately. The spoofs aren't less hilarious in the second half. The film pokes fun of a lot of celebs and Indian film industry issues. To start, SRK being late is a spoof on himself being late to sets in real life. Not to forget the whole dard-e-disco song is a spoof on item numbers. The high point of the second half has to be the award ceremony. The spoof on Abhishek Bachchan is subtle yet funny. SRK doing the same roles and being nominated is remarkably funny. Not to forget Akshay KUmar's outburst at the awards is aplaudworthy and rib-tickling. Subash Ghai-Rishi Kapoor spoof is funny too. Flaws? As mentioned, the second half falters in some parts. Also, SRK remembering his past so quickly seems rushed and unconvincing. The climax, however, is a pleasant surprise. Special Mention - The Deewangee song is a treat to the eyes. 31 stars in one song is no joke and they all look nothing short of spectacular. Special mention to the ones that caught my eye with their appearance. Dharmendra, Jatendra, Kajol, Salman, Saif, Sanju, Rekha etc all do well alongside Shah Rukh Khan. Farah Khan and her team of writers have put some genius into parts of the movie. The writing is witty, smart, and quite innovative. Dilague is first rate. Vishal-Shekar's music is amazing. With a variety of songs in one film, they do a wonderful job. Farah's direction is first rate. She handles all the moments with ease. It's not a better film than Main Hoon Na, but still a good job. In 2007, 3 months before OSO released; SRK unleashed the actor in him and kept the star away in a movie called Chak De India. In OSO, it's the opposite. OSO is a film where SRK can chill and not worry about the criticism. His performance is explosive and energetic. In this, it's SRK the superstar unleashed. And kudos to him for also poking fun at himself despite being the producer of this one. Deepika makes a grand debut and I'm sure she couldn't have asked for anything else. She looks gorgeous and makes a good debut. Arjun Rampal is spectacular as the villain here. Brilliant. The supporting cast does well too which includes the lovable Shreyas Talpade, the scene-stealing Kirron Kher and Javed Sheikh. Overall, A grand film which has one objective - Entertainment!
"Om Shanti Om" is wonderfully executed popcorn entertainment. There has to be a word for it's snappy jokes, crowd-pleasing movie references, fun performances delivered by Shah Rukh Khan, Shreyas Talpade and eapecially the silly melodramatic mother inside Kirron Kher. But there must be a word also for the assured debutant Deepika Padukone: you might argue that she doesn't deliver half the original and silly thrills which compliment a great spunkily modern and unusually retro affair as her love interest SRK, but she must be complimented for making out something from both of her avatars. There's the underlying sense of spikey affection that you'll develop for these characters. Farah Khan achieves a colourful palette: quiet surprisingly, she delivers her work with skilled hand, something we never came to expect from a "Main Hoon Na" level, 'entertainment director' as her. Her craft is skilled, and not one choreographed dance move, not one operatic tone of it's music, not one melody of the cinematography is out of place. It's sure to be one of the most technically brilliant films so far in Bollywood, and also this year. The corny jokes, the crackling chemistry of Om and Shanti, the villainous head rush provided by Arjun Rampal- performative and technically, it's a brilliantly nostalgic film which may put the biggest Hollywood star-cast films to shame with it's unapologetic, raw cameos delivered by almost every Bollywood A-Lister who is breathing and living right now. Sadly, it's flaws are more than you think there are- the plot of the film is nonexistent. If there are stretches of a promising prom-tom narrative, it's promptly slim. The first half especially is staggeringly silly. There is almost not one moving note with this film, not something which I noticed. The dialogues are all forgettable. This is then a film that works purely on the visual level. Consider it to be a film-about-films what films like "Dunkirk" and "1917" were to the war cinema genre: the films were devastatingly moving ones which made the skin crawl, but the history triumphs the writing. The screenplay is haywire here. And still, I find it a better achievement ahead of it's time, because the entertainment and gloss is stupendous. It has also come to be a greatly intriguing introduction to someone who craves to watch Bollywood, and has achieved that more than the actual classics like "Sholay" or "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge" or "Lagaan". It's definitely one of the best films of it's decade in spite of being so thin actually. It's proved impactful and tactfully crisp. 4/5.
Credits
Shah Rukh KhanOm Prakash Makhija
Deepika PadukoneShanti Priya
Arjun RampalMukesh Mehra "Mike"
Kirron KherBela Makhija
Shreyas TalpadePappu Master
Javed SheikhRajesh Kapoor
Asawari JoshiLovely Kapoor
Yuvika ChaudharyDolly
BinduKamini
Shawar AliShawar
Satish ShahFilm DirectorHindi films like Om Shanti Om
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